Relational professionalism in early childhood teaching has been described as reflecting professional ethic of care values, as well as historical maternalist views. In Aotearoa/New Zealand, early childhood teachers negotiate conflicting contexts of professionalisation and maternalism. A strategic plan for early childhood education has emphasised teaching qualifications, and professional standards regulate early childhood teacher education and teacher registration. This article discusses findings from two participants involved in a post-structural study of newly qualified early childhood teachers' negotiations of their subjectivities within three dominant discourses. The authority discourse positioned the participants as claimed by the authority of qualifications and accountability requirements, while also claiming authority as knowledgeable and qualified. The identity work discourse positioned participants as responsible for shaping their own professional identities. A dominant discourse of relational professionalism positioned participants as relational professionals who engaged in warm, trusting and positive professional relationships. Data from two participants shows how they engaged in discursive practices in individual and complex ways in order to actively negotiate their subjectivities within the relational professionalism discourse.
AitkenH. & KennedyA. (2007) Critical Issues for the Early Childhood Profession, in Keesing-StylesL. & HedgesH. (Eds) Theorising Early Childhood Practice: emerging dialogues, pp. 165–181. Castle Hill: Pademelon Press.
3.
BownK.SumsionJ. & PressF. (2011) Dark Matter: the ‘gravitational pull’ of maternalist discourses on politicians' decision making for early childhood policy in Australia, Gender and Education, 23(3), 263–280. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1080/09540253.2010.491792
4.
CannellaG.S. (1997) Deconstructing Early Childhood Education: social justice and revolution. New York: Peter Lang.
5.
DalliC. (2006) Re-visioning Love and Care in Early Childhood: constructing the future of our profession, The First Years – Ngā Tau Tuatahi, 8(1), 5–11.
DalliC. (2012) A Constant Juggle for Balance: a day in the life of a New Zealand kindergarten teacher, in MillerL.DalliC. & UrbanM. (Eds) Early Childhood Grows Up: towards a critical ecology of the profession, pp. 87–101. Dordrecht: Springer.
8.
DuncanJ. (1996) ‘For the Sake of the Children’ as the Worth of the Teacher? The Gendered Discourses of the New Zealand National Kindergarten Teachers' Employment Negotiations, Gender and Education, 8(2), 159–170. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1080/09540259650038833
FoucaultM. (1980a) Truth and Power, in GordonC. (Ed.) Power/Knowledge: selected interviews and other writings 1972–1977, pp. 109–133. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
12.
FoucaultM. (1980b) Two Lectures, in GordonC. (Ed.) Power/Knowledge: selected interviews and other writings 1972–1977, pp. 78–108. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
13.
GrieshaberS. (2001) Advocacy and Early Childhood Educators: identity and cultural conflicts, in GrieshaberS. & CannellaG.S. (Eds) Embracing Identities in Early Childhood Education, pp. 60–72. New York: Teachers College Press.
14.
HollandD.LachiotteW.SkinnerD. & CainC. (1998) Identity and Agency in Cultural Worlds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
15.
HolsteinJ.A. & GubriumJ.F. (2000) The Self We Live By: narrative identity in a postmodern world. New York: Oxford University Press.
New Zealand Ministry of Education (1996) Te Whāriki – He whāriki mātauranga mō ngā mokopuna o Aotearoa – Early Childhood Curriculum. Wellington: Learning Media.
20.
New Zealand Ministry of Education (2002) Pathways to the Future – Ngā huarahi arataki: a 10-year strategic plan for early childhood education. Wellington: Learning Media.
OsgoodJ. (2012) Narratives from the Nursery: negotiating professional identities in early childhood. London: Routledge.
27.
RobinsonL. (2007) Discourses of Teaching in Selected Childcare Settings. Master of Education thesis, Massey University.
28.
RyanS.OchsnerM. & GenishiC. (2001) Miss Nelson Is Missing! Teacher Sightings in Research on Teaching, in GrieshaberS. & CannellaG.S. (Eds) Embracing Identities in Early Childhood Education: diversity and possibilities, pp. 47–60. New York: Teachers College Press.
29.
SumsionJ. (2005) Staff Shortages in Children's Services: challenging taken-for-granted discourses, Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 30(2), 40–48.
WarrenA. (2012) Negotiations of Personal Professional Identities by Newly-Qualified Early Childhood Teachers through Facilitated Self-Study. Master of Education thesis, University of Canterbury, Christchurch. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/7016
32.
WarrenA. (2013a) ‘I Wondered Does This Make Me Any Less of a Teacher … ?’: early childhood teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand claimed by and claiming authority within a dominant discourse, Journal of Early Childhood Research, 12(2), 185–194. https://dx-doi-org.web.bisu.edu.cn/10.1177/1476718X12463914
33.
WarrenA. (2013b) Making Changes or Holding on: Early childhood teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand engage in identity work, Early Childhood Folio, 17(2), 15–20.
