kirsty cranitch bteach (music) ba (journalism) · bteach (music) ba (journalism) submitted in...

PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY: SHAPING

ATTRACTION, RETENTION, AND

TRAINING INTENTIONS IN EARLY

CHILDHOOD EDUCATION AND CARE

Kirsty Cranitch

BTeach (Music)

BA (Journalism)

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Business (Research)

School of Management

Queensland University of Technology Business School

2017

Professional Identity: Shaping Attraction, Retention, and Training Intentions in Early Childhood Education and Care i

Keywords

Child care, Early Childhood Education and Care, ECEC, EC educator, EC educator

attraction, EC educator pay, EC educator retention, EC educator qualifications, EC

educator work conditions, long day care, professional identity

iiProfessional Identity: Shaping Attraction, Retention, and Training Intentions in Early Childhood Education and Care

Abstract

In the Australian early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector, long day

care is a well-established centre-based offering comprising almost forty per cent of

the country’s approved ECEC services. These centres employ around 76,000 early

childhood (EC) educators who are directly involved in delivering education and care

services to children, from babies to five years of age. However, enduring challenges

adversely impact EC educator pay, conditions, qualification attainment, and

retention. Retention problems are significant, with the sector losing a relatively

higher number of employees than all other occupations in Australia.

Previous research has examined some reasons as to why EC educators exit

the early childhood field, but relatively less attention has been afforded to why some

EC educators choose to stay in the long day care sector. This qualitative study

addresses this gap in knowledge through an examination of how the theoretical

construct of professional identity shapes educators’ attraction to, retention within,

and intent to pursue training in long day care services. In doing so, a new perspective

is offered to the literature, adding to the work to address EC educator retention

problems through the introduction or extension of employee incentives, policy

reform, and reframed discourses around identified problems.

This study used a biographical interview method to collect and analyse

narrative accounts from 18 EC educators from two long day care centres on the

urban fringes of a metropolitan city in Australia to understand the cognitive

processes underpinning the choices of individuals in pursuing their professional

choices. In the context of a sector that faces ingrained structural and social

impediments to improving conditions and pay, this study found that EC educators

Professional Identity: Shaping Attraction, Retention, and Training Intentions in Early Childhood Education and Care iii

cannot truly identify as professionals until measures are taken to address ongoing

issues related to status and esteem. This research contributes to scholarly and

practitioner understanding around the importance of supporting staff identification

with their profession for improved personal and organisational outcomes.

ivProfessional Identity: Shaping Attraction, Retention, and Training Intentions in Early Childhood Education and Care

Table of Contents

Keywords .................................................................................................................................. i Abstract .................................................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents .................................................................................................................... iv List of Figures ......................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables .......................................................................................................................... vii List of Abbreviations ............................................................................................................. viii Statement of Original Authorship ........................................................................................... ix Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. x CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ........................................................................ 11 1.1 RESEARCH BACKGROUND ..................................................................................... 11 1.2 RESEARCH PROBLEM AND RATIONALE ............................................................ 13 1.3 RESEARCH AIM AND APPROACH ......................................................................... 14 1.4 THESIS OUTLINE ....................................................................................................... 15 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................ 16 2.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 16 2.2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND .................................................................................. 16

2.2.1 Introduction of Commonwealth funding ........................................................... 17 2.3 ECEC IN AUSTRALIA TODAY ................................................................................. 18 2.4 REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT ............................................................................. 19 2.5 EC EDUCATOR RETENTION ................................................................................... 26

2.5.1 Factors contributing to EC educator retention rates .......................................... 26 2.6 THEORETICAL APPROACH ..................................................................................... 36 2.7 THE ROLE OF PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY ........................................................... 37 2.8 PROFESSIONALISM AND EC EDUCATORS .......................................................... 39 2.9 PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AND EC EDUCATORS ............................................. 41 2.10 A PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY FRAMEWORK ...................................................... 42

2.10.1 Continuity .......................................................................................................... 42 2.10.2 Belonging and attachment ................................................................................. 44 2.10.3 Status and esteem ............................................................................................... 45 2.10.4 Mastery .............................................................................................................. 46

2.11 DEFINITION OF PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY FOR THIS THESIS ...................... 47 2.12 SUMMARY ................................................................................................................. 47 CHAPTER 3: METHODS .................................................................................... 48 3.1 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................ 48

3.1.1 Qualitative research ........................................................................................... 48 3.2 METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH DESIGN ........................................................ 49

Professional Identity: Shaping Attraction, Retention, and Training Intentions in Early Childhood Education and Care v

3.2.1 Approach and research questions ....................................................................... 49 3.2.2 Sample ................................................................................................................ 49

3.3 SUMMARY................................................................................................................... 54 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS ...................................................................................... 55 4.1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 55 4.2 CONTINUITY ............................................................................................................... 55

4.2.1 Continuity – past interests and influences .......................................................... 56 4.2.2 Continuity – future interests ............................................................................... 59 4.2.3 Summary ............................................................................................................ 64

4.3 BELONGING AND ATTACHMENT .......................................................................... 65 4.3.1 Belonging and attachment – children ................................................................. 66 4.3.2 Belonging and attachment – families ................................................................. 66 4.3.3 Belonging and attachment – colleagues and sector ............................................ 67 4.3.4 Summary ............................................................................................................ 69

4.4 STATUS AND ESTEEM .............................................................................................. 71 4.4.1 Status and esteem – views of others ................................................................... 71 4.4.2 Status and esteem – views of self ....................................................................... 73 4.4.3 Paper work, surveillance and pay as impacting status and esteem ..................... 75 4.4.4 Summary ............................................................................................................ 79

4.5 MASTERY .................................................................................................................... 81 4.5.1 Importance of the EC educator role to child development ................................. 82 4.5.2 Other specialist competencies ............................................................................ 84 4.5.3 Leadership and social skills ................................................................................ 85 4.5.4 Summary ............................................................................................................ 87

4.6 SUMMARY................................................................................................................... 88 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION .......................................... 91 5.1 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 91 5.2 PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AND EC EDUCATORS .............................................. 92

5.2.1 Attraction to and retention in the ECEC sector .................................................. 92 5.2.2 Raising the bar on qualifications in the ECEC sector ........................................ 95 5.2.3 Implications for the ECEC sector ....................................................................... 96

5.3 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................... 100 REFERENCE LIST ............................................................................................... 104 APPENDICES ........................................................................................................ 121

viProfessional Identity: Shaping Attraction, Retention, and Training Intentions in Early Childhood Education and Care

List of Figures

Figure 2.1 ECEC regulation and delivery in Australia .............................................. 20

Professional Identity: Shaping Attraction, Retention, and Training Intentions in Early Childhood Education and Care vii

List of Tables

Table 2.1 EC educator award rates compared to national minimum wage ................ 27 Table 3.1 Participant details ....................................................................................... 51 Table 3.2 Major analysis themes ................................................................................ 54 Table 4.1 Summary of study participants, employment intentions, and time in

ECEC sector ................................................................................................. 64 Table 5.1 Impact of professional identity framework dimensions ............................. 97

viiiProfessional Identity: Shaping Attraction, Retention, and Training Intentions in Early Childhood Education and Care

List of Abbreviations

ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics

ACECQA Australian Children's Education & Care Quality Authority

ANZSCO Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations

COAG Council of Australian Governments

DEEWR Department of Education Employment and Workplace Relations

EC Early childhood

ECEC Early childhood education and care

EC educator Early childhood educator

ELYF Early Years Learning Framework

NQF National Quality Framework

NQS National Quality Standard

OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development

SCSEEC Standing Council on School Education and Early Childhood

Professional Identity: Shaping Attraction, Retention, and Training Intentions in Early Childhood Education and Care ix

Statement of Original Authorship

The work contained in this thesis has not been previously submitted to meet

requirements for an award at this or any other higher education institution. To the

best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously

published or written by another person except where due reference is made.

Signature: QUT Verified Signature

Date: October, 2017

xProfessional Identity: Shaping Attraction, Retention, and Training Intentions in Early Childhood Education and Care

Acknowledgements

I dedicate this thesis to my husband, Mark Cranitch; children, Hamish and

Matthew Cranitch; and my parents, Marlane and Duncan Shaw, who have supported

me with patience and love, through its drafting, writing, and editing in recent years.

They have always encouraged me while I worked and completed this study. I also

thank my extended family, including my brother Anthony Shaw, and my parents-in-

law Joanne and Barry Cranitch, and my friends for their interest in my research

progress.

I offer heartfelt thanks and acknowledgement for the ongoing support and

guidance provided to me by my principal supervisor, Professor Paula McDonald, and

associate supervisor, Associate Professor Deanna Grant-Smith. I consider myself

extremely fortunate that Paula and Deanna agreed to supervise my work and shared

their wealth of expertise and experience to assist me in achieving my goals. Paula,

you had a visionary outlook at the commencement of this research, and patiently and

generously supported me with considered and wise words to see this work through to

the end. Deanna, I very much appreciated the different perspectives you introduced

me to at various times throughout this research, and your helpful consideration of

and suggestions for resolving challenging areas. I learned a great deal about new

discipline areas, theory, qualitative research, and thesis writing thanks to expert

counsel from both of you.

I also thank my research degree student colleague, Jane Tsakissiris for

collaborating with me as we worked to progress our research, and the higher degree

research staff in the QUT Business School for their invaluable assistance.

My thanks also to professional editor, Kylie Morris, who provided copyediting

and proofreading services, according to the guidelines laid out in the university-

endorsed national ‘Guidelines for editing research theses’.

I am indebted to the EC educators who agreed to be interviewed for, and who

were the subjects of, this research. Due to their generosity with their time and

insightful responses, they have contributed to research that reveals new information

about their professional circumstances at local, national, and global levels.

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 11

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 RESEARCH BACKGROUND

In the Australian early childhood education and care (ECEC) sector, long day

care is a well-established offering, providing services on a full or part day basis for

children aged 0-5 years. In 2016, almost 40 per cent of the 17,600 approved ECEC

services in the country were defined as long day care (Department of Employment,

2016, p. 5). This is the result of strong growth over the five years 2012-16, which

saw the number of long day care centres, 60 per cent of which are privately owned,

increase from 6000 to 7000 in number (Department of Education and Training, 2012,

2013, 2014, 2015, 2016a; Productivity Commission, 2014, p. 81). These centres

employ around 76,000 EC educators, who make up 70 per cent of the ECEC sector

workforce and are involved in the direct delivery of education and care services to

approximately 680,000 children (Department of Education and Training, 2016a, p. 3;

Productivity Commission, 2014, pp. 76, 78-79, 95).

The purpose of ECEC services – to benefit children’s life outcomes and to

contribute to the nation economically and socially by providing the opportunity for

parents to engage in paid employment – is long-established (Brennan, 1998; Council

of Australian Governments [COAG], 2009b; Thorpe, Ailwood, Boyd, & Brownlee,

2011). This purpose, and the role of EC educator/child relationships in achieving it,

underpins the key government frameworks that regulate ECEC services in Australia

(Australian Children's Education & Care Quality Authority [ACECQA], 2011f;

Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations [DEEWR], 2009).

However, a range of enduring challenges (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2011, p. 29;

United Voice, 2014, p. 13), adversely impact the pay, work conditions, qualification

attainment, retention, and therefore sustainability, of EC educators working in long

day care (Cumming, Sumsion, & Wong, 2015, p. 6; Productivity Commission, 2014,

p. 465; United Voice, 2014, p. 13).

For example, in Australia, in 2017, Certificate III-qualified EC educators

received $783 per week before tax (Fair Work Commission, 2017), significantly less

12 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

than average weekly earnings for all occupations at $1164 (Australian Bureau of

Statistics [ABS], 2017). In recent surveys of EC educators, one third of respondents

identified that low pay caused them to leave the sector (United Voice, 2014, p. 33),

and almost half indicated dissatisfaction with conditions and pay (Social Research

Centre, 2014, p. 43). Exacerbating these problems is the relatively flat career

structure associated with EC educator work, with little or no recognition of length of

service reflected in earnings (United Voice, 2014, p. 35). Around 95 per cent of

Australian EC educators are female and award-dependent (Productivity Commission,

2014, p. 312); factors that contribute to the sector’s labour market vulnerability

(United Voice, 2014, p. 38).

While 87 per cent of EC educators report being satisfied with their job, (Social

Research Centre, 2014, p. 43), they face demanding work conditions in exchange for

low pay. Role requirements include program and curriculum evaluation, meeting

safety and hygiene standards, cleaning work areas, mentoring staff, and observing

children. Yet, EC educators report inadequate sick leave entitlements and limited

opportunities to engage in further training or qualifications at work. In some

instances, EC educators are asked to pay for their own work supplies (United Voice,

2011; 2014, pp. 27, 33).

