Toys and outcomes: narratives of care within early learning and elementary educator practices

The aim of this study was to examine how early educators make meaning of and enact an ethic of care in inclusive learning environments. A narrative inquiry methodology was employed to generate data through interviews, focus group discussions, journal entries, and artifact collection with four Pre-Primary educators and three Primary teachers in one rural centre for education in Nova Scotia. Three major themes emerged from the data. These include the impact of relationships with children, responsibilities for promoting learning, and professional connections and boundaries. The findings inform discussions related to power, and how early educators’ understandings of child development and learning through inclusive practices emerge. Systemic change in the areas of prioritizing caring, recognizing children’s agency, and acknowledging the vast and diverse learning that occurs in early childhood can help to improve early learning experiences in Canadian schools.