Cultivating Ethical Dispositions in Early Childhood Practice for an Ethic of Care: A Contemplative Approach

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to argue that care ethics is part of an ongoing feminist challenge to a narrow kind of epistemology in higher education which separates mind from body and feeling from intellect. Care ethics imagines a self which is embodied and relational. Connecting this philosophical model with psychological research in attachment and moral development, I propose an experiential and contemplative approach to the ethical development of teachers in ECEC.