Low pay and poor conditions have contributed to EC educator shortages in

seven out of the ten years from 2007 to 2016, with more than one in seven employees

leaving the sector each year (Department of Employment, 2016, p. 1; Productivity

Commission, 2011, p. 73). Results from a 2013 workforce survey demonstrated that

around 20 per cent of respondents intended to leave their place of employment within

that year (Social Research Centre, 2014). Of those who expected to leave, 30 per cent

were unhappy with pay and conditions, 20 per cent considered the job stressful and

30 per cent were looking for work in another field (Social Research Centre, 2014, p.

3). Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data shows that 20.4 per cent of EC

educators actually do leave the sector each year, a significantly higher percentage

than the 11.4 per cent of workers across all other occupations with similar intentions

(Department of Employment, 2014b, p. 7).

Since 2014, fifty per cent of EC educators working in long day care centres

who deliver on child ratio mandates have been required to hold (or be in the process

of studying for) a relevant diploma qualification, and all remaining EC educators


must hold (or be in the process of studying for) a relevant Certification III level

qualification (ACECQA, 2011d). Only seventy per cent of applicants for EC

educator positions were considered appropriately qualified in 2016 (Department of

Employment, 2016, p. 1).

1.2 RESEARCH PROBLEM AND RATIONALE

Problems such as low pay, poor work conditions, limited qualification levels,

and retention issues for EC educators are not limited to the present-day Australian

context. Internationally, the literature has emphasised the ECEC sector’s significant

problem with retention (Gable, Rothrauff, Thorburg & Mauzy, 2007; Productivity

Commission, 2014; Rolfe, 2005; United Voice, 2014; Whitebook & Sakai, 2003).

For example, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)

has noted the challenge of developing and maintaining a high-quality workforce in

the ECEC sector across many countries:

Chronic shortages of ECEC staff are observed, especially in remote and

disadvantaged areas… the main reasons for the shortages are often cited as:

low wages, low social status, heavy workload and lack of career progression

paths… (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development

[OECD], 2011, p. 190)

Despite these entrenched problems, there are EC educators who choose to stay

within the ECEC sector; however, little research has addressed how these choices are

shaped. To better understand why EC educators continue to work in long day care,

this study draws on professional identity, a theoretical construct that can be used to

understand workplace behaviour.

Identity has been examined from many different fields of inquiry, such as

psychology, sociology, linguistics, anthropology and education, among others

(Vignoles, Schwartz, & Luyckx, 2010, p. 3). The construct of identity can be viewed

across individual, relational (to others) and collective (group belonging) dimensions.

For example, from Tajfel’s (1978) work on social identity, identity is seen through

the lens of social psychology and how individuals’ identification at the group level

impacts personal decision-making, while Erikson (1950) viewed individual identity

as developmental over a staged process. Meanwhile, identity has also been viewed

through cultural perspectives by theorists such as Berry, Hofstede and Triandis,

14 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

while discursive understandings draw on Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language.

Identity is also understood through the post-structuralist social theory of Focault,

among others (as cited in Schwartz et al, 2011).

Professional identity is based on a type of collective identity and therefore

draws from social identity theory, supporting individuals to maintain career

continuity, stability and longevity (FAME Consortium, 2007). As this research aims

to understand the decisions of EC educators who possess these dimensions of career

longevity, professional identity is therefore a useful construct through which to

examine these choices.

1.3 RESEARCH AIM AND APPROACH

In this study, professional identity has been used as a theoretical lens to

understand what attracts EC educators to work in the sector; their intentions to stay

in the sector/and or place of employment; and their likelihood of pursuing relevant

qualifications. This study considered the following research questions:

How does professional identity shape EC educators’:

1. attraction to the ECEC sector;

2. intentions to stay in the ECEC sector;

3. intentions to complete or pursue aligned qualifications?

The outcomes of the study make three contributions to understanding the

sustainability of EC educator employment. First, it uncovers, from the under-

examined perspectives of EC educators themselves, the symbolic issues that matter

to them in terms of attraction, retention, and training. Second, and relatedly, these

findings can be used to inform the development of future ECEC policy and

workplace practices regarding the improvement of employment sustainability. Third,

the research contributes to the theoretical understandings of professional identity as

the construct relates to the occupational field of EC education in long day care

services, studies of which are currently limited.

A qualitative research approach using the biographical method was employed

in this study (Denzin, 2001, p. 59). Based on interpretive interactionism (Denzin,

2001), the method involved the collection and analysis of stories, accounts, and

narratives that marked significant milestones in the lives of EC educators, allowing


for self-reflection on the choices made and the reasons behind them. A purposive

sampling strategy was used to select 18 participants in two not-for-profit long day

care centres located on the urban fringes of a large Australian metropolitan city.

Semi-structured face-to-face interviews were conducted with these participants to

draw out responses to a range of biographical questions related to past and present

occupational choices, experiences, and intentions. The study is part of a larger-multi-

disciplinary Australian Research Council Linkage Scheme project “Identifying

effective strategies to grow and sustain a professional early years workforce.”1

1.4 THESIS OUTLINE

This chapter has provided an introduction to the research, including the

research problem and rationale, and outlined the aim and approaches used in this

study. Chapter 2 discusses Australia’s current and historical ECEC landscape, issues

pertaining to EC educator retention, professional identity, and the impact of

professional identity on retention and career continuity in other occupational fields.

Chapter 3 details the methods used to conduct the study, while Chapter 4 discusses

the research findings and implications from a theoretical and practical perspective

through data analysis using conceptual dimensions comprising a framework of

professional identity. Finally, Chapter 5 considers the interactions between these

dimensions in relation to participant workplace experiences, to shed light on the

research questions.

1 Grant ID: LP140100652

16 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter firstly outlines the current context of the ECEC sector in

Australia, followed by a brief discussion of historical developments in Australia’s

ECEC landscape, and how they relate to factors impacting EC educator pay,

retention, and intent to pursue qualifications. The underlying elements associated

with retention and qualification issues are then explored. Finally, the theoretical

construct of professional identity is defined and examined, along with a discussion of

its potential contribution to developing new understandings of identified EC educator

retention problems.

2.2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Approaches to ECEC delivery have differed throughout Australia in the 20th

and early 21st centuries, with offerings being managed through separate health, care,

or education services across public, commercial, and community enterprise (Tayler,

2011, p. 215). The current positioning of ECEC services to provide both education

and care for children originated with Australian Labor Party government child care

policy (Whitlam) in 1974, which formally bridged the two concepts, previously

viewed as distinct (Brennan, 1998, p. 74; Press & Hayes, 2000, p. 17). For example,

Brennan (2005, p. 74) noted that up until the 1960s, understanding of the term “child

care” was aligned with child welfare – working with children and young people who

were considered disadvantaged due to being “without the support of family life”

(Parker, 1961, p. 49). The understanding of education as a distinct concept was

evident with the establishment of Australian kindergartens as education-focused

charitable enterprises, offering services only to children aged over three years and for

limited hours. The needs of working mothers were not considered in these offerings.

In response, the day nursery movement provided services to children from infancy,

with a focus on the physical and emotional “care” of children, usually by nurses

(Brennan, 1998, p. 28; Spearitt, 1979, p. 20).

With women placed as pivotal to the household (Ailwood, 2007, p. 158), and

Commonwealth support extending to the kindergarten movement only, a rift grew

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 17

between the kindergarten and day nursery movements, where the former was viewed

as not operating to support working mothers, while the latter did (Spearitt, 1979, p.

20). An example of an attempt to bridge, if not integrate the divide can be seen in the

Queensland-based Creche and Kindergarten Association, where both education and

care were offered by the one service. The kindergartens were run by teacher college

graduates, whilst crèche staff were drawn from nursing backgrounds (Spearitt, 1979,

p. 22). Efforts to bridge the concepts of education and care notwithstanding, the

historical viewpoint that considered them as being distinct continues to be embedded

in modern cultural values and the “longstanding division between child care and

early education still operates in most of the English-speaking world” (OECD, 2006,

p. 230).

2.2.1 Introduction of Commonwealth funding

In Australia, the Menzies Government’s 1964 establishment of a Women’s

Policy Section (Brennan, 1998, p. 61) recognised the growing contributions of

women to the workforce, and child care began being considered to be a related

economic proposition. Commonwealth funding to support women’s workforce

participation was legislated for under the Child Care Act 1972 (Cth) and expanded to

set up a national network of not-for-profit community services in 1974 (Brennan,

2002, p. 212; Whitlam & Australian Labor Party, 1974).

In the early 1970s, under Whitlam, Labor’s traditional ties to social democracy

had begun to merge with new ideas of neo-liberalism (Curtin & Simes, 2008, p. 188;

Spies-Butcher, 2014), where government involvement in state matters, such as

welfare, is relinquished for individual responsibility to seek opportunity within free

markets that compete for enterprise (Jenson, 2010, p.62). In ECEC, this meant

funding was directed to a diverse range of services offering long day care, outside

school hours care, play groups, pre-school education, and family day care. While

growth in child care services slowed, they remained not-for profit and were run by

community organisations (Brennan, 1998, p. 185; 2002, p. 212; McIntosh & Phillips,

2002). However, a significant development occurred during the Fraser years (1975 –

1983) with implications for the working conditions of EC educators. The

unpublished Spender (1981) report recommended Commonwealth subsidies be

linked to the enrolment of children in need, rather than to the employment of

qualified staff on award wages (p. 14). Brennan (1998) argued that the


implementation of this recommendation in the mid-1980s and related funding

restructures impacted the centrality of qualified staff to centre operations (p. 183).

Furthermore, the move signalled government prioritisation of the expansion, rather

than the quality of child care at the expense of work conditions for staff (Brennan,

1998, p. 184).

The next major ECEC sectoral change occurred in the mid-1980s, with the

introduction of subsidies for commercial centre customers. Predicted growth was far

exceeded and commercial enterprise outstripped community organisations as the

main player in the Australian ECEC sector (Brennan, 2002, p. 222). As Australian

discourse around child care provision shifted to supporting productivity, changes on

the international scene impacted present-day domestic ECEC policy. These included

the OECD’s introduction of a “life-long learning” strategy to provide opportunities

for children to contribute economically as adults, and to overcome disadvantage

(OECD, 1999, p. 84; White, 2011, p. 289). Considered a key area for policy

development, the strategy was referred to in the OECD’s 2001 and 2006 Starting

Strong reports, as well as in the thematic review of early learning and care practices

in 20 countries, including Australia (White, 2011, p. 289). The accompanying OECD

background report called for large-scale systemic change at the national level to

provide quality-driven ECEC (Press & Hayes, 2000).

2.3 ECEC IN AUSTRALIA TODAY

The contemporary Australian ECEC landscape has been shaped by significant

policy reform across federal, state, and local jurisdictions since government first

intervened in funding in 1972. The child-care system at that time had been described

as “world-class” and

…more in keeping with the generous, public provision of social democracies

such as Denmark, Sweden, and France than with the virtual absence of

national support exemplified by other liberal regimes such as the United

States, Canada, and the United Kingdom (Brennan, 1998, p. 204).

In contrast to this earlier approach based on social democracy, the current

reform agenda has been driven by the concept of “social investment” in response to

evidence regarding the link between pre-school education and improved life

outcomes (Brennan, 2011; Cumming, et al., 2015, p. 4). Social investment


approaches have been prompted by developing global interests in supporting

individuals to develop “the knowledge, skills, competencies and attributes… that

facilitate the creation of personal, social and economic wellbeing” (Keeley, 2009b, p.

29). In particular, the way a country distinguishes its capacity in this area is not

through the amount of education its citizens undertake, but rather the quality of

education that is received.

As more women enter the workforce, the quality of ECEC their pre-school

aged children receive has been identified as key to improving their life chances and

setting them up for lifelong learning (Keeley, 2009a, p. 122; Tayler, 2011, p. 214).

Consistent with this understanding, the OECD (2006) has promoted the benefits of

ECEC as extending beyond the individual to society at large, “Early education and

care contributes to the public good, e.g., to the general health of a nation’s children,

to future educational achievement, to labour market volume and flexibility, and to

social cohesion” (2006, p. 37).

Australia’s weak performance against global OECD benchmarks for early

childhood investment (0.05 per cent of GDP) was also a key driver of ECEC sectoral

reform (COAG, 2009a; Irvine & Farrell, 2013, p. 226; OECD, 2006, p. 105).

However, despite these reform efforts, the national investment in EC education

continues to be approximately 0.4 per cent of GDP, 0.3 per cent below the OECD

average (Cumming, et al., 2015, p. 13; OECD, 2014).

