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Catharine Hydon is a member of the Code of Ethics national working party who have been working, since 2003, on a revision of the code, originally drafted in 1990. The new version was finalised in late 2006.
A code of ethics is not a ‘set of rules or even a road map: it’s a way of travelling, a mind set; a resource for the journey’. Ethical practice is ‘not a destination: it is more like the calibration of true north on a compass, maintaining our sense of direction while leaving us free to explore whatever lies ahead’ (my emphasis, Mackay, 2006).
The ethics of sustainability
A friend of mine is expecting his first child next year and asked me to recommend childcare centres. After visiting several, one thing particularly stuck in his mind: ‘What’s this thing about teaching children about the environment? They’re only babies—surely they’re too young to have to worry about recycling and all that?’
Given the increasing frequency of environmental catastrophes and evidence of global warming, my answer was, ‘how can we not talk to children about sustainability?’ How can we ignore such an important part of our lives? Might it actually be considered irresponsible not to show children that the ways in which they behave towards the environment will impact the rest of their lives and those of future generations?
Dahlberg, Moss and Pence (1999) suggest that if we are to see children as more than just biological beings—as co-constructors with agency and power—then we need to invite them into a collaboration of learning and teaching that includes tackling issues that our society faces. Of course, this does not mean that young children need to debate the merits of carbon trading. What it can mean is that they are engaged in local action, learning about their contribution to the bigger picture. This response—as the Code of Ethics suggests—will help children to understand ‘that they are global citizens with shared responsibilities to the environment and humanity’ (Section I, point four).
If the response to Al Gore’s visit to Australia indicates anything, it is that ordinary people—especially families and children—recognise the issue of environmental sustainability as their business. It must become early childhood business as well.
But it must be more than community pressure that determines ‘the way we should travel’. It is ethics that impels us to contemplate the direction of our interactions with children and their families. We have an ethical obligation to teach, demonstrate and explore the environment with children, and to help them understand our role in caring for where we live.
Conclusion
Considering the ethical dimensions of environmental education does not automatically mean making radical changes to practice (although a rudimentary examination of evidence might point us towards this sort of change), but it does require us to review a plethora of new information and ideas—such as those detailed in this issue of Every Child—in order to review what we present to children in daily program planning and practices.
Mackay suggests that we use ethics as a guide to true north, as a way of measuring what is worthy of children’s attention and what is important for them to know as citizens of the 21st century. Environmental education is a worthy candidate, necessary to progress towards a secure future.
Catharine Hydon
Early Childhood Project Manager
Brotherhood of St Laurence, Victoria
References and further reading
The Code of Ethics is available to view and download on the Early Childhood Australia website: www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/code
Dahlberg, G., Moss, P., & Pence, A. (1999). Beyond quality in early childhood education and care: Postmodern perspectives. London: Falmer Press.
Mackay, H. (2006). Right and wrong: How to decide for yourself. Sydney: Hodder.
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