Early Years Educators in Finland and England: Issues of professionality Educateurs Pre´scolaires en Finlande et en Angleterre: Questions de professionnalite´ Los Educadores de Menores en Finlandia e Inglaterra: Temas de profesionalidad

Can ECE professionals be advocates? Perspectives from the child care advocacy movement in Manitoba and Ontario

“…According to Chandler (2012), early childhood professionals demonstrate up-to-date knowledge and strategies for working with children, participate in and understand the importance of reflective practice and continually learn about evolving theoretical foundations of ECE. Moriarty (2000) argued that a more inclusive definition of professionalism is needed for the early childhood workforce that is not based merely on technical expertise and curriculum knowledge in their work. Moriarty (2000) further suggested that educators in Western nations need to be supported to meaningfully engage in public debates by critiquing and contributing to them as professionals with firsthand knowledge of how policy impacts their day-to-day work.…”

“…Moriarty (2000) argued that a more inclusive definition of professionalism is needed for the early childhood workforce that is not based merely on technical expertise and curriculum knowledge in their work. Moriarty (2000) further suggested that educators in Western nations need to be supported to meaningfully engage in public debates by critiquing and contributing to them as professionals with firsthand knowledge of how policy impacts their day-to-day work. Harwoord, Klooper, Osanyin & Vanderlee (2013) describe that early childhood education and care is exceptionally different from other, more traditional conceptualizations of professionalism given the emotional demands of their work.…”

Reading between the Lines: An Interpretative Meta-Analysis of Ways Early Childhood Educators Negotiate Discourses and Subjectivities Informing Practice

“…Regulatory discourses claim to promote discourses of 'quality' and 'safety' (Fenech et al, 2008;Urban, 2008), yet, the ECEs' experiences related above suggest that this may not extend to ECEs themselves. Rather, it seems that using strategies of self-surveillance and self-regulation sometimes means that working 'with' the grain can be an uneasy experience, that may also rob ECEs of the opportunity to exercise professional autonomy, and potentially undermine their professional confidence, engagement and satisfaction (Moriarty, 2000;.…”

“…The findings reported suggest, for example, that this is a body of literature that (in terms of Nuttall et al's [2006] critique of Australian teacher education research) provides a firm basis for further enquiry. Although many studies analysed in this article are isolated and small-scale, others report on studies that are multi-national (Moriarty, 2000;Adair, 2011), multi-stage (Brownlee et al, 2000;Edwards, 2005Edwards, , 2006Colley, 2006;Langford, 2007Langford, , 2008, and multi-site (Karlson & Simonsson, 2008;Osgood, 2010). Many studies also demonstrated 'explor[ation of] concepts or theoretical standpoints that might offer new or alternative insights' (Nuttall et al, 2006, p. 325), via in-depth engagement with theoretical and epistemological concerns (Skattebol, 2003;Edwards, 2005Edwards, , 2006Surtees, 2005;Brownlee & Berthelsen, 2006;Colley, 2006;Fenech & Sumsion, 2007b;Giugni, 2011), and through their use of multiple methods of data collection to investigate research topics (Osgood, 2004(Osgood, , 2010Colley, 2006;Elfer & Dearnley, 2007;Fasoli & Moss, 2007;Fenech & Sumsion, 2007b;Skattebol, 2010).…”

Leadership in Early Childhood Education

“…It has been suggested previously (Moriarty 2000, Chowne & Moriarty 2000 that the structures of education system experienced by teachers in England have caused this disengagement. Early years practitioners in Finland have been involved in forming their own curriculum through the devolving of power and this has an impact on the way parents are perceived and the kinds of collaborative relationships that can be formed between early years professionals and parents.…”