Ready or not, here they come! Care as a material and organizational practice in ECEC for children under two

Abstract

Caring relationships between children and educators in early childhood education and care centers become in an array of entanglements with spaces, materials, and the organization of time. An exclusively dyadic understanding of care is insufficient in the material, institutional, pedagogic, and professional environment of early childhood education and care. This article reports on an ethnographic study of material and organizational professional care practices in a high-functioning full-day early childhood education and care center for children less than 3 years in Norway. Drawing on Tronto and Fisher's feminist care ethics and a posthuman perspective, the study's aim was to gain knowledge about how early childhood educators perform care as a professional practice beyond the dyad. The article explores care through the lens of a disruption in daily activities, when the laying down of new flooring in the center produced changes in the otherwise highly functioning caring environment. Changes in the availability of materials and the organization of space and time are analyzed using Malabou's concept of plasticity. The effects of the agentic force of material changes on the caring practices of the center, despite the already strong and established dyadic relationships between the children and educators, are discussed.

Every rose has its thorns: Domesticity and care beyond the dyad in ECEC

“…I sat on the couch much of my time at Browny center, and it was from the couch I noticed the sounds and smells that alerted me to care beyond the dyad. The couch, perhaps the most central symbol of domesticity in Norwegian kindergartens, was so much a part of my approach to observation that I did not photograph it before it was moved and "out of place" during the last few days I observed at Browny center, when the floor in the center was removed and replaced (Aslanian, 2017).…”

“…In other words, the things that we do care with also do care with us . Care is always co-produced and the result of cooperation (Aslanian, 2017). The “we” that maintain, continue and repair the world includes all phenomena such as objects, animals, weather, emotions and other life forms.…”

Climbing, Hiding and Having Fun: Schoolchildren’s Memories of Holistic Learning in a Norwegian Kindergarten

“…The sen sitivity to the here and now and relationships prominent in Norwegian kindergartens relates to a traditional focus on care (Børhaug et al, 2018). Caring is central to learning (Youdell & Lindley, 2019, p. 149), not only because of the importance of caring interac tions between teachers and children, but because of what caring relationships make possible for children to experience beyond those relationships (Aslanian, 2017). The capacity to learn is plastic and can be developed through strong, caring relationships, which are pivotal to enacting change (Youdell, 2016).…”

Ontario Early Childhood Educators’ understandings of care, carework and care practices in ECEC Program

“…Similarly to Akbari and McCuaig (2017), these researchers do not once mention the role or value of the workforce, care or carework in ECEC. Moreover, educators voices, perspectives and experiences on the valuing of care are absent (Aslanian, 2017;Langford et. al., 2017;Vogt, 2002;Owens & Ennis, 2005;Acker, 1995).…”

“…Taggart (2016) reinforces the complexity of care and suggests that "care is one of these dispositions with multiple meanings" (p. 178) and understandings. Aslanian (2017) argues that carework and care practices in ECEC are not only contingent on physical interactions but also as a result of an "array of entanglements with spaces, materials, and the organization of time" (p. 323) whereby carework is "collective in which both the material and social environment work together to produce [holistic] well-being" (p. 332) (Bath, 2013;Langford et. al., 2017;Vogt, 2002;Ailwood, 2017) Moreover, care is complex as care practices are sensitive to contextual nuances.…”