Philosophy of ECE

Philosophy
Humans unlike other species have the ability to learn, use language, and grow with unlimited potential through the interactions with others. "…People come to know about the world through experience, through authority, through reason, through intuition, and by active construction” (Morrison, p. 350). It is through the active exploration of environments and other familiars’ children come to know the world and through this lens acquire meanings and create new pathways of discovering, and learning, how to live, work and play, make choices and mistakes. Humans are first driven by the motivations of basic needs as described by Maslowe (1943). The need for food, clothing and shelter, security, love, and self-esteem and the drive to be the all child can be. The goals of education are to free society and assist students in developing their full potential (Bruner, 1983).
The new philosophy of early childhood education challenges educators to think beyond traditional discourse to include “a new epistemology, and a new psychology” (Dahlberg & Moss, p.178). A philosophy beyond children, “as primarily a commodity to be provided in the marketplace, or as a kind of factory to produce human capital” (Moss, 2007); woven with ethics of care, respect, and obligations. The new philosophy of early childhood education finds the child as the captain of his own ship first exploring then discovering the multitude of routes and byways distinctively different from those traveling before him. Past experiences build to form new knowledge facilitated by the “.More Knowledgeable Other” (Vygotsky, 1978). The teacher must learn from the student that knowledge can be constructed in meaningful ways so teachers become the learners and the learners become teachers (Freire, 1987).