2.4 REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT

In the late 2000s, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) initiated

reform under the National Quality Agenda, introducing several initiatives including

the National Quality Framework (NQF) and National Quality Standard (NQS)

(ACECQA, 2011f) to set safety and quality standards in the provision of education

and care services to children up to 13 years of age (ACECQA, 2011o). The

Australian Children’s Education & Care Quality Authority was established to

regulate these standards. Related influential policy documents were Belonging, Being

and Becoming: The Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (EYLF)

(Department of Education, 2009), which was the first framework to set out national

expectations for curriculum and learning in the early years, and the Early Years

Workforce Strategy “to deliver a sustainable, highly qualified and professional


workforce” (Standing Council on School Education and Early Childhood [SCSEEC],

2012, p. 1), through the improvement of EC educator qualifications. Figure 2.1

illustrates the current arrangements for ECEC regulation and delivery in Australia.

Figure 2.1 ECEC regulation and delivery in Australia

Australian Children’s Education and Care

Quality Authority (ACECQA)

National Quality Agenda

National Quality Framework

Ratings system (ACECQA monitored, state and

territory administered)

National Quality Standard

Early Years Learning Framework

Outcomes: • Outcome 1:

Children have a strong sense of identity

• Outcome 2: Children are connected with and contribute to their world

• Outcome 3: Children have a strong sense of wellbeing

• Outcome 4: Children are confident and involved learners

• Outcome 5: Children are effective communicators

Quality Areas: • Educational

program and practice

• Children's health and safety

• Physical environment

• Staffing, including staff-to-child ratios and qualification

• Relationships with children

• Collaborative partnerships with families and communities

• Leadership and service management

Informed by S

tarting Strong II (O

rganisation for Econom

ic C

ooperation and Developm

ent, 2006)


The areas of quality focus in the NQF are informed by an evidence base

(ACECQA, 2011f), and closely align to quality aspects identified in the OCED

report Starting Strong II (COAG, 2009b, p. 9; OECD, 2006, pp. 127-129). This

publication detailed the progress of participating countries in building ECEC policy

in response to Starting Strong (OECD, 2001), and identified elements to be

considered when evaluating service quality.

It has been argued that there is no single definition of ECEC quality within

countries with a mature or maturing ECEC system. For example, some believe that

curriculum and cultural values influence quality outcomes (Ishimine, Tayler, &

Bennett, 2010, p. 68; Sylva, Siraj-Blatchford, & Taggart, 2003, p. 46). However,

there is agreement that ECEC quality elements fall broadly within the categories of

structure and process (Ishimine, Tayler, & Thorpe, 2009). These categories are used

as an organising framework for the NQS quality areas (ACECQA, 2011g). The NQS

structural quality area focuses on creating the conditions for optimal physical

environment, health, and safety; EC educator to child ratios; and staff qualifications.

Child learning outcomes are indirectly impacted by structural quality elements

because they influence the learning context (for example, more highly qualified staff

working with smaller groups of children would increase the environmental quality

and therefore outcomes) (Ishimine, et al., 2010, p. 69). In the NQS, structural quality,

which is more easily measured than process quality and is usually the subject of

legislative efforts (Melhuish, 2004, p. 35), is addressed through quality areas two

(health and safety) (ACECQA, 2011i), three (physical environment) (ACECQA,

2011i), and four (staffing arrangements) (ACECQA, 2011k). Structural quality

underpins process quality, which focuses on the quality of experiences that children

have through the relationships they have with their EC educator (ACECQA, 2011l),

and therefore directly impacts child learning outcomes. Process quality is the focus

of quality areas one (educational program and practice) (ACECQA, 2011h) and five

(relationships with children) (ACECQA, 2011l). Quality areas six (collaborative

partnerships with families and communities) and seven (leadership and service

management), comprise elements of both structural and process quality (ACECQA,

2011m, 2011n).


Structural quality

Of the quality areas that fall within structural quality outlined above, quality

area four – staffing arrangements – is relevant to this study. This is because of its

emphasis on the importance of staff to child ratios and qualifications, leading to the

“provision of qualified and experienced staff who are able to develop warm,

respectful relationships with children…” (ACECQA, 2011j). This underlying policy

intent has directly informed priority areas of the Early Years Workforce Strategy

(SCSEEC, 2012), which seeks “to build and support the early childhood education

and care profession both in the short term and into the future” (SCSEEC, 2012, p. 1).

In particular, the strategy aims to “enhance professionalism and leadership of the

ECEC workforce” (SCSEEC, 2012, p. 5), and prioritises increasing qualification

levels in the ECEC sector (SCSEEC, 2012, p. 9). The strategy’s rationale for the

need to act in attracting and retaining qualified EC educators is due to “increasing

recognition” that EC educators’ work in educating and caring for young children

“requires enhanced qualifications and ongoing professional development” (SCSEEC,

2012, p. 2).

However, in a review of the evidence relating to structural quality, Jha (2014)

found that out of three Australian and two international longitudinal studies

examining the impact of staff to child ratios, there were either no or only minor

relationships of statistical significance between reduced staff ratios and better child

social emotional or behavioural impacts. It was also observed that a number of

Australian and international studies examining the impact of staff qualifications had

found either no, or a small (but not generalisable), statistically significant

relationship between qualifications and child outcomes. Jha’s (2014) review also

reported that mixed Australian study findings showed some positive outcomes for

staff to child ratios for behavioural improvements; however, cognitive improvements

had not been noted (pp. 18-21). The review therefore highlighted the relatively few

studies examining the impacts of the NQF’s structural quality benchmarks with

regards to staff to child ratios and staff qualifications (Jha, 2014).

Scholars also critiqued a premise put forward in the Early Years Workforce

Strategy (SCSEEC, 2012) (and indirectly, NQF quality area four – staffing

arrangements (ACECQA, 2011k)) that increased training for EC educators would

lead to improved employment sustainability, because the link is not necessarily


causal (Cumming, et al., 2015, p. 7). For example, higher qualifications may be an

incentive for staff to leave the sector to pursue better pay and conditions elsewhere.

Furthermore, employment sustainability may be adversely impacted if significant

numbers of staff are required to complete training with limited return and outcomes,

including a relatively flat career structure (Cumming, et al., 2015, p. 7; Productivity

Commission, 2014, p. 319; United Voice, 2014, p. 35).

Process quality

That EC educators relate to children in a warm and engaging manner is

considered crucial to long day care services being able to meet government

requirements (United Voice, 2014, p. 46). This is reflected in NQS quality area five –

relationships with children – which aims to foster responsive and respectful

relationships between EC educators and children with concern for children’s sense of

security and belonging (ACECQA, 2011l). Under the Education and Care Services

National Regulations (ACECQA, 2011c), providers must ensure their services

provide children with opportunities to express themselves and their opinions;

develop self-reliance and self-esteem; and to build respectful and positive

interactions with peers, staff and the community. The importance of engagement

between EC educators and children was also reflected in the Early Years Workforce

Strategy (SCSEEC, 2012, p. 11), and the EYLF (Department of Education, 2009, pp.

20, 30).

Evidence from studies into how children develop from birth provides the

rationale for expectations that EC educators interact with children in a warm and

engaging manner. Relatedly, this evidence also informs the seven NQS quality areas,

and in particular, quality area four – staffing arrangements (ACECQA, 2011j).

A strong contribution to this evidence base relates to neuroscience and research

into brain development, which indicates that “a variety of environmental factors play

a significant role in modulating early brain development” (Phillips & Shonkoff,

2000, p. 196). For example, evidence demonstrates the critical role strong

relationships with parents and carers within a warm and supportive environment play

in setting young children up for lifelong learning. Together, genes and experience

work to shape the developing brain’s architecture (National Scientific Council on the

Developing Child, 2007a, p. 6). In particular, neuroscience research indicates the

first three years of a child’s life are crucial in their development of emotional


wellbeing, attachments, and language (Mustard, 2002, pp. 31-32). If a child has

stressful experiences during this time, brain development can be adversely impacted,

with effects continuing into the long-term (National Scientific Council on the

Developing Child, 2007b, pp. 2-4; Phillips & Shonkoff, 2000). Developments in

neuroscience have coincided with the growth of ECEC systems, influencing a focus

on child development: “The early nurturance of infants and toddlers is seen to be of

major importance because of the extraordinary neurological development that occurs

in this period” (OECD, 2006, p. 39). In a Productivity Commission (2014) inquiry

submission, EC educators have highlighted the importance of continuity of

employment for staff in providing a stable and caring service for children and their

families (Queen Elizabeth Hospital Community Childcare Centre, 2014).

Process quality is influenced by structural quality elements – that is, structural

elements can be regulated to improve process quality through the activities that

children undertake, the way children relate to other children, and crucially, the

interactions that occur between EC educators and children. Conversely, quality is

thought to reduce when EC educator and child engagement is limited, or of a remote

or uncaring nature towards the child. Furthermore, quality is adversely impacted

when children have few opportunities to engage in appropriate learning experiences

or to interact with other children (Ackerman, 2006, p. 88).

Studies examining the impact of childcare attendance alone on the learning of

children aged 0–3 are inconsistent, and appear to indicate negative, positive, or no

effects, with discrepancies between studies possibly explained by differences in care

quality in the home and at childcare (Melhuish, 2004, p. 53). In a Productivity

Commission (2014) review of three international studies that examined the cognitive

impact of childcare attendance of children aged three years and younger, one found

higher performance results later in childhood, while the other two found no

correlation (p. 150). In Australia, two recent studies found long hours spent in

childcare adversely affected children’s cognitive abilities, while another found

improvements in those areas for children who attended childcare at two years of age

(Productivity Commission, 2014, p. 150). With regards to the duration of time in

care, the Longitudinal Study of Australian Children (Wave 1) data showed children

who were in ECEC for a moderate amount (nine to 30 hours per week) of time fared

better in literacy and numeracy outcomes at age four to five. These children out-


performed those who attended childcare for shorter hours or longer hours (Harrison

et al., 2009).

However, when high-quality care is examined in relation to attendance, recent

research indicates that the negative impacts of long hours in ECEC may be mitigated,

as noted in a Productivity Commission (2014) inquiry submission, “…the quality of

services for infants and toddlers has a significant impact on pre-academic and

important social – emotional skills, demonstrating overwhelmingly that the

contribution of ECEC on development and school readiness begins in infancy”

(Degotardi, 2014, p. 4). For example, a United States study found positive

engagement between EC educators and very young children predicted improved pre-

academic, cognitive, and language measures (National Institute of Child Health and

Human Development - Early Child Care Research Network, 2002, pp. 144, 157).

These findings were mirrored in findings of the Effective Provision of Pre-School

Education project, showing a “significant link” between quality education and care

for children aged two to three years, and improved cognitive and social outcomes at

the commencement of school (Sylva, Melhuish, Sammons, Siraj-Blatchford, &

Taggart, 2004b, p. 3). Findings from the High/Scope Perry randomised control study

indicate similar findings, with children from disadvantaged backgrounds who

participated in a quality ECEC program by four years of age having a better chance

of achieving higher education and earning more income, and a lower chance of

engaging with the criminal justice system at age 40 than program non-participants

(Schweinhart, 2003, p. 2). As discussed earlier in this section, Australian ECEC

sectoral reforms introducing the NQF and NQS aim to increase the provision,

accessibility and quality of ECEC programs (ACECQA, 2011f; COAG, 2009a;

2009b). These reforms are a policy response to the body of recent research that has

found correlations between quality ECEC program participation and child outcomes

(Thorpe, et al., 2011, pp. 85-86).

The research strongly indicates that higher quality ECEC underpinned by warm

and caring relationships between EC educators and young children positively

impacts cognitive and social outcomes later in childhood. However, as discussed in

the next section, EC educators face significant challenges that impact their retention

and employment sustainability. The ability of EC educators and children to be able to


form the depth of engagement required to promote positive academic and emotional

outcomes is adversely affected (United Voice, 2014, p. 27).

2.5 EC EDUCATOR RETENTION

EC educators in Australian long day care services who deliver education and

care services directly to children are the focus of this study. They face a number of

closely-linked problems, including poor pay, demanding working conditions, and the

requirement for qualifications to meet certain standards. Together, these problems

contribute to significantly higher employee intentions to leave than most other

occupations in Australia, impacting EC educator retention and employment

sustainability and the achievement of goals for child development.

International research indicates that EC educator retention rates continue to be

comparatively poor (Gable, Rothrauff, Thornburg, & Mauzy, 2007, p. 363; Rolfe,

2005, p. 55); a situation that is reflected in Australia, where approximately 20 per

cent of EC educators plan to leave the sector every year (Social Research Centre,

2014). This is comparatively higher than the average 11.4 per cent of employees

across all other occupations with similar intentions (Department of Employment,

2014b, p. 7). Domestically, there was a national shortage of EC educators for seven

of the 10 years to 2016 (Department of Employment, 2016, p. 1). However, demand

is greater than ever, with projections forecasting a high number of job openings –

more than 50,000 – for EC educators over the five years to November 2019

(Department of Employment, 2014a, p. 1)

2.5.1 Factors contributing to EC educator retention rates

Several factors constrain EC educator retention rates in Australia. For example,

EC educators are recognised as being poorly paid for demanding work conditions,

while legislation requires them to meet increasing levels of qualification and training

to meet regulatory demand. There is also an employee perception that society

undervalues them for the work they do, even though they often put the needs of the

children they educate and care for before their own. These factors are discussed in

more detail below.

