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What does it mean to be an early childhood educator? Negotiating professionalism during practicum placements in Buenos Aires (Argentina)

Guevara, Jennifer ORCID: 0000-0003-2581-5102 (2020) What does it mean to be an early childhood educator? Negotiating professionalism during practicum placements in Buenos Aires (Argentina). European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 28 (3). pp. 439-449. ISSN 1350-293X

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Abstract

Professionalism is not defined a priori, but rather within a professional community, in the immediate contexts where professionals interact. It is a situated phenomenon that cannot be accounted for without the voices of members of the professional community. In this article, I discuss professionalism through the perspectives of early childhood (EC) teacher educators during practicum placements. Placements are a microcosm that offers a forum for discussing and researching processes in situ within the professional community. The article draws on 11 in-depth interviews and 150 hours of participant observation in a Teacher Education Institute in Buenos Aires (Argentina). Results show EC teacher educators construct and (re)negotiate professionalism through discourses and practices of assertion and resistance banalisation, schoolification and fordification of early childhood education. We suggest that professionalism unfolds from collective and individual practical wisdom, a sensitivity and awareness of particular situations that is tacit and embodied in the most experienced.

Item Type:Article (Published)
Refereed:Yes
Uncontrolled Keywords:early childhood education and care; early childhood educators; early childhood professionalism; early childhood teachers education; practical wisdom
Subjects:Social Sciences > Education
Social Sciences > Teaching
DCU Faculties and Centres:DCU Faculties and Schools > Institute of Education > School of Language, Literacy, & Early Childhood Education
Publisher:Taylor & Francis
Official URL:http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1350293X.2020.1755500
Copyright Information:© 2020 Taylor & Francis
Use License:This item is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License. View License
Funders:CONICET
ID Code:24530
Deposited On:03 Jun 2020 12:23 by Jennifer Guevara . Last Modified 23 Oct 2021 03:30

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