Making Sense of Competing Constructs of Teacher as Professional

Considerable attention has been paid across international contexts to structural factors affecting the sustainability of the early childhood workforce. While attention to these elements is vital, it can nevertheless overshadow less tangible elements that may contribute to, or assist in addressing, problems of workforce sustainability. In particular, an existing body of literature suggests that discourses and subjectivities play an important role in informing early childhood practice. In this article we report on an interpretative meta-analysis of 38 empirical studies from 9 countries, which are concerned with ways early childhood educators negotiate discourses and subjectivities informing early childhood practice. We found that early childhood educators participating in these empirical studies used a highly complex set of strategies to negotiate the relations of power that operate within and between discourses and subjectivities informing early childhood practice. We conclude that understanding more about ways early childhood educators negotiate discourses and subjectivities has the potential to inform efforts to address problems of workforce sustainability, and is worthy of further study. children, families, and for ECEs themselves (UNICEF, 2008; Institute of Medicine and National Research Council, 2012). Attention to structural elements and issues is vital, but, can however, overshadow 'less tangible' elements that may contribute to, or assist in addressing, problems of workforce sustainability. For example, an existing body of literature relating to the early childhood field suggests that prominent discourses-such as those of professionalism (

Section: Critically Reflective Practicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Phases Of the Meta-analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Phases Of the Meta-analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Cumming

Sumsion

Wong

2013

“…This construction is also evident in images of students and parents as 'customers' (Sisson, 2009), and of the teacher as a technician 'in the service of implementation' (Parr, 2004, p. 33). One of the preschool teachers, Sam, illustrated this as she described a 'big push' by the school's leadership:…”

Section: Teachers As Techniciansmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disciplining Professionals: A Feminist Discourse Analysis of Public Preschool Teachers

Sisson

Iverson

2014

Self Cite

Educational reforms across the globe have had implications for the work of preschool teachers and thus their professional identities. This article draws on a feminist discourse lens to examine data collected from a recent narrative inquiry focused on understanding the professional identities of five public preschool teachers in the USA. This analysis identifies two discourses (the discourse of professionalism and the discourse of the caregiver), bringing to light the discursive tensions that existed within this context, and examines how dominate discourses construct a double bind that leaves preschool teachers with conflicting identities as they navigate professional expectations.

“…In order to support strong teacher identity formation within these borderlands, teacher educators and researchers need to help teachers recognize and make sense of the landscape of competing conceptions of what is "best" for students that often defines these borderlands. Supporting strong teacher identities means supporting the agency of teachers to make choices within their practice that reflect their professional and local knowledge of what students need (Manning-Morton, 2006;Sisson, 2009).…”

Section: Interpretations: Understanding Dissonancementioning

confidence: 99%

Dissonance for understanding: Exploring a new theoretical lens for understanding teacher identity formation in borderlands of practice

Delaney

2015

Borderlands of practice are spaces where teachers are engaged in negotiating multiple conceptions of "best practices" within their daily teaching practice. Teachers at work in borderlands must actively negotiate varied conceptions, expectations, and assumptions about what is "best" for their students. These conceptions often challenge teacher professional knowledge and can result in a sense of dissonance about how to best meet the needs of students. Using a case study of one veteran teacher's sense-making processes in her first year of teaching pre-Kindergarten, this article explores how a theoretical lens of dissonance might help researchers and teacher educators to better understand and support teacher identity formation in borderlands of practice.