Pay and conditions of work

The ECEC sector has been widely acknowledged as being poorly paid and

undervalued since the 1980s (Productivity Commission, 2014, p. 317; Rolfe, 2005, p.


56; Whitebook, Howes, & Phillips, 1989, p. 49; Whitebook & Sakai, 2003, p. 288).

For example, nearly 30 years ago, a study reported that “it is staggering how little

child care staff earn compared with other comparably educated women in the

workforce” (Whitebook, et al., 1989, p. 50). In present day Australia, little appears to

have changed, with Certificate III-qualified EC educators earning $783 per week

before tax (Fair Work Commission, 2017), considerably below the average weekly

earnings of $1164 for all occupations (ABS, 2017). The difference between EC

educator pay rates under the Children’s Services Award 2010 and the Australian

national minimum wage of $17.70 per hour before tax (Fair Work Ombudsman,

2017), as set out in Table 2.1 below, is minimal.

Table 2.1 EC educator award rates compared to national minimum wage

Wage level Full Time Equivalent weekly pay

Hourly rate

Amount over minimum wage

(hourly rate)

Increase in hourly rate to next

qualification level 1.1 (No formal qualification)

$688.00 $18.11 $0.41 $0.69

2.1 (No qualification or Certificate II)

$714.30 $18.80 $1.10 $1.81

3.1 (Certificate III)

$783.30 $20.61 $2.91 $3.67

4.1 (Diploma) $922.60 $24.28 $6.58 Source: (Fair Work Commission, 2017; Fair Work Ombudsman, 2017)

While this study uses the term early childhood educator (EC educator) to refer

to the individuals who are the subject of this research, the ABS (2013a) Australian

and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) defines their

duties as falling within the role of a “child carer”. The occupation of child carer is

part of the sub-major group “carers and aides” within the major group “community

and personal service workers” (ABS, 2013a). The duties described within the role of

child carer include helping to set up resources and equipment for children’s

educational and recreational pursuits; managing the behaviour and overseeing the

social development of children; entertaining children through reading and game

playing; and supervising children’s routines and hygiene. Skill levels are defined as


being at the Certificate III level (ABS, 2013c), and there is no mention of the

educative component, which according to United Voice (2014), most EC educators

are required to perform: “Workers educate children according to leading child

development pedagogy, developing play-based educational programs that cater to

each child’s individual needs” (United Voice, p. 27).

By contrast, ANZSCO (2013a) classifies educational tasks carried out

primarily within a school setting as falling in the major group of professionals,

followed by the sub-major group of education professionals, and then the minor

group school teachers. The skill levels are associated with a bachelor degree or

higher qualification and tasks include the selection, preparation, and presentation of

lessons and materials; looking after student health and wellbeing; assessing student

achievement; and engaging with parents and the community (ABS, 2013b). Under

the Education and Care Services National Regulations (ACECQA, 2011c), EC

educators who possess a diploma level qualification are referred to as a diploma level

educator, while those who hold a Certificate III level qualification are referred to as a

Certificate III level educator (ACECQA, 2011a, 2011b). However, in reality, the

work that EC educators are required to do in exchange for earnings covers a diverse

array of tasks across a working day, with varying skill levels intersecting between the

ABS occupational definitions for child carers and school teachers. For example, on

any one day, they might engage in duties ranging from food preparation, facility

cleaning, and changing clothing, to observing children’s learning development,

planning curriculum, and reporting on progress. They may further mentor staff,

engage with parents and the community, and act as a point of referral to additional

services if required (United Voice, 2014, p. 27).

Notwithstanding these levels of responsibility and accountability, pay levels

indicate the work of EC educators is undervalued, although EC educators are not

necessarily dissatisfied with the type of work required of them. In the 2013 National

Early Childhood Education and Care census (commissioned by the Australian

Department of Education to improve the quality of information that informs the

development and assessment of EC policy), nearly 90 per cent of EC educator

respondents indicated satisfaction with their job (Social Research Centre, 2014, p. 3).

However, in the same survey, nearly half the respondents agreed they were

dissatisfied with pay and conditions. In a survey conducted by United Voice (2014,


p. 33) with members who had moved out of the ECEC sector, around one third of

respondents indicated their decision had been influenced by low pay (Social

Research Centre, 2014, p. 43; United Voice, 2014, p. 33). Advocates for increasing

EC educator pay recognise the problem, stating in a submission to a Productivity

Commission inquiry (2011) that “Children’s services report a high turnover of

untrained staff members who can earn higher wages in untrained jobs in areas such

as retail, or even in other care areas such as aged care, and the health sector without

the responsibility of a child carer’s job” (Community Child Care Co-operative, 2011,

p. 9).

EC educators are keenly aware of the pay problems they face, indicating in

Productivity Commission (2014) inquiry submissions that they can earn more money

doing night fill work for retail organisations than in the work they are qualified to

undertake (Webb, 2014, p. 1); and, that low pay is linked to employment

sustainability, noting lower wages contribute to their work being viewed as a

temporary employment solution as opposed to a long-term career path (Galbiri Child

Care and Preschool Centre Incorporated, 2014).

A significant factor that has been attributed to EC educators’ low pay is

government reliance on the market model or private ownership. In Australia, neo-

liberal economics have driven the development of the ECEC sector through large-

scale privatisation and then corporatisation in the 1990s and 2000s. This has led to

private enterprise now managing more than 60 per cent of long day care centres

nationally (Productivity Commission, 2014, p. 81). During the early 2000s, this

approach allowed a single ECEC service provider, ABC Learning, to rapidly and

aggressively acquire a major share equal to one third of the market before its collapse

later in the decade. Brennan (2009) argued that rather than providing families with

increased choice, lower costs, higher quality, and more diversity, as market

advocates claimed, the opposite occurred: costs increased, while choice and quality

were adversely affected. In many cases, financially-poorly performing centres closed

almost immediately, completely removing any ECEC choice for local families (2009,

pp. 42-44). In this market-driven environment, Jokovich (2002, p. 65) and Kilderry

(2006, p. 81) questioned the ethics of directing government funding to shareholder

profits over quality education and care for young children and better pay and

working conditions for EC educators. Moreover, Ackerman argued that EC educator


pay is also affected by the need for early childhood (EC) services to keep costs low

to compete for customers in a limited geographical area (2006, pp. 92, 93).

Another effect attributed to the market model is that the majority of EC

educators – in excess of 70 per cent – are award-dependent, compared to 20 per cent

of the broader workforce (Productivity Commission, 2011, p. 65). It has been argued

that government control of market forces drives sectoral award dependency

(Productivity Commission, 2011, p. 66). For example, EC educator wages are linked

to and limited by the number of children they care for, so NQF regulation of staff-to-

child ratios and qualification requirements directly controls how many children EC

educators can oversee (Brennan, 1998). Furthermore, the ownership and make up of

long day care services is fragmented, with most employers holding less than one per

cent of the national market share, inhibiting the ability of employees to collectively

bargain in these circumstances (United Voice, 2014, p. 40).

Education and training requirements

ECEC sectoral reforms resulted in an increase in the level of formal

qualifications for EC educators, as set out by the Australian Children’s Education &

Care Quality Authority (2011d). For example, since January 2014, services that

operate for more than 50 hours per week and with more than 25 places for pre-school

aged children or younger on any given day have been required to have a bachelor

degree-qualified early childhood teacher attending for a minimum of six hours on

that day; or for a service that is open less than 50 hours per week, the early childhood

teacher must attend for 60 per cent of the business hours. By January 2020, a second

early childhood teacher must be in attendance for three hours on any given day, or

thirty per cent of business hours for a service open fewer than 50 hours per week.

Furthermore, 50 per cent of staff that meet educator to child ratios must work

towards an approved diploma level course, with the remaining staff with that

responsibility to work towards an approved Certificate III (ACECQA, 2011d). At

present, the Certificate III/IV is most the most commonly held qualification held by

EC educators (Department of Employment, 2014a).

These new training requirements respond to evidence linking higher

qualifications to better EC educator engagement with children. For example, the

Effective Provision of Pre-School Education longitudinal project found staff

qualifications strongly impacted the quality of an ECEC service (Sylva, Melhuish,


Sammons, Siraj-Blatchford, & Taggart, 2004a, pp. 20-21). Other studies have found

that better qualified EC educators have a better understanding of child development

and improved EC education program outcomes (Berthelsen & Brownlee, 2005, pp.

49-60), and positively influence the behaviour of staff with fewer qualifications

(Sylva, et al., 2004a, p. 28). Young children who are educated by staff with a

bachelor’s degree specialising in child development have been observed to display

better social, language, and cognitive abilities than those in the charge of staff with

non-specialised qualifications (Howes, 1997, pp. 421-422; Whitebook & Ryan, 2011,

p. 3). Other studies have shown that EC educators with higher qualifications engage

more warmly and positively with children (Abbott & Langston, 2005, p. 131;

Burchinal, Cryer, Clifford, & Howes, 2002, p. 10). Adding to the evidence outlined,

Warren & Haisken-Denew (2013) recently shed light on the link between EC

educator qualifications and improved longer-term academic outcomes for children

(p. 5). Their study focused on children who attended pre-school and received

instruction from a bachelor degree or diploma qualified teacher specialising in EC

education. After controlling for socio-demographic variables, child academic

improvement was demonstrated in Year 3 National Assessment Program – Literacy

and Numeracy outcomes in the numeracy, reading, and spelling domains.

Despite evidence linking EC educator qualifications and improved child

outcomes, and the corresponding NQS qualification requirements, an estimated ten

per cent of EC educators working in long day care do not hold a formal qualification

(Social Research Centre, 2014, p. 12). Low rates of EC educator qualification

completion have been attributed to barriers including shallow pay structures with

minimal pay increases for extra responsibilities, the cost of study for workers earning

near minimum wage, and inflexible training attendance requirements (Gable &

Halliburton, 2003, p. 186; Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union, 2011, p. 21).

One EC educator illustrated this point, saying “If I went from assistant director to

director, I would get around 50 cents an hour more, for triple the work. Plus, I would

incur a HECS debt2. There is no incentive to get more qualifications” (Liquor

Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union, 2011, p. 22). Andrew (2014) contended that

the marginal difference in pay rate between certificate and diploma levels puts

2 HECS-HELP is a loan scheme for eligible students enrolled in Commonwealth supported places to pay their student contribution amounts. Source: studyassist.gov.au/


already vulnerable staff in the position of societal benefactor, arguing they should be

acknowledged for “…the subsidy to the field they already make, through low wages

relative to their qualifications, and unpaid hours worked” (2014, p. 14).

Added to the barriers EC educators face in pursuing qualifications is the

disincentive of a flat career structure. While opportunities with experience to gain

promotion or increase pay levels may occur in other industries, EC educators have

little prospect of advancement. The amount of experience an educator has in the field

is often not related to earnings (United Voice, 2014, p. 34). Low pay therefore

combines with increasing qualification requirements and a flat career structure to

present the EC educator workforce with a number of sustainability challenges.

EC educators within a gendered workforce

With around 95 per cent of Australian EC educators identifying as female

(Productivity Commission, 2014, p. 312), the occupation is described as gendered

(Murray, 2000, p. 135), because “job tasks and duties require workers to construct

and display gender as an integral part of doing their work” (Hall, 1993, p. 454). In

the case of EC educators, the “maternal” aspects of their role contribute to the

gendered nature of the sector. Friedrich Froebel (1782-1852) is acknowledged as

being highly influential in linking EC educator practices to aspects of motherhood,

establishing maternalism as the foundation of ECEC teaching (Ailwood, 2007, pp.

158-159). In addition, the British social services system from which the term “child

care” is derived, was female gendered during establishment in the 19th Century,

representing the struggle of women to develop their own place in public life at a time

when the patriarchy dominated scientific and rational elements, and definitions, of

the professions (Ailwood, 2007, p. 160; Brennan, 2005, p. 74).

Some contend that current ECEC practice in Australia continues to manifest

discourses of mothering linked to maternal symbols (Ailwood, 2007, p. 162), which

have “deep historical roots” (Acker, 1995, p. 23). For example, the National Quality

Framework (ACECQA, 2011l) and EYLF (Department of Education, 2009, pp. 20,

30) require EC educators to establish feelings of trust and security in their young

charges through warm and caring behaviours. It is argued that these behaviours are

viewed as “more feminine and less skilled” than other professions because of their

link to traditional maternal child-rearing activities (Jovanovic, 2013, p. 529). The

female gendering and association of EC educator work with domestic duties can lead


to perceptions of their work duties as child minding (Brennan, 1998, p. 28; 2005, p.

74; Macdonald, 1999, p. 128; Spearitt, 1979, p. 20; Witz, 1992, p. 122).

