The lost art of joy in early childhood education

Early childhood education is a sector often mis-represented in the media and public domain, depicting a sector beleaguered by low salaries, lack of professional recognition and inadequate working conditions. Missing from this depiction is the fullness of the everyday teaching and learning experiences of early childhood educators, and subsequent joy experienced in working with young children and families and the significant contribution of this emotion to educator practice and sense of wellbeing. Using an online survey, educators were invited to share their perspectives of factors that are contributing to the crisis in the field, their daily encounters with children and the moments, both big and small, that shaped and guided their pedagogy. Findings suggested that while the concept of joy was embraced and validated by educators, it was also elusive and hard to define. Suggestions for validating the place of joy as central in early childhood education conclude the paper.