Reconceptualising and (re)forming early childhood professional identities: Ongoing transnational policy discussions

Sonja Arndt, Kylie Smith, Mathias Urban, Thomas Ellegaard, Beth Blue Swadener, Colette Murray

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

10 Scopus citations

Abstract

Problematic policy constructions of the purpose of education implicate professional identities and working conditions of professionals working with the youngest children. This paper builds on our earlier writing, to contest teacher professional identities in Australia, Ireland, Denmark and the United States of America, to illustrate the crucial importance of contextualised policy landscapes in early childhood education and care. It uses prevailing policy constructions, power imbalances and tensions in defining teacher identities, to ask crucial questions, such as what has become of the professional ‘self’. It questions the fundamental ethics of care and encounter, and of worthy wage and other campaigns focused on the well-being of teachers when faced with a world-wide crisis. The cross-national conversations culminate in a contemporary confrontation of teacher identity and imperatives in increasingly uncertain times as evolving in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)406-423
Number of pages18
JournalPolicy Futures in Education
Volume19
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - May 2021

Keywords

  • COVID-19
  • Early childhood teachers
  • early childhood education
  • policy futures in early childhood education and care
  • teacher professional identity
  • transnational policy

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Education

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