EC educator work as a caring profession

Because of the high degree of emotional labour and association with perceived

feminised behaviours in EC educators’ work, the occupation meets the characteristics

of a caring profession. Hochschild (2012) defined caring professions as requiring

“one to induce or suppress feeling in order to sustain the outward countenance that

produces the proper state of mind in others… (it) sometimes draws on a source of

self that we honor as deep and integral to our individuality” (2012, p. 7). This type of

work generally comprises front-line service delivery duties that are strongly

dependant on employees appearing and behaving in a way that shows they have good

people skills and can relate emotively to customers (Carroll, Smith, Oliver, & Sung,

2009, p. 61). Carroll et al. (2009) identified that EC educators who are inclined to

enjoy interacting with young children are likely to naturally and happily engage in

emotional labour (p. 61). The voices of EC educators contributing to a recent

government examination of sectoral issues adds weight to this argument, noting the

rewards of investing time in building secure attachments and relationships with

children and families, and playing a key role in fostering positive learning attitudes

to contribute to lifelong learning (Queen Elizabeth Hospital Community Childcare

Centre, 2014, p. 1).

However, Andrew (2014) argued that the emotional investment of EC

educators in the work they do creates a burden of conflict for them when dealing

with the challenges of pay, conditions, and qualification requirements (p. 113). For

example, in a study of EC educators, Murray (2000) noted their use of

“compensatory logic” that allowed them to overlook poor pay and conditions, putting

the childcare affordability needs of parents before their own need for an increase in

pay (p. 153). Added to this is the devaluing of emotional labour as “women’s work”

and the subjugation of employee needs to accommodate those of the children they

are responsible for (Jovanovic, 2013, p. 529; Murray, 2000, p. 148; Sumsion, 2005).

This point is illustrated in a submission to a Productivity Commission inquiry (2014)

that stated that “it is mainly ladies who work in childcare as a result of the low

financial remunerations. People don’t work in child care to make money, they do it

because they are passionate about children’s education” (South Coast Baptist College


School of Early Learning Childcare, 2014). A participant in a recent study of EC

educators also put it succinctly, stating “It’s a job that you can’t do without emotion

and without having your heart in it… well, you don’t do it for the money” (Andrew,

2014, p. 117). The place of the EC educator in contemporary society continues to be

influenced by a “historical legacy” of gender inequity. Carroll et al. (2009) argued

that the situation plays out in ECEC services where women make up the bulk of the

workforce because they fulfil the perceived needs of parents (p. 61). As noted earlier,

the legacy that continues to drive a highly gendered ECEC sector is also strongly

linked to employees’ relatively poor pay and dependency on an award systems

(Lyons, 2012, p. 120; United Voice, 2014, p. 38).

The very characteristics of many caring professions that are analogous to the

work of EC educators also pose obstacles to efforts to raise the status of the work of

EC educators. Factors such as a being part of a poorly-paid feminised workforce,

conducting work tasks perceived as being maternal in nature and therefore of low

societal value, the type of union they join, and their membership of a fragmented

employment landscape constitute structural barriers to status improvements. This

context has been attributed to the employment and control of caring professionals,

mostly by males within a patriarchal state, where training serves to extend the skills

women are already considered to naturally possess (Abbott & Meerabeau, 1998, p.

48; Kosny & MacEachen, 2009, p. 360). Cook, Corr & Breitkreuz (2016) contend

that the current Australian government policy focus on providing professional

development for educators removes the burden of upskilling costs and responsibility

with individuals who are, to an extent, already marginalised. The meaning of

professionalism in this neo-liberal context, it is argued, is reduced to “technical

professionalism, focusing on ‘skills’ rather than a reflective professionalism”

(Vandenbroeck, Peeters, & Bouverne-De Bie, 2013, p. 114), linking the work of EC

educators to masculine understandings of “quality assurance, measurements, and

standardisation” and stripping away the worthwhile recognition of female gendered

work on its own terms (Cook, et al., 2016, p. 58).

Aspirations to increased levels of professional status for EC educators was

highlighted as an issue in the Australian Senate Committee’s Inquiry into the

Provision of Child Care in Australia (Lyons, 2012). But Sumsion, Shepherd &

Fenech (2010) argue that the term “professional” as part of government discourse


should not be applied to EC educators and their colleagues who work in other formal

ECEC arrangements because this would lead to the “de-professionalising” of

university degrees for four-year qualified ECEC teachers. Such a move, it is claimed,

would reduce the complex nature of ECEC to “technical” practices while

disregarding university-qualified practitioner expertise (Sumsion, et al., 2010, pp. 90-

91). On the other hand, the application of the term professional to degree-qualified

early childhood teachers only is an example of professional closure (Lyons, 2012, p.

116), and continues the perpetuation of “gendered and power-based constructs of

professionalisation” (Simpson, 2010, p. 6).

Furthermore, Lyons (2012) contended that the majority representation of EC

educators by United Voice, a union with responsibility for generally low-paid

workers across a diverse range of occupations, blocks efforts to lift status (p. 122).

Instead, increased EC educator membership of a teaching or education union, or a

similar union that exclusively advocated for their own specific industrial interests,

may improve their ability to self-regulate, a key characteristic of the professions.

Finally, the scale of collective bargaining that individual EC educators may engage

in to deliver increased pay, and therefore improved status, is inhibited by the sector’s

employment context of fragmented ownership (United Voice, 2014, p. 40). Numerous small long day care services with low staff numbers characterise the

employment landscape, while the national market of licenses is divided into small

shares, with many employers owning between one and three services. For example,

recent figures indicate that approximately 60 per cent of Australia’s approved long

day care services are privately owned, while around 30 per cent are managed by not-

for-profit organisations, and the remainder by the government (Productivity

Commission, 2014, p. 82). Of the non-profits, Goodstart Childcare Limited holds just

over 10 per cent of the national market, while the next four largest employers hold

between 0.8 and 2 per cent (United Voice, 2014, p. 40).

Approaches in the literature to retaining EC educators

In a review of the literature of sustainability problems amongst the EC

educator workforce in the United States, the Institute of Medicine and National

Research Council found efforts to redress challenges were largely framed within

policy approaches at service, community, and government levels. It is contended that

these approaches are limited to certain aspects of employment sustainability


(Cumming, et al., 2015, p. 1), including payment above the award rate (Bretherton,

2010, p. 27). Cumming et al. (2015) called for an alternative “small-scale” focus on

EC educators’ practice drawing on research showing how employees build resilience

and reflexive ability to “negotiate potentially repressive conditions” (p. 12).

EC educators who stay in the ECEC sector

Despite the outlined problems impacting EC educator employment

sustainability, many employees choose to stay in the ECEC sector. For example,

around 60 per cent of EC educators have four or more years sectoral experience, and

around one third has 10 or more years experience (Social Research Centre, 2014, p.

15). Stremmel (1991) found that EC educators enjoy their work despite the

challenges; that employees who stay are committed to their place of employment;

and that commitment to work fuelled by the psychological benefits of working with

young children might better predict intent to leave than any measure of job

satisfaction (pp. 294-295). However, the reasons why many EC educators choose to

stay in their occupation are under-examined.

In summary, extensive literature has demonstrated ongoing and significant

problems with retention in the EC sector. Evidence suggests that a range of complex

and interrelated factors impact employment sustainability, including poor pay and

work conditions, increasing qualification requirements, lack of a career structure, and

the female gendering of the work in an emotionally intense environment. However,

in order to address the problem of sustainability in the EC educator workforce, there

is a pressing need to understand why current employees continue to work in the

sector.

2.6 THEORETICAL APPROACH

Given the nature of the EC educator employment environment and the scope

and magnitude of the challenges discussed thus far, the construct of professional

identity provides a useful lens through which to understand why individuals choose

to pursue and maintain employment in the sector. Identity is well-established as the

primary perspective through which worker agency has been examined for several

decades, and has been referred to as a “master signifier” because of its role in

influencing workplace behaviour and career decisions (Fraher & Gabriel, 2014, p.

928; Marks & Thompson, 2010, p. 317). Because of this, scholars have linked the


importance of work – whether one engages in it or not – to an individual’s sense of

identity (Kenny, Whittle, & Willmott, 2011, p. 98). Identity studies are of value in

the context of the challenges outlined in the EC workforce because they draw on an

individual’s values, beliefs, experiences, and social identities to examine the reasons

relating to worker decisions and an individual’s attraction to certain occupations

(Kielhofner, 2008, p. 106; Marks & Thompson, 2010, p. 326).

As a construct, identity can be distinguished as having individual (including

goals, values, and beliefs), relational (as in an individual’s roles in relation to others),

and collective (identification with groups to which they belong) dimensions. Identity

has been explored across numerous fields of enquiry, including psychology,

sociology, education, and public health, among others (Vignoles, et al., 2010, p. 3).

Several streams of literature have contributed to the current understandings of

identity. For example, the establishment of the construct has been as a principle of

both psychological and social organisation (FAME Consortium, 2007, p. 17). The

literature has also examined professional identity from cultural, postmodernist, and

post-structuralist perspectives (Vignoles, et al., 2010, pp. 7-8). Professional identity

is understood to be a major component of an individual’s personal identity (Skorikov

& Vondracek, 2010, p. 694), comprising the “central, distinctive and enduring

characteristics that typify the line of work” (Ashforth & Kreiner, 1999, p. 417). As

the construct is based on a collective form of identity, this research draws from social

identity theory.

2.7 THE ROLE OF PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY

Referred to variously across the literature as occupational, work, vocational,

and career identity, professional identity can be used to explain workplace behaviour

(Skorikov & Vondracek, 2010, p. 693). Concerned with membership within a group

– in this case, within a profession or occupational group – the construct is derived

from Henri Tajfel’s (1978) social identity theory, which seeks to explain how

individuals derive meaning and value from their own group (“in-group”) and how

they perceive the same in other groups (“out-group”) (Spears, 2010, p. 202). Tajfel

(1978) contended that individuals cognitively order their social environment through

categorisation, grouping people in a way that makes sense to them through perceived

differences or similarities. They draw upon symbolic resources, such as actions,

intentions, and belief systems with which the individual identifies (Tajfel, 1978, p.


62). Because an individual’s prime self-interest is to achieve a satisfactory self-

concept, they are more likely to relate to categories that they positively, rather than

negatively, evaluate. Individuals therefore combine information about status from the

group to which they belong with the value of their own personal identity to define

and evaluate their identity (Tyler & Blader, 2001, p. 210). Social identity is made up

of the elements of the self-concept one considers they have in common with those in

their social group (Arnold, 2005, p. 333).

As a form of collective social identity, professional identity is central to this

research because identity “influences much of our approach to work and behavior at

work, including commitment” (Baruch & Cohen, 2007, p. 247). The scope of the

construct covers a profession as a whole, and extends to workplaces made up of

individuals from a profession (Baruch & Cohen, 2007, p. 249). Furthermore, the

construct responds to the fragmentation of employment structures that have

traditionally provided individuals with stable frameworks. Where workers once tied

their identities to these frameworks (e.g., collectives of trades employees), the

modern challenge to reform professional identities from an individualised

perspective can be addressed through the construct.

Because professions are defined within the context of relationships with other

people, it is asserted that they are key to developing and maintaining an individual’s

identity. Adolescence is generally recognised as the time during which identity is

shaped by way of traits, values, and preferences (Kroger, 2007). Furthermore, under

the right conditions, the adolescent’s informal observations of work behaviour and

attitudes of influential adults and engagement with societal work expectations can be

foundational to professional identity development (Vondracek, Silbereisen, Reitzle,

& Wiesner, 1999). In adulthood, the focus of identity work becomes goal-oriented

towards the particular kind of person one wishes to become (Baumeister, 1986). As

identities are the central element around which self-narratives are formed, they

contribute to a sense of coherence and meaning of life. Individuals therefore draw on

their work experiences and other actions to shape their own identities, which over

time provides coherency to their life narrative (Christiansen, 1999, p. 555).


2.8 PROFESSIONALISM AND EC EDUCATORS

While there is no standard definition of a profession, the literature describes a

range of broad concepts that are generally accepted as being part of the

“professionalisation” of a type of work (Musgrave, 2010, p. 437). These concepts

also contribute to one’s professional self-concept, or professional identity. For

example, professional identity (and professionalism) is socially constructed (Osgood,

2006, p. 11), arising from a well-defined knowledge and skills base developed during

years of formalised learning or training, usually at a university, for a particular

profession (Gilardi & Lozza, 2009, pp. 246-247). Key to this is the socialisation and

engagement process an individual undergoes as they become attuned to the culture

and values foundational to their profession and community of practice, which is

usually regulated by a single professional organisation (Lyons, 2012, p. 122; Rodgers

& Scott, 2008; Sutherland & Markauskaite, 2012, p. 748). Furthermore, effective

professional practitioners transfer broad theory-based principles learned in education

to a work context, and then accommodate the complexity of work by autonomously

building specific and localised knowledge (Gilardi & Lozza, 2009, p. 247), which

cannot be easily replicated by members of the broader community (Lyons, 2012, p.

