Attachment, Identity, and Character: An Integrative Pedagogical Model for Early Childhood Education

In recent decades, Early Childhood Education has consolidated its role as a decisive stage for socio-emotional, identity, and moral development. However, attachment pedagogy, identity construction, and character education have traditionally been addressed through fragmented theoretical frameworks. The main aim of this article is to propose and theoretically ground an original pedagogical integration of these three constructs from the perspective of the Ethics of Care, offering a relational integrative model for Early Childhood Education. Through a theoretical analysis drawing on attachment theory, identity development, and moral education philosophy, a dynamic and interdependent model is proposed in which secure attachment supports identity construction, identity structures character, and character, in turn, reinforces the quality of relational bonds. The findings show that character education cannot be reduced to normative instruction but rather emerges progressively from lived educational experiences of care, recognition, and shared responsibility. Finally, practical implications are derived for the classroom, the school as an institution, and teacher training, aimed at fostering character education grounded in relational bonds, identity development, and human flourishing from early childhood.