“I eventually got used to it”

Critically examining the use of video surveillance technologies in Early Childhood Education programs in Nova Scotia and Ontario Canada from the perspective of Early Childhood Educators

Abstract

 Over the last decade, video surveillance technologies have become increasingly common in childcare programs in Canada (and internationally). The authors express concern about how video surveillance technologies shape the experiences of and pedagogical/relational possibilities for educators, children and families in childcare programs. Merging feminist care ethics (Tronto, 2013) with Taylor’s (2023) ethics of insecurity, and Foucault’s concept of governmentality in relation to the discourse of the “good” early childhood educator, they pay attention to how a context of surveillance impacts relationships and interactions between educators and others, as well as the subjective experiences of ECEs. Through a qualitative thematic analysis of interviews with ECEs in Nova Scotia and Ontario (Canada), three overarching themes emerged: 1) video surveillance legitimizes and perpetuates a culture of distrust between educators and parents/families as well as between educators and their supervisors, 2) surveillance is internalized by educators in a way that encourages performativity along dominant notions of the “good” ECE, and 3) there is an eerie silence around the use of video surveillance technologies in professional and policy spaces. We explore the deeply ethical and political implications of these insights at a time when the Canada-Wide Early Learning and Child Care plan continues to be rolled out.