New possibilities in thinking, speaking and doing: Early childhood teachers' professional identity constructions and ethics

Abstract

THE EARLY CHILDHOOD SECTOR HAS in recent times engaged in processes of professionalisation. The expectations associated with engagement in professional relationships is one element of such processes. Another element is an expectation of ethical practice. The paper considers how particular representations of relationships and representations of ethics contribute to the construction of the professional identities of early childhood teachers. Discussion is presented of the ways early childhood teachers experience relationships with parents and colleagues. Possibilities of ‘new’ constructions of professionalism are explored through disruptions to taken-for-granted discursive practices which shape relationships between teachers and parents and between teachers and colleagues. To engage in such disruptions, a theoretical framework of poststructuralism is used to analyse early childhood literature, which works to construct particular identities for early childhood teachers. This analysis identifies possible challenges to a binary response of either acceptance of, or resistance to, dominant discourses at work in identity constructions. One outcome of this challenge is to argue the possibility of holding opposites together in the work of identity construction. Holding opposites together makes possible new, socially and contextually informed ways to think, speak and do constructions of these identities. Representation of ethics as a relational construct is located within these new possibilities of professional identity constructions.

Moral Functioning: Navigating the Messy Landscape of Values in Finnish Preschools

“…There are normative expectations that educators should engage in equal partnership with parents and should work as collaborative members of a multi-professional team (Thomas, 2012). The narratives shed light on these adult-to-adult relationships.…”

“…(Maija) This example leads to profound questions about professionalism in early childhood education. There is sometimes a dilemma between the educators' professional knowledge and the parents' legal right to make decisions about their child's education (Thomas, 2012). Doubtless, most educators view their relationships with children as a priority and are committed to promoting the children's "good" in the preschool context.…”

“…Within these narratives, being a "good" educator means enacting caring values situation by situation, in the relational context between an educator's self and the other (see Thomas, 2012). Accordingly, moral functioning is shaped by situation-and child-specific knowledge rather than by general ethical codes.…”

“…Being a professional meant adhering to general ethical codes articulated in legislation, policy documents, and curricula (see Fenech et al, 2008;Thomas, 2012). In Group 2, we were told about situations in which the rules provided the educators with much-needed support for their decisions:…”

Writing matters in leadership practice

“…The research intent of this professional learning project was to consider ways in which writing can be used as a tool when considering professional leadership identity. Writing was used not as an individual, isolated task but rather as a collaborative, guided process -as 'writing conversations' -the exchange between self and other, with an uneasy acceptance that neither are ever fixed or fully known (Thomas, 2012). Ways of thinking about language and writing is critical in this methodology.…”