123). Scholars argue that as professions have an identifiable social status, a ranking

system is implied with regards to levels of prestige (Sutherland & Markauskaite,

2012, p. 748), and the inherent meaning of self-definition is partly due to the

perceptions of others. With the structuring of occupations around speciality areas,

members are known by what they do and situate themselves in such terms (Ashforth

& Kreiner, 1999, p. 417).

When seeking to understand the role of the EC educator in terms of

professionalisation, scholars argue that the recent repositioning of their work as

being of educational benefit to children takes priority over the care aspect of their

duties (Cook, et al., 2016; Cook, Davis, Williamson, Harrison, & Sims, 2013). This

is because complex linkages between the family, the state, and the market within

neo-liberal discourse adversely impact the valuation of care (Cook, et al., 2016;

Cook, et al., 2013, p. 113). The ECEC field has been the subject of government

efforts to professionalise the sector on an international scale. In Australia, these

efforts have been the result of sectoral reform discussed earlier, through the

introduction of the NQF (ACECQA, 2011f) and EYLF (Department of Education,


2009). These aligned with the rise of discourse focused on the field of EC education

and learning (Ortlipp, Arthur, & Woodrow, 2011, p. 62), moving away from

previous, and separate, discourses of educational development and care. Key shifts

include the introduction of minimum qualification levels and a change in title to

“educators” for those working with young children in early childhood settings

(Department of Education, 2009, p. 5), positioning the role as professional, regulated,

and of educational benefit (Cook, et al., 2016, p. 5; Jovanovic, 2013, p. 530).

However, In conflict with this understanding is the ANZSCO definition of EC

educators as “child carers” who are “personal service workers to assist health

professionals” (ABS, 2013a).

State efforts to professionalise the ECEC sector have aimed to “reconstruct…

practice as requiring specialised knowledge and skills” beyond the traditional and

mistaken view of EC educator work as “a natural, and unskilled, role that suits

women’s innate skills and desires” (Cook, et al., 2016, p. 3). An analysis of recent

policy approaches by two consecutive governments in Australia argued that the first,

the Early Years Quality Fund (DEEWR, 2013), introduced under Rudd and Gillard

(2007-13), framed workforce problems around sustainability and pay, partly to

increase the gendered valuation of caring work with wage supplements. The second

approach, under Abbott (2013-15), was the Long Day Care Professional

Development Program (DEEWR, 2014) that replaced the Early Years Quality Fund.

Scholars contend this initiative reduced the potential professionalism of EC

educators by reframing the concept as professional development focused on technical

and skills-based concepts (Cook, et al., 2016, p. 56). Individual agency and

autonomy was thereby removed and surveillance of the behaviour of EC educators

increased (Osgood, 2010). Scholars argue these outcomes are consistent with neo-

liberal logic where the market (or long day care service providers) is valued over the

caring services their individual employees offer (Cook, et al., 2016, pp. 12, 15). This

point is supported elsewhere, including arguments that the re-constructed view of the

work of the EC educator is framed within a masculinist neo-liberal philosophy in

which criteria is used to judge individual performance against a “certain form” of

professionalism (Osgood, 2010, pp. 120, 122). The lower value placed on the caring

work of EC educators supports perceptions that their activities are similar to child-


rearing in the domestic context, and therefore able to be replicated by any member of

society, but particularly women (Lyons, 2012, p. 126).

To assist in the understanding of professionalism for EC educators within

perpetuating traditional and patriarchal ideologies, scholars contend the construct

could be alternatively understood “from the view of frontline staff” (Osgood, 2010,

p. 119). State-controlled professionalism, it is contended, provides no space for

reflexive practice based on individual experience. Instead, the caring aspect of EC

educator roles should be recognised as an absolute necessity to their work and

understood as crucial and credible in ECEC practice. EC educators should be

protected against burn-out through opportunities to reflect on and process their

emotional labour during their daily work (Osgood, 2010, pp. 130, 131). In this way,

because professionalism is socially constructed, EC educators can be agents in

building their own professional identity (Musgrave, 2010). As discussed, this

progressive vision of EC educator professionalism is constrained by the reality of

technicist policy. This research therefore provides a means to further examine the

work of the EC educator as a profession that is based on the understandings of EC

educators themselves.

2.9 PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AND EC EDUCATORS

In relation to EC educator employment sustainability, there are several

compelling characteristics of professional identity that could shed light on the

retention of EC educators employed in long day care services. In particular,

professional identity is characterised by the establishment of a personal vocational

direction at the time of first employment roles, with the potential for continuity

through working life. For example, Skorikov and Vondracek (2010) pointed to

research demonstrating the construct’s organising role as a predictor of work role

continuity, occupational commitment, and workplace performance (p. 698). Using a

partly biographical approach to explore identification with a scientific research

career, researchers found evidence of a link between career commitment (a

component of which was defined as professional identity) and intention to leave

(Kidd & Green, 2006, p. 247). A strong, positive, and self-determined occupational

identity has also been linked to career stability and personal wellbeing (Skorikov &

Vondracek, 2010, p. 699).


Strong professional identity is associated with positive individual and

workforce outcomes in nursing and teaching, which share certain traits with the EC

workforce in that they are highly feminised and have been described as “caring” in

nature. For example, research indicates that teachers’ emotions are instrumental in

the development of their identities (O’Connor, 2008, p. 118). In schools, Hong

(2010, p. 1531) noted that occupational identity is key to the motivation,

effectiveness, and retention of teachers, while other research has found that teachers

who identify with their occupation are more likely to be committed to their roles

(Day, Elliot, & Kington, 2005, p. 573). Amongst nurses, Cowin et al (2013) observed

the critical role strong levels of occupational identity play in benefiting those

professionals and employees who work in health, and therefore patients (p. 609).

2.10 A PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY FRAMEWORK

The links between professional identity and career continuity, commitment,

and success indicated in the extant literature suggest this construct will provide a

useful lens through which to understand more about employees in the work role of

EC educator. An analysis of the literature reveals useful elements to develop a

framework to guide the analysis in this research. This is because professional identity

is formed as individuals assign meaning to who they are and what they do at work

through personal characteristics, social group membership, and work-based roles.

These elements of professional identity drawn from the literature and discussed

below, are continuity, belonging and attachment, status and esteem, and mastery.

2.10.1 Continuity

Building on Christiansen’s (1999) work in linking occupations with an

individual’s identity, Kielhofner (2008) advanced understandings of the construct of

professional identity, defining it as “a composite sense of who one is and wishes to

become as an occupational being generated from one’s history of occupational

participation” (p. 106). Skorikov and Vondracek (2010) further developed the

definition so that professional identity is understood to be characterised by both

continuity and change, influenced by the interpersonal relationships around which it

is built, the result of a significant contribution by individuals, and generally

recognised as a task of adolescence (p. 696). Such “narrativisation” of identity, in

that it can be a product of the different experiences and stories that individuals relate


to others, adds to its meaningfulness in a complex self-definition. Professional

identity is flexible enough to allow for inconsistencies and allows workers to manage

the temporary landscape of the modern workplace (Fraher & Gabriel, 2014, pp. 929,

929). Perhaps because of this, employees have been found to commit more strongly

to their professional identity rather than their employer or organisation (Johnson,

Morgeson, Ilgen, Meyer, & Lloyd, 2006, p. 504).

Socio-economic structures and processes may constrain individual professional

identities (FAME Consortium, 2007, p. 21; Skorikov & Vondracek, 2010, p. 635).

For example, a United States of America study of the “work possible selves” of

college students drawn from varied socio-economic status backgrounds, found that

while aspirations were high across all socio-economic status backgrounds, individual

expectations positively related to socio-economic status (Pisarik & Shoffner, 2009, p.

319). Professional identity therefore has a biographical focus in reflecting life

experiences into an understanding of “who one has been and a sense of desired and

possible direction for one’s future” (Kielhofner, 2008, p. 106). Recent European

research (FAME Consortium, 2007) alludes to the difference these traits foster in the

individual when viewing work as a job or as a career. The first perspective appears to

be associated with limited direction, particularly over the long-term, and a lack of

involvement in creating an identity other than that already externally assigned. The

second perspective involves active involvement in building an occupational identity

based around long-term career goals and success. Seen in this way, scholars

understand the construct as a measure of career development progress (Zimmer-

Gembeck & Mortimer, 2006).

Professional identity provides individuals with continuous and stable work

contexts. Located in a foundation of work traditions, professional identity also allows

individuals to possess long-held biographic elements that a job concept alone cannot

provide (FAME Consortium, 2007, pp. 15, 22). Given that an objective of this

research is to understand the decisions of EC educators who continue to work in the

ECEC sector despite ongoing challenges, the dimension of continuity may shed light

on the strength of participant biography, or personal narrative, in influencing these

decisions. For example, underlying reasons behind participants’ decisions to remain

in the sector may be related to the influence of family or friends, vocational pathways

embarked on in adolescence, or to serve a material need. The existence of a link


between past interests, current roles and future intentions (including intentions to

pursue qualifications), or otherwise, for participants will provide compelling insight

into the extent they are identifying with their profession, and how this buttresses

career stability. Further, despite limited opportunities for promotion for EC educators

in long day care centres (United Voice, 2014, p. 35), viewing their commitment

through the dimension of continuity may provide understanding regarding the

nuances of diverse career pathways they have experienced. The availability or

otherwise (and ability of participants to undertake) of different opportunities in the

ECEC sector, or related sectors, may assist in an understanding of EC educators’

career sustainability. This research may also reveal further unanticipated aspects

underlying participants’ continuity in the EC sector. An examination of the role

professional identity has played in continuity will therefore contribute to an

understanding of the decisions EC educators make with regards to their career

directions.

2.10.2 Belonging and attachment

Identifying with a profession comprises “the extent to which one defines him

or herself in terms of the work he or she does and the prototypical characteristics

ascribed to individuals who do that work” (Mael & Ashforth, 1992, p. 106), and the

extent to which an individual perceives group belonging (Ashforth & Mael, 1989, p.

34). A strong professional identity resulting from a process of values socialisation is

linked to occupational success (Slay & Smith, 2011, pp. 86, 87), and group

membership is a crucial part of this. For example, a Finnish study found teachers

could more successfully negotiate their professional identity with the support of a

safe and inclusive professional learning community (Vähäsantanen, Hökkä,

Eteläpelto, Rasku-Puttonen, & Littleton, 2008, pp. 146, 147). Moreover, belonging

and attachment was recognised as a crucial “survival skill” among foreign teachers

developing a professional identity in Ontario, Canada (Mawhinney & Xu, 1997, pp.

634, 636). In a study of nurses, a key contributor to the development of a strong

professional identity able to withstand role instability was the individual’s journey of

maturity through a socialisation process involving interpersonal interaction (Öhlén &

Segesten, 1998, p. 725). This is supported by research suggesting that ICT

employees are more likely to feel like they belong and are attached to their

occupations, rather than organisations that differ across a range of contextual factors,


making individual connection inconsistent and problematic (Khapova, Arthur,

Wilderom, & Svensson, 2007, p. 592).

Given self-perceptions of group belonging are a key contributor to professional

identity, and that EC educators’ ability to relate to children in a warm and responsive

manner is critical to optimal child development (ACECAQ, 2011l), an understanding

of participants’ sense of belonging and attachment will be highly useful in this

research. EC educators in long day care centres are expected to have respectful and

engaging relationships with young children. In the course of their work, they are also

exposed to a range of groups of people the families of the children in their charge

and colleagues, including peers and supervisors. Viewing participant professional

identity through the dimension of belonging and attachment will allow for deeper

understanding of the groups they feel connected with, and the strength of these

connections in supporting career stability. Belonging and attachment will be viewed

across and within these groups to shed light on how EC educators view their own

group membership in their place of employment, and the extent to which they derive

feelings of positive self-worth from these associations. The extent to which EC

educators feel a sense of belonging or attachment to the groups of people in their

working environment may be useful in understanding their decisions to stay in, or

leave the sector.

2.10.3 Status and esteem

As a form of identity deriving from social identity theory, professional identity

indicates the identification of individuals with a valued profession allows them to

reach and maintain a positive self-image (Haslam, 2001, p. 21). This is because the

main motivation of individuals to identify with a group is to fulfil their needs for

positive self-esteem (Tajfel, 1978). In identifying with a profession of value,

individuals reduce uncertainty about their self-concept and social fit, providing for a

more meaningful existence underpinned by confidence in behavioural expectations

(Hogg & Terry, 2000, p. 124). To derive this positive self-concept based on pride

and self-esteem, individuals will seek to be part of groups they perceive are of higher

status, avoiding identification with groups they consider to be of lower status (Tyler

& Blader, 2001, p. 209). A stronger sense of self-esteem allows individuals to better

deal with career ambiguities through rational and mature decision-making (Skorikov

& Vondracek, 2010, p. 696). For example, in a study focused on the auditing


profession to understand threats to auditor independence, Warren and Alzola (2009)

theorised the identification of individuals with the profession rather than interests

reinforces attachment, enhances desirability, and delivers the prestige that comes

from being part of a respected community (p. 54).

