In 2015 the United Kingdom government harnessed early childhood education and care (ECEC) providers to its anti-terrorism strategy by placing them within the scope of the Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015 (Great Britain Parliament, 2015). They became subject to the 'Prevent Duty' which requires them to have due regard to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism. However, the promotion of Fundamental British Values (FBV), as a specific measure to prevent young children being drawn into terrorism, has raised questions about the role of the ECEC sector as an instrument of counter terrorism policy. This paper analyses the ways in which early childhood practitioners mediated the requirement to promote FBV through their pedagogical practice. Although practitioners are commissioned to mediate specific values formulated in the political arena (Eirnarsdottir et al, 2015) their response was complex and multi layered. Whilst a public display of compliance to FBV was performative (Butler, 1997) values education was an everyday pedagogical practice unconstrained by the instituted definitions of FBV. Practitioners deployed a contextual moral pedagogy (Basourakos, 1999) where children construct understandings of moral values and practices characterised by rich democratic dialogues.

This chapter examines the implementation of the Prevent Duty in early childhood education (ECE) provision in England. Findings from a small-scale empirical study suggest that ECE practitioners simultaneously performed, resisted and embodied the requirements of the Prevent Duty in practice. ECE practitioners were performative in their response to the requirement to promote fundamental British values (FBVs) as they evidenced compliance within an environment of regulation. However, ECE practitioners simultaneously operated a pedagogy rich in values education in which children were positioned as constructors of values. The layering of counter-terrorism within safeguarding policy led to a repositioning of practices of surveillance of children and families, which resonates with some critical readings of counter-terrorism policy in ECE.

No abstract

Early childhood education (ECE) settings can be understood as public forums (Dahlberg, Moss and Pence, 2013) where adults and children engage together in the implementation of national policy.We reflect on ethical dilemmas for leaders in early childhood education arising from the implementation of national policy. Dilemmas can be problematic in the sense that they are unresolved or routine-like as they pervade practice (Denzin, 1989). Inspired by Shapiro and Stefkovich's (2016) framework of multiple ethical paradigms, we analyse complex dilemmas arising for leaders in ECE as they implement national policy in the micro-system with children, families and the community. We position leaders in these contexts as principally concerned with the positive exploration of ethical dilemmas. Our analysis gives visibility to the ways in which leaders may draw on theory and experience in the ECE setting to navigate ethical dilemmas within a marketised system. Knowledge of ethics and practice may be partial and incomplete; however, fragments are pieced together as ethical praxis.Key words: early childhood education, policy, praxis, everyday practice, vignettes, ethical dilemmas 2014, p.1). Policy implementation in the micro system is not restricted to the literal reading of the written text; it is also the practice that emerges through the interpretation of text.Our study aims to examine the ways in which leaders of ECE navigate ethical dilemmas in their practice arising from the implementation of national policy within a mixed economy and market of early education providers in England. This present study emanates from an earlier empirical study (Robson, 2018) examining how leaders of pedagogy in ECE in England implemented the statutory requirement to promote Fundamental British Values (FBV) as part of the governments' counter-terrorism strategy in England (Great Britain, HM Government, 2015). We report on findings specifically in relation to the ways in which leaders of ECE navigate ethical dilemmas in practice.This study is guided by the following research question and sub-questions:How do leaders in ECE address ethical dilemmas arising from the implementation of government policy in England? What dilemmas emerge for leaders of ECE as they implement national policy in the context of marketised provision? How does existing knowledge support an understanding of leadership in ECE practice in this context? How might leadership of ECE be re-imagined in the context of marketised provision? Policy contextThis study, conducted in the English context, is situated within a system of a mixed economy of state, private-for-profit and private-not-for profit ECE providers, where parents choose provision on behalf of their children (Lloyd, 2012). There has been an evolution in government policy for ECE in England since 1997 (Fitzgerald & Kay, 2016) leading to a complex range of universal and conditional entitlements to free early education in England for children aged 2-5 (Great Britain, Department for Education, 2017a). In England policym...

No abstract