Greek early childhood educators’ conceptualization of education, care and educare concepts

What is it about?

Drawing on kindergarten teachers’ and University departments’ reactions to the Greek government’s initiative to adopt an integrated Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) system, the present study aimed to explore how various ECEC professional groups working in the two main preschool programs operating in Greece define different aspects inherent to ECEC theory and practice. Results yielded both similarities and differences, with aspects of health and well-being characterized mostly as having both a ‘care’ and an ‘education’ aspect, whereas personal and professional development and communication, management and administrative factors were characterized as educational in nature. Discrepancies were revealed in terms of child development, education and play and social environment factors, with those working in childcare settings defining them as including both ‘care’ and ‘education’ whereas those working in kindergartens defined them as educational in nature.

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Why is it important?

Acknowledging the fact that the confusing boundaries and acceptance of the terms care, development and education have led to considering these three aspects of ECEC theory and practice as individual fields which may or may not be combined, and not as indivisible activities, the present study aims to question those determinants of disintegration by exploring whether – from the perspective of early childhood practitioners – care and education are interlinked or contentious. Exploring conceptualizations of ‘care’ and ‘education’ is central to every effort toward the integration of services since the complementarity of the ‘care’ and ‘education’ concepts causes a debate about which is the ‘proper practice’ (Macfarlane and Lewis 2004, 52) in ECEC and ‘has proved problematic in many ways for the field in general, in that it allows for teaching to be seen as distinct from caring and developing’ (Macfarlane and Lewis 2004, 52).