The work of organisations to project positive images of individuals and groups

within the profession protects and defends jurisdictional claims to expertise (Abbott,

1988; Brouard, Bujaki, Durocher, & Neilson, 2016, p. 5; Macdonald, 1999). Within

the education domain, teachers have long battled perceptions of lower status when

compared with those in professions of higher assumed prestige. However, research

suggests that teachers believe that how they are seen by colleagues and parents, and

the status derived therein, matters more than public perception (Fuller, Goodwyn, &

Francis-Brophy, 2013, p. 465). An examination of status and esteem may offer

insight into how individuals in the role of EC educator see themselves in the context

of the broader professions, and therefore assist in eliciting understanding of their

intentions to remain in their work.

2.10.4 Mastery

Mastery of skills is fundamentally linked to professional identity, contributing

to the development of self-esteem, and therefore an individual’s belief in and

satisfaction with their abilities to perform strongly in their role (Jackson, 2016, p.

1315). Motivation and commitment to a profession or occupation is influenced by

mastery and self-efficacy (Baruch & Cohen, 2007, p. 255). In the case of teachers,

for example, self-efficacy is attributed to an individual’s capability to undertake

necessary professional activities and regulate teacher-student relationships, and

become part of the organisation through involvement within its socio-political

context (Friedman & Kass, 2002, p. 684).

Mastery is recognised as being the result of a complex and lengthy process

whereby the individual completes a qualification and works in a related context for a

certain period of time. Graduates who are able to show mastery in their field have

enhanced employment prospects within their chosen field (Mann, Howard, Nouwens,

& Martin, 2008, pp. 2,3).

To have the opportunity to master a skill indicates a certain level of autonomy,

an attribute that has long been associated with the employees in professions, but less


so with those in occupations (Gilardi & Lozza, 2009; Lyons, 2012). The degree to

which EC educators have the autonomy and freedom to develop task mastery will be

of interest in understanding their reasons for remaining in or to leaving their work,

and to pursue further qualifications.

2.11 DEFINITION OF PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY FOR THIS THESIS

For conceptual and analytical purposes for this thesis, professional identity is

defined as a composite sense of who one is and wishes to become as a professional.

This is based on career continuity, status and self-esteem derived from being in a

personally valued career, a sense of belonging and attachment to a personally valued

career, and mastery of related knowledge and skills.

2.12 SUMMARY

Despite government requirements for a skilled and responsive employee

workforce in the long day care segment of the ECEC sector, EC educators continue

to face a range of issues that impact employment sustainability. These problems are

enduring and include poor pay, limited qualification levels, poor working conditions,

and societal devaluing of the occupation. However, while these problems are well-

documented, less is known about the significant number of EC educators who choose

to remain in the sector. Strong professional identity has been linked to several

individual and workplace benefits, such as increased commitment to work, career

stability, and overall life satisfaction and wellbeing. Because the constituent elements

of professional identity – continuity, status and self-esteem, belonging and

attachment, and mastery – are well understood and documented, the construct serves

as a valuable lens through which to better understand the professionally-motivated

decisions and experiences of EC educators working in long day care services.

48 CHAPTER 3: METHODS

CHAPTER 3: METHODS

3.1 INTRODUCTION

Chapter 2 examined a range of persistent and pervasive problems that impact

the employment sustainability of EC educators at a time when the Australian

government predicts strong growth and demand for staff with these skills in the long

day care segment of the ECEC sector. Due to the link to career sustainability, it was

argued that professional identity is a useful theoretical construct through which to

understand the attraction and commitment of individual EC educators to the sector.

This chapter sets out the conceptual framework, methodology, and research design

used to address the research questions. The research methodology choice, validity,

and reliability are described in Section 3.3, along with design, sampling strategy, sin

light of this view, and participant demographics. Section 3.4 elaborates on the data

collection protocols and methods, and provides evidence of the study’s adherence to

Queensland University of Technology ethical standards. The analysis of the collected

data is then discussed in Section in 3.5.

3.1.1 Qualitative research

The objective of this research was to understand the professional motivations

underlying the decisions and related career experiences of EC educators working in

long day care services. This research therefore aimed to examine the characteristics

and patterns in a social phenomenon (Blaikie, 2009, p. 60). Following Blaikie (2009)

a research strategy within the critical rationalism ontology was used to understand

the decisions made by individual ECEC educators through the constructs of

occupational identity and interests. Within the paradigm of critical rationalism,

observations of the characteristics of social phenomena begin with a “tentative

theory, an idea that could account for what has been observed” (Blaikie, 2009, p. 98).

Data is then collected to allow for trial and error observations to determine

consistency or inconsistency with the theory (Blaikie, 2009, p. 98). In this research,

data was viewed through the theoretical lens of professional identity. The design

required the observation and definition of certain characteristics, and the collection

of data to produce descriptions, draw generalisations and identify patterns of

association.

CHAPTER 3: METHODS 49

At the time of the research, I was a government project officer working in

policy implementation. I have obtained university degrees in the fields of Education

and Arts. During my research, I was aware my focus was largely on participants who

had not attained my personal level of qualification or pay. My study background in

Education and the Arts enhanced my understanding of the different circumstances

that participants, and members of the broader population, will be in from time to

time, and the reasons they pursue, or find themselves, in what can be viewed as a

challenging employment situation.

3.2 METHODOLOGY AND RESEARCH DESIGN

3.2.1 Approach and research questions

Professional identity has been explored across a number of scholarly fields

(Cowin, et al., 2013; Hong, 2010; O’Connor, 2008), however, research into the

construct’s potential to shape the work-related decisions of individuals has been

more limited. Because professional identity is informed by an individual’s biography

as it unfolds, and the objective of this research was to examine the characteristics of

and patterns in a social phenomenon (Blaikie, 2009, p. 60), a biographical method

was used. This qualitative and interpretive approach involved the collection and

analysis of accounts that marked significant events in the lives of research

participants. The method allowed for participant self-reflection on their occupational

choices and the underlying reasons driving them (Denzin, 2001, p. 59).

The study examined the occupational intentions of EC educators through the

lens of professional identity, addressing the following research questions:

How does professional identity shape EC educators’:

1. attraction to the ECEC sector;

2. intentions to stay in the ECEC sector;

3. intentions to complete or pursue aligned qualifications?

3.2.2 Sample

Sampling strategy

A purposive sampling strategy allowed for the selection of participants with

characteristics thought to have some effect on perceptions or experiences (Barbour,

2008, p. 52; Blaikie, 2009, p. 178). The sample for this study was drawn from two


long day care centres within one ECEC service provider. Given the highly feminised

nature of the ECEC workforce, the target population of EC educators was almost

exclusively female.

Sampling frame

The data was collected from 18 EC educators across two not-for-profit ECEC

centres in the greater Brisbane area. Within each centre, 80 percent of employed EC

educators volunteered to participate in the study. The small number of staff members

who opted not to participate were not refusals, but rather were unavailable to

participate, as they were required to meet ECEC requirements of their workplaces

during site visits. Participants represented EC educators from a broad range of

experience and qualifications. The study was part of a larger-multi-disciplinary

Australian Research Council Linkage Scheme project “Identifying effective

strategies to grow and sustain a professional early years workforce.”

All research participants were female (see Table 3.1), closely reflecting the

gender composition of the EC educator workforce in Australia (Productivity

Commission, 2014). Participants were drawn from diverse sectoral experiences and

roles within their centres. Participants ranged in age from 21 to 61 years, with the

median age of the group being 40.5 years. Time spent working in the sector ranged

from two to 30 years, with median participant experience of 12 years. Just under one

quarter of participants held a bachelor’s degree in either early childhood or a related

discipline; almost one half had attained an associate diploma, diploma, or advanced

diploma; and one third held a Certificate III. The participant names displayed in

Table 3.1 are pseudonyms.


Table 3.1 Participant details

Name Age Role Highest qualification

Hannah 21 Assistant Certificate III Louise 22 Relief educator Bachelor’s degree Mary 26 Director Bachelor’s degree Erin 26 Relief educator Bachelor’s degrees x

2 Jasmine 29 Lead Educator Diploma Ariel 30 Assistant Certificate III Rosie 34 Assistant Certificate III Sharon 41 Teacher Diploma Susan 43 Relief educator Associate Diploma Hayley 44 Lead educator Diploma Kari 46 Lead educator Diploma Laura 46 Group leader Certificate III Suzanne 47 Assistant Diploma Deanne 48 Director Advanced Diploma Renee 51 Assistant Certificate III Trina 56 Group leader Diploma Lola 58 Assistant Certificate III June 61 Teacher Bachelor’s degree Total participants 18

Data collection method

Semi-structured face-to-face interviews

The collection of primary data was conducted through semi-structured face-to-

face interviews following a detailed interview schedule. The focus was on

understanding meanings and interpretations made at the individual level (Blaikie,

2009, p. 207); a technique that Kvale & Brinkmann (2009) described as “a

construction site of knowledge” (p. 2). Interviews were conducted onsite at ECEC

centres, in a private room, and funding was provided to the centres to employ relief

staff to provide work coverage for the interview participants. The interviews used for

the analysis were undertaken by a team of researchers that included the student

authoring this thesis. The student collected data at one of the two sample centres.

Data collection protocols

Before the start of the interviews, all participants signed a consent form, as per

QUT Human Research Ethics Committee guidelines (Queensland University of


Technology, 2015). Protocols were also discussed with participants to ensure they

understood how the interviews would proceed (Creswell, 2003, p. 194). Due to the

time limitations of EC educators in long day care centres, each interview was

scheduled to be approximately 30 minutes in duration. Ethics approval (No

1200000698) was granted for the Australian Research Council Linkage Scheme

project3 that encompasses this research.

Interview guide

Following Patton (2002), the face to face interviews were structured using an

“interview guide” (pp. 341-347), an approach that is typical of qualitative studies and

allows for the preparation of interview questions beforehand. The guide included

prepared topics and questions on general biography and past experience to reveal the

participant’s perspective regarding questions being asked, and to anticipate analysis

(Barbour, 2014, p. 144; Marshall & Rossman, 2011). Each interview was designed to

reveal past experiences to generate stories, accounts, and narratives to allow

participants to reflect on their decisions and the reasons behind them.

To generate further detail from participants, and thus build richness in the data,

consideration was given to a variety of questioning techniques, such as framing

questions and open-ended questions, elaborations, and probes (Barbour, 2008, p.

115; Marshall & Rossman, 2011, p. 145). Examples included: How did you come to

work in this field – what made you interested in working in this occupation? and

probe: Were there particular people in your life or information you heard at the time

that brought you to this point? The questions were structured within the categories of

past, present, and future biography. Thought was also applied to the interview

techniques to be used. For example, the use of silence following questioning allowed

participants to consider and elaborate on their responses, while responses were

rephrased for clarification. In terms of body language, an empathetic stance was

engaged so as to convey objectivity and encourage participant responses to unfold

naturally.

All interviews were audio-taped and transcribed verbatim. Participant

pseudonyms are used throughout the results section to ensure confidentiality in

3 Grant ID: LP140100652


accordance with the QUT Human Research Ethics Committee guidelines (Corbin &

Strauss, 2008, p. 29; Queensland University of Technology, 2015).

Verification

Several strategies were employed to meet Guba’s (1981) constructs of

credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability to therefore achieve

trustworthiness in this research. For credibility, the well-established method of semi-

structured interviews in a natural environment was used. A wide range of participants

informed the research, while iterative questioning was employed to support data

integrity. For transferability, the research context was described in detail, and to

address dependability, the research approach and processes were reported in detail,

so as to allow future repetition of the design (while also allowing for different

outcomes). This included describing strategy and planning, the operational elements

of collecting data, and evaluation of the effectiveness of the design. Finally, for

confirmability, an audit trail was developed to show the path from raw data to

analysis and interpretation. This also addressed the issue of researcher bias (Shenton,

2004, pp. 64-72).

Limitations

Although data was only collected from one not-for-profit ECEC service

provider (across two centres), some interviewees had worked for other providers and

in other centres; thus, they could draw on their comparative experiences across the

sector. To improve credibility, future research should be conducted across a more

diverse range of ECEC centres and services, including profit and not-for-profit

based.

Data analysis

The constructs of professional identity described in Chapter 2 were used to

guide the data analysis (see Table 3.2). Once the interviews were individually

transcribed, the data was read closely for an early understanding of key ideas. After

several more readings, data coding – or systematic arrangement – was conducted.

