This article explores the lived and sometimes clandestine professional experiences of early childhood teachers who exist within contexts where dominant discourses of professional are competing with teacher's own understandings of their professional identities. Cultural models theory is used to shed light on the secrete and undercover work of…

This article investigates what happens to institutional narratives of care in Swedish preschool when a policy on increased documentation is introduced. Questions deal with preschool teachers' professionalism as expressed through the teachers' talk about documentation. The analysis is based on theories in education policy, teacher professionalism…

In this paper, I examine the claim that teachers' subjective experiences can lead to social change through the perspective of the early years teacher in Quebec. Fourteen early childhood teachers participated in memory writing and individual interviews. Data were inductively coded and analysed in terms of the teachers' subjective experiences of:…

This article employs a narrative approach to explore educators' moral functioning in Finnish preschools. Our study is theoretically inspired by notions drawn from feminist and sociocultural studies, according to which education is understood as an entirely moral phenomenon. Within a holistic framework, moral functioning is understood as a concept…

This article focuses on Inspector Lydia Longmore and 29 infant mistresses who were leading South Australian infant schools in the interwar year era. During 1926/1927 Longmore and each infant mistress in the state school system were interviewed by a journalist about her career path and current role, and profiles of their work featured week by week…

This article investigates preschool teachers' professionalism and professional strategies in relation to narratives about learning in preschool. These are expressed through the teachers' talk about documentation. A policy on increased systematic documentation in preschools has been introduced in Sweden. Preschool teachers were interviewed about…

This paper engages with the early childhood-school relationship. The relationship has a long-standing history of being defined by a series of divisions and separations. Research has identified the divisions and separations to be largely determined by differences around concepts of learning and pedagogy. Discursive analyses of these differences…

This qualitative case study investigated the role of race, school context, and personal and professional experiences in the formation of an early childhood minority teacher's professional identity. Data sources included interviews, observations, conversations, field notes and school artefacts. Member checking, triangulation and extended…

The racial mismatch between teachers and students has become a salient issue in efforts to counter the historical failure of children of Color in American (pre)schools. To address this mismatch, scholars have argued for the critical need to recruit and retain teachers of Color. In this article, we propose that to successfully prepare teachers of…

School can be inhospitable for any lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) parents with children in pre-K-12 classrooms (Kosciw & Diaz, 2008). Some LGBTQ parents feel they must be silent and discreet so their children will not endure any discrimination at school (Fakhrid-Deen & COLAGE, 2010). Some reasons for this silence…

This article analyses how the teaching profession takes shape when policy demands on increased documentation in preschool is interpreted and enacted by teachers. The profession and professional identities take shape in the tension between two forms of professionalism: occupational professionalism, based on collegial authority, and organizational…

This article aims to contribute to our understanding of how moral aspects of parents' choices of preschool play a part in the processes of marketisation and privatisation of childcare in Sweden. The paper explores parents' narratives of preschool choice as moral claims of parental identities. The analysed data are based on a study of how parents…

There is growing evidence among researchers and international organisations that quality of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC), and ultimately the outcomes for children and families--especially disadvantaged ones--is dependent on well-educated and competent staff, and that a lack of higher pre-service training can be partly compensated by…

A collaborative research project that explored the impact of professional, individual and relational conditions on the resilience of early career teachers revealed the importance of understanding how they engage in the formation of professional identities. Drawing on the traditions of narrative enquiry and critical ethnography, this article…

Parents are the primary managers of children's development during their early years and greatly influence how children are primed for school. Therefore, understanding children's school preparation should involve appreciation for the unique developmental histories and perspectives that parents bring to the relationship with the child, with the…