Doing gender and professionalism: Exploring the intersectionalities of gender and professionalization in early childhood education

Men in early childhood education (ECE) are subjected to different discourses: while they are facing serious mistrust on the one hand, their otherness to the field is also interpreted as new and potentially innovative on the other hand. This article explores how male childcare workers create and take...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:European early childhood education research journal 2015-05, Vol.23 (3), p.340-350
Main Authors: Tennhoff, Wiebke, Nentwich, Julia C., Vogt, Franziska
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Child care
Child Care Centers
Child Caregivers
Day care centers
Discourse Analysis
Early Childhood Education
Foreign Countries
Gender
Gender Issues
Males
Masculinity
Professional Identity
professionalism
Social Attitudes
subject positions
Switzerland
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Men in early childhood education (ECE) are subjected to different discourses: while they are facing serious mistrust on the one hand, their otherness to the field is also interpreted as new and potentially innovative on the other hand. This article explores how male childcare workers create and take up different subject positions by drawing on these competing discourses in order to acquire a legitimate position as men in the female-dominated context of Swiss day-care centers. In constructing themselves as professionals they create a subject position that seems to move beyond the gender binary. Analysing the position of the professional in depth, the article first shows how this position is accomplished and then explores how gender unfolds between the lines by infusing professionalism with masculinity.
ISSN:1350-293X
1752-1807
DOI:10.1080/1350293X.2015.1043808