Moving iteratively, the first cycle involved open coding to analyse and identify

patterns in the data for relevance to professional identity themes and research

questions, and to assign a code. Second cycle analysis involved axial coding to

interconnect the codes and move towards broader categorisation and data


interpretation (Creswell, 2003, pp. 193-194; Saldaña, 2009, pp. 4, 8). The aggregate

data structure that emerged during the analysis comprised themes of continuity,

belonging and attachment, status and esteem, and mastery.

During analysis, data emerged that did not conform to the constructs in Table

3.2. This data was analysed through close reading to check possible themes for

coding, however did not show patterns consistent with professional identity themes

and research questions. This data was not included in the coded data used to develop

understandings of the research questions.

Table 3.2 Major analysis themes

Theme Description Continuity This element provides individuals with a biographical

understanding of how their background informs their future direction from a professional viewpoint.

Belonging and attachment Because individuals derive their status from group membership, identifying with a profession is an indicator of how much one feels a sense of group belonging.

Status and esteem Social identity theory proposes that individuals are primarily motivated to identify with groups that increase their self-esteem; thus, identifying with the group of a valued profession should also allow the achievement of a positive self-image.

Mastery Concerned with the individual’s development of professional skills and ability to autonomously undertake duties, mastery leads to increased self-esteem and confidence in the ability to perform strongly.

3.3 SUMMARY

This chapter discussed the rationale for using a qualitative research approach to

meet the research aim of understanding the occupational intentions and decisions of

EC educators through the lens of professional identity. Chapter 4 presents the results

of the data analysis carried out as part of this study.

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS 55

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS

4.1 INTRODUCTION

This chapter presents the study findings. It does so by first framing the

conceptual dimensions of professional identity that emerged from an analysis of the

literature: belonging and attachment, continuity, status and esteem, and mastery.

These dimensions are then examined to understand their potential influence on EC

educator workforce sustainability, specifically with regards to attraction to, and

intentions to stay in the sector, and also to pursue further qualifications.

Chapter 2 presented a review of the current research relevant to the construct of

professional identity in the context of individuals in the role of EC educator. This

role is located within a field that has been subject to extensive government

professionalisation efforts on an international scale over the past decade. Scholars

contend these efforts have allowed for the rise of the surveillance of detached and

standardised processes concerned with the education of young children at the

expense of “the fluid, personal and situated nature and practice of caring” (Cook, et

al., 2016, p. 4) This tension lies at the core of the current study of EC educators and

professional identity, defined by Skorikov and Vondracek (2010) as “a complex

structure of meanings in which the individual links his or her motivation and

competencies with acceptable career roles” (p. 693).

4.2 CONTINUITY

Scholars recognise the key role continuity plays in influencing individuals to

identify with their profession. The concept of continuity is linked to future roles in

adolescence, when individuals start to form an idea of who they presently are with

who they would like to become (Skorikov & Vondracek, 2010, p. 694). Significant

others in an individual’s life, such as well-regarded or influential family members

and friends, can play a pivotal role in decision-making regarding future directions

(Skorikov & Vondracek, 2010, p. 696). An uninterrupted work pathway

characterised by commitment to a profession or career is recognised as being

beneficial to an individual’s later professional identity. Conversely, indecisiveness or

interruptions can be either valuable opportunities for self-development, or adversely

56 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS

impact an individual’s ability to commit to a future work pathway (Skorikov &

Vondracek, 2010, pp. 698-699). Continuity is therefore seen in relation to past

interests and how these inform current roles, and also to future interests individuals

may have and how these relate to or build on current roles (Kielhofner, 2008, p. 106).

4.2.1 Continuity – past interests and influences

In this study, several participants reported a continuum of interest and

involvement related to their careers as EC educators. Past interests were linked to

first jobs during or after school, such as nannying, babysitting, or child minding at

local community facilities, work in ECEC centres or family day care. Past interests

were also located within related fields, such as teaching, nursing, supporting

disadvantaged families, and caring for the elderly. As well as ECEC roles prior to

their entry into the sector, 12 study participants had worked in either retail (five

participants) or hospitality (seven participants) roles.

Ten members of the group of 18 EC educators entered their roles or related

roles (for example, child minding, babysitting, teaching, nursing, or community roles

working with young families) within five years of completing school. Among these

ten members were the youngest and oldest study participants.

Of these ten participants, two built on their interest in working with children to

find their first employment roles in the ECEC sector. These included Erin, 26, a

relief educator, who found work as a kindergarten assistant while studying for a

Bachelor of Early Childhood. Citing her ECEC teacher mother and own adolescent

work experiences in her mother’s kindergarten room as major influences on her

eventual career, Erin said, “It was really lovely to know that I knew I was on the

right path. That when I first stepped into the early childhood setting, that I went ‘yes

this is what I want to do and I know this is the career that I want to be in for the rest

of my life’.”

Susan, 43, also a relief educator, followed up on her Year 10 work experience

in childcare to complete an associate diploma before moving into her first role in

outside school hours care. Around the same time, Susan had also started a chef’s

apprenticeship, but left to return to the ECEC sector where she felt more suited. A

further two EC educators in this group of ten participants had not specifically


planned to pursue a career in ECEC but found themselves working in the sector in

their first employment roles when seeking work as school-leavers. Reflecting on

being offered ECEC training as a possible option on leave school, Sharon, a 41-year-

old teacher, said, “I think they talked me into… trying this training, and I went and

did my certificate, and then I got offered more hours. So, then it turned into

employment. I didn’t really know what I wanted to do and it seemed fun.”

Laura, 46, a group leader who left secondary school in Year 11 when she was

offered employment in a childcare centre at a recreational facility, said, “This came

up, and back in my day if you got work you were lucky, and I wasn’t the best

student, but I do manage as you can see. So, I left to do this.”

Two other participants in this group, while showing an early interest in

working with children, performed work outside of ECEC in their first employment

positions. Mary, 26, a director, undertook part-time hospitality work during high

school, but said passion led her into an EC educator job during Year 11 that

developed into her role at the time of the study. This occurred despite her mother, an

ECEC sector employee, encouraging her to find work outside the sector. Instead,

Mary stayed in the job because she related well to her colleagues, reflecting, “I

enjoyed all the educators here, they were all a lot older than me, and we all had a

really good working relationship and I just enjoyed working here.” Hannah, 21, an

assistant, planned to become an EC educator but commenced careers in hospitality

and hairdressing before moving into a nanny role and then her EC educator role

because of her love for children. Hannah said she was influenced towards her EC

educator role by positive memories of her kindergarten teacher, whom she had

connected with on social media.

Four participants in this group had not always planned to become EC

educators, and entered their roles through other related pathways. Louise, 22, a relief

educator, worked in hospitality and planned to pursue teaching, a career path that

was clear to her by the end of primary school. However, on undertaking her Bachelor

of Early Childhood, she discovered she didn’t enjoy her practicum experience and at

the same time started work in outside school hours care. A former lecturer who had

returned to the ECEC sector sought Louise out for the relief work she was

undertaking at the time of the study. Jasmine, 29, another lead educator, worked in a

pharmacy during school before completing a chef’s apprenticeship. Seeking a more


rewarding career path, Jasmine wanted to enter teaching but considered it “too far

out of reach”, and acted on university advice to undertake an ECEC diploma as a

pathway into the degree. From there, Jasmine found employment in her career at the

time of the study. June, 61, a teacher, had commenced work in the ECEC sector

following emotional burnout after her first career as a nurse working with people

with disability; while Renee, 51, an assistant, had worked as a teacher in the

Philippines before moving to Australia where her qualifications were not recognised,

and needed to retrain before finding work in the ECEC sector.

The remaining eight members of the group of 18 study participants pursued

careers in retail and hospitality for at least one decade after completing secondary

school before entering the ECEC sector. Continuity of past interests for these

participants was revealed in varying ways, with just over half having wanted to work

with children since a young age, or later in life, but being without the means or

resources to do so. A further three entered the sector at a later stage when work or

personal circumstances required them to find paid employment.

The five of these participants who noted an interest in working with children

early or later in their lives had not always planned or been in a position to become

EC educators, and entered their roles through other pathways. Lola, 58, an assistant,

had always wanted to work with children; however, a lack of related employment

and training options available to her as a young woman led her to pursue work in

retail and family day care while she raised her own family. After completing training

requirements, she entered the sector at the ECEC centre attended by her child. Kari,

46, a lead educator, worked as a casual babysitter during high school and wanted to

pursue her love of working with children to become a school teacher; however,

expense was an obstacle to her plans. After starting her family, she completed her

diploma qualification and entered the role she was undertaking at the time of the

study. Deanne, 48, a director, worked in retail and then studied full-time for an

education degree when her spouse became ill, constraining her employment choices.

Deanne said, “That was like, okay, if you’re not going to get back to work, I’m going

to have to.” As a career path she “fell into”, Deanne took up the option to qualify for

ECEC because it was an available option at the time. Family reasons also prompted

Suzanne, 47, an assistant, to move on from a decade of retail and factory-based


employment roles into cleaning and nanny work. A family contact in the ECEC

sector alerted Suzanne to an available EC educator position that she applied for and

was appointed to. Family connections also played a part in Trina, 56, a group leader,

acting on her later interest in working with young children and leaving a retail career

of many years to start work in the ECEC sector. Of her career switch, Trina said,

“…my daughter is a director [at an ECEC centre]… one day I had a day off and she

said ‘I need somebody to come down and work. Come and see’, because I kept

saying I'd love to do that.”

The remaining three participants in this group of later sectoral entrants

described other career options they had tried until employment or personal

circumstances caused them to enter ECEC. For these participants, continuity of

attraction to the sector was not part of their professional identity, but rather a

function of the broader labour market context as in the case of this assistant:

…so, then it was kind of, what will I do now? I don't have a job, I don't have

a business, [I’ve] got no money... got kids to raise. So, [I] jumped on and did

(sic) just through correspondence. It was only, I think I paid $500 all up for

my Cert III, because I can't get student loans, so trying to do further study is

another hindrance that I've got being over here, because I'm not a citizen

(Ariel, 30).

This could also be seen in the case of Rosie, 34, an assistant, who worked in a

community support role until funding ceased for her employing service. After she

was approached by a staff member of an ECEC centre in the same building and

asked to apply for a role, Rosie acted and commenced her career in the ECEC sector.

Hayley, 44, a lead educator, noted a relatively easy entry pathway into ECEC.

Following a 15-year career in retail, Hayley commenced work in the ECEC sector in

2007 at a time when she sought change, “…I came to a crossroads in my life and

wanted to do something different, so I thought, ‘Oh, I’ll just try child caring’.”

4.2.2 Continuity – future interests

In terms of future employment and vocational interests, all 18 EC educators in

this study intended to stay in the ECEC sector in the short-term (at least three years)

future. Fourteen participants intended to stay in the ECEC sector indefinitely

(Hannah, 21; Louise, 22; Erin, 26; Jasmine, 29; Ariel, 30; Rosie, 34; Sharon, 41;

Hayley, 44; Kari, 46; Laura, 46; Suzanne, 47; Deanne, 48; and June, 61). Ten


participants in this group of 14 further intended to continue in their roles undertaken

at the time of the study and had no intention to leave the sector or their roles. The

remaining four participants in this group of 14 intended to leave their roles but stay

in the ECEC sector: two intended to develop their careers into further leadership

roles (Deanne, 48 and Jasmine, 29); and two intended to pursue kindergarten

teaching roles (Louise, 22 and Erin, 26). Three more EC educators outside of the

group of 14, while committed to their current roles, addressed possible future options

working in the community services sector that might cause them to leave the ECEC

sector: one in parenting support (Mary, 26), one in youth support (Lola, 58), and one

in aged care (Renee, 51). Finally, one participant (Trina, 56) planned to leave the

ECEC sector, identifying retirement as her next working milestone. The oldest

participant, June, 61, did not indicate future intentions for work or retirement, and is

included in the 10 participants who intended to remain in their roles at the time of the

study.

The group of ten participants intending to stay in the ECEC sector and continue

in their roles at the time of the study comprised both the youngest (21) and oldest

sample participants (61), with the remaining EC educators in this group aged in their

30s and 40s. This group of ten participants held qualifications to the level of

Certificate III (four participants), diploma (five participants) or bachelor’s degree

(one participant). The youngest participant, Hannah, 21, an assistant, said she’d like

to work in her role “for a long time” because she enjoyed the work. Hannah planned

to complete a diploma at a later date because she had found the Certificate III she

had completed earlier challenging, and wanted more direct work experience before

undertaking further study, “…I just wanted to get into it all, learn about everything

and then it’ll be easier for me to actually do the diploma.” Ariel, 30, an assistant, had

a long-term plan to open a centre for families with parents who worked outside of

normal business hours. To support this plan, Ariel was studying for an aligned

qualification through a diploma in an ECEC-related discipline, and expressed that

she would like to continue studying further for an aