Marie Morrison Hughes and her model of education for a democratic society

Abstract

This qualitative historical research study documents the life of early childhood educator Marie Morrison Hughes (1900-1981) and the evolution and fruition of her model of early childhood education. In-depth interviews with six women educators who worked directly with Dr. Hughes in the implementation of the Tucson Early Education Model (TEEM) provide data for the study. TEEM became a Follow Through Program Sponsor at twenty-two sites all across the United States and served communities from 1968 to 1995. Profiles of each woman educator written in the first-person constitute a large part of the work. A profile of Dr. Hughes gained from transcribed speeches and interviews is included with the Voices of the Women. The model of education founded by Dr. Hughes was based on the definition of teaching as interaction and collaboration. Opening the world to children was the educational goal of Dr. Hughes. Curriculum was built from the lives and experiences of the children in the classroom with an emphasis on 'learning to learn.' Dr. Hughes believed the most important element in the educative process was the relationship between the teacher and the child. An essential part of the model was termed professional response, the rapport between children and the teacher. Children learned from the teacher's flexibility to allow personal response to the ongoing experience and the response was the source of the teacher's constructive and significant influence on children. Dr. Hughes referred to her model as an education program for children in a democratic society. The model's commitment to the whole person and the uniqueness of each person along with the established caring rapport with each individual child exemplifies the ethics of caring and justice in education.