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Drawing on the life histories of nine women who were trained at Froebel College in the 1950s and 1960s, this paper examines the women's narratives as Froebelian student teachers and explores their remembered constructions of their experiences. Using an analytical framework underpinned by theories of identity and language their stories are shown to shed light on the women's engagement with and commitment to Froebelian ideas and their sense of identifying with what the college stood for. The women's stories illustrate a version of professionalism, located in time, place and culture, which incorporates contradictory elements of self-belief and self-effacement. In reflecting on their identities as Froebelians, their stories enact an understanding of politics and advocacy which demonstrates professional autonomy. Unexpectedly, their stories also show some difficulties with articulating Froebelian principles, and instead express an emotional attachment. That emotional engagement, rather than being seen as an inadequacy, is argued to be a strand in developing a hopeful, motivating and enabling professional workforce, capable of working effectively in the challenging current context of increasing statutory pressures towards performativity, regulation and control in early childhood education and care.Keywords: Froebel; early childhood professionalism; women teachers; life history IntroductionIf three hundred years after my death my method of education shall be completely established according to its idea, I shall rejoice in heaven. (Froebel, quoted in von MarenholtzBuelow 1877, 17) The life histories of the nine Froebel-trained women whose stories form the basis of this research show that Froebel's philosophy and approach had a profound and lasting effect on their professional identities. We can barely speculate about early childhood education in 2152, which would be three hundred years after Froebel's death (1852), but our analysis of these stories demonstrates how the non-prescriptive nature of his theories and the acute sense of belonging and believing that his ideas engendered in these women in the 1950s and 1960s contribute to the enduring qualities of Froebel's philosophy.We are driven by a contemporary commitment to Froebel's educational ideals (1885, 1896) and to protecting and developing them to the benefit of early years pupils and practitioners today. This is in resistance to ongoing statutory pressures to follow a more didactic and assessment-driven pedagogical approach, as highlighted by Osgood (2006Osgood ( , 2010, Taggart (2011) and Rose and Rogers (2012). This article draws on life history interview data, collected as part of a research project funded by the Froebel Trust, and seeks to explore how Froebelian principles were understood and put into practice in the 1950s and 1960s, as narrated by a group of women who were trained at Froebel College during that time. What was their educational experience at Froebel College? How did they engage with Froebelian ideas? What was the impact of that experience ...

Drawing on life history interview data collected as part of a research project funded by the Froebel Trust, this paper explores the family backgrounds and educational experiences reported by nine women who attended Froebel College located in London in the United Kingdom (UK), in the 1950s and 1960s. Informed by Bourdieu's 1 theories of habitus and field and theories of identity 2 , this paper explores any shared habitus and dispositions within the early childhood and family milieu reported by the participants. The paper also considers the women's educational experiences and their stories of getting into Froebel College, reflecting on the commonality of family values and secondary education pathways they reported. The findings show some striking resonances between Froebel's 3 educational ideals, in particular his belief in the mystical and transformative power of learning through play and engaging with nature 4 and the participants' stories of their early childhood experiences.