Equity in early childhood education: policy framing, translation and enactment

Nolan, Andrea; Molla, Tebeje

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-818630-5.04098-7

Cited by 1 publication

(1 citation statement)

References 15 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…and I have to support that". This division of labour is not unexpected due to the hierarchical nature of early childhood qualifications and related pay scales, which is in direct contrast to policy documents that guide practice where all early childhood educators, regardless of qualification, are positioned as homogeneous (see Nolan and Molla, 2023). For example, the national framework to guide practice (DEEWR 2009) labels all workers, regardless of qualifications or position, as "educators".…”

Section: Social Capitalmentioning

confidence: 96%

Tracing the interconnectedness of early childhood educators’ professional capital

Nolan

2023

JPCC

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

PurposeSince the early 2000s there has been increased attention on the professionalisation of the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) workforce in many OECD countries. This study focuses on what Australian early childhood educators holding the lowest level of qualification – Certificate III are experiencing in relation to their professional capital in a sector that is experiencing wide-spread and ongoing reform. The study identifies the human capital, social capital and decisional capital of these educators, then explores the interconnections.Design/methodology/approachThis paper was funded by the Australian Research Council. The qualitative data consider the capabilities of certificate-qualified educators and how these are enabled or constrained within the workplace. The corpus of data for this study consists of 14 interviews with Certificate III-qualified educators from three locations across Victoria, Australia. Hargreaves and Fullan’s (2012) forms of professional capital (human, social and decisional) act as organisers for the themes identified through a thematic analysis.FindingsThemes identified in the data speak to inequity in access to professional learning, the valuing of life experiences, clear divisions of labour that impact what knowledge is valued, and differences in educator agency in the decision-making process. Many certificate-qualified educators experience a workplace culture that lacks trust in an individual’s professional competence and does not appreciate collegial knowledge and skill building as a collective enterprise.Originality/valueThe conceptual framing of this study provides a unique way to explore the experiences of certificate-trained educators. The study introduces the idea of using exploratory categories and the identification of levels of human, social and decisional capital. This type of study involving this cohort of educators is unique.

show abstract

Section: Social Capitalmentioning

confidence: 96%