Respect for Early Childhood Education: Editorial

Our first issue of 2020 focuses on respect in early childhood and how ethics of care can facilitate it. Respect is important for us all because peace is contingent upon it (Sen, 2011: 44). Yet respect has had different meanings over many centuries, ranging from esteem afforded to those at a higher level within a social hierarchy to rights afforded to individuals regardless of status (Marsellas, 2017: 103). Raz (2001: 6) notes that ‘We must respect what is valuable’; he argues that people are the primary ‘objects of respect’ (p.124), a perspective endorsed by MacMurray’s (1961) claim that ‘we need one another to be ourselves’ (p.211). Both Raz and MacMurray posit that all people are valuable and worthy of respect, regardless of status. Equally, self-respect is ‘grounded in the sense of one’s own worth or value’: the belief that what you are doing is worthwhile as well as the capacity to do it (Riviera-Castro, 2014: 762). Respect seems to act as a catalyst for enabling individuals and societies to flourish, while education has potential to build ‘a culture of respect for all throughout society’ (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), 2014: 12).