Professionalism – a breeding ground for struggle. The example of the Finnish day‐care centre

Abstract

This article examines the Finnish day-care centre out of a neo-WeberianBourdieuan frame of reference. The leading idea is that the day-care centre field is continuously shaping as a result of both inner struggles and struggles with other fields. The state, the education system, and trade unions act as the dealers of professional playing cards. Struggles are fought with strategies of social closure over capitals and positions. The study aims at not only describing the object but at understanding the dynamics involved.

‘I think a lot of it is common sense. …’ Early years students, professionalism and the development of a ‘vocational habitus’

“…The focus of our study on students, rather than experienced workers, serves to differentiate it from much of the existing research on practitioners' understandings of professionalism (e.g. Kinos 2008;Osgood 2008). However, we also accept that the students' views may change as they get older and (perhaps) more embedded in their working identities, and as they experience different work settings and further training and development.…”

“…The concern about increasing the amount of early years provision is generally coupled with a recognition that provision has to be of good quality. 3 In order to try and ensure this, there has been growing amounts of regulation of early childhood services in countries both within and without Europe (Kinos 2008;Oberheumer 2005). The quality of the workforce is understood by academics and policy makers to be central to good quality provision (e.g.…”

Finnish ECEC policy: interpretations, implementations and implications

“…The shaping of the ECEC field: rivalry between professional groups Jarmo Kinos (2008) has scrutinized the field of ECEC within a sociological framework. It would appear that the struggle between the various professional groups in the domain of ECEC is playing a central role in the shaping of the field.…”

Knowledge, practice, and the shaping of early childhood professionalism

“…Where there is a commitment to 'conceptualise early childhood professionals within a wider perspective' (Oberheumer 2005, 10) as we have seen in Denmark and Sweden, a systemic perspective is engendered that foregrounds 'shared understandings of childhood, knowledge, learning and care' (10) to shape beneficial social relations across institutions in the broader professional community. Of course, it can also be argued that the subjugation of ECEC policy and practice to economic models with origins in Anglo-American capitalism are also facilitating greater AngloAmerican influences on ECEC professionalism throughout Europe (Kinos 2008), and this may challenge such models. Forms of professionalism in the Anglo-American tradition have foregrounded autonomy and capacity to self-regulate, and there has been considerable resistance from some professions to state intervention (Friedson 2001).…”