Promoting early childhood teacher professionalism in the Australian context: the place of resistance

Marianne Fenech*, Jennifer Sumsion, Wendy Shepherd

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    49 Citations (Scopus)
    78 Downloads (Pure)

    Abstract

    The early childhood education (ECE) sector in Australia is marked by a habitus where 'professionalism' is confined to objective, technical practices. The authos suggest that this is a diminished view of professionalism, and one that compromises high-quality ECE. This article is concerned with how teacher professionalism can be re-imagined and practised within an ECE setting in ways that uphold children's rights and interests and emancipate early childhood teachers from technical, deprofessionalising constraints. Through a case study of professionalism in a reputable high-quality long-day-care centre in Sydney, Australia, the article extends thinking about teacher activism and promotes resistance-based professionalism as one way of producing an alternative habitus about quality ECE and the integral role early childhood teachers play in such provision.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)89-105
    Number of pages17
    JournalContemporary Issues in Early Childhood
    Volume11
    Issue number1
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2010

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Promoting early childhood teacher professionalism in the Australian context: the place of resistance'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this