Ethics in Early Childhood Education

This entry addresses the moral dimensions of working with young children and the role of ethics in the professional repertoire of early childhood educators. The topic of ethics was introduced to early childhood educators in 1978 with the publication of Lilian Katz and Evangeline Ward’s book Ethical Behavior in Early Childhood Education. Since that time, professional ethics has become an important component of early childhood teachers’ education in the United States. It is incorporated into accreditation standards of both programs serving young children and institutions of higher education preparing their teachers. This entry explores the role of ethics in a profession, provides an overview of terminology that relates to morality and ethics, discusses morality and ethics for educators with an emphasis on the contributions of ...