Ethical Dilemma Scenario in Early Childhood Education

Running Head: DILEMMA SCENARIO
DILEMMA SCENARIO
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DILEMMA SCENARIO 2
Post 1 (ETHICAL DILEMMA) requirements from the course coordinator, I am a parent for
dilemma 1. You describe why this is a dilemma for the role you have chosen (either parents,
staff, child, Director, etc.). These are the dimensions of the dilemma. YOU DO NOT
SUGGEST ANY RESOLUTIONS HERE.
Post 1:
A dilemma is a situation where a difficult choice has to be made between two or more
alternatives. Especially a case where both equals are undesirable. For the provided case,
being a parent places one at a hard position where one has to decide if their baby is to sleep
during the day then find it hard to get the her to sleep at night or not letting the baby sleep
during the day but sleep comfortably during the night while in the process let Mayah have a
long tedious afternoon have the teacher ignore all this (Kennedy 2009). Either decision that I
am to make as a parent has its undesirable repercussions that I have to accept. This makes the
case an ethical dilemma since both decisions to be made have an undesirable outcome
(Beckett, Maynard, & Jordan, 2017). The teachers have their responsibilities as the child’s
instructor while the mother has the parenting responsibilities, on the other hand there is the
child whose growth and development are at hand, sleep for the baby is very important for
their physical development but the wrong sleeping patterns may interfere with this (Newman,
2002). This leaves the case at a dilemma where a discussion and an agreement are to be
arrived at. Further analysis of the scenario it is evident that this really is a dilemma! On the
one hand we have a responsibility to Mayah to recognise her right to rest as determined by
article 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC, 1989). On
the other hand, article 5 describes how we must support parents/guardians in their role.
References
Beckett, C., Maynard, A., & Jordan, P. (2017). Values and ethics in social work. Sage.

DILEMMA SCENARIO 3
Kennedy. (2009). Ethics: A Part of everyday practice in child care. Putting Children First the
magazine of the National Childcare Accreditation Council (NCAC), 29 (pp. 9-11).
Newman, L. (2002). Responding ethically when families and professionals disagree. Every
Child, 8(2), p. 17.
United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child(UNCR). (1989) Retrieved from
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CRC.aspx accessed on 12
September 2018
Post 2 (LEGAL ASPECT)
Here you would think about the legal aspects that support your perspective of why this is a
dilemma for your role. DO NOT SUGGEST ANY RESOLUTIONS HERE.
Response
The legal aspect of the case supports why it is deemed aa dilemma. In relation to the ECA
code of ethics, the teacher taking care of the child by allowing them to sleep is part of her
responsibility since the child cannot be ignored while she is feeling sleepy and agitated hence
ignoring the child would be legally wrong. As the responsible adult with the child, an
instructor is expected to take full responsibility of the child without the presence of the
parent. For a qualified teacher, one has passed the test on ability of taking care of the child.
This means the teacher can make the right decision for the baby. In this case the teacher
makes the decision of letting the child sleep. But the parenting factor comes in. the parent is
legally to be respected and their decision are to be respected as well (ECA 2016). So, the
parent demands need to be embraced. As a parent I need to see the clear respect of the legal
requirement but this also complicates the case, since as identified it is as per the law that the
teacher is to be responsible on behalf of the baby while on the other hand respect and
acknowledge me. This leaves the entire case on the shoulders of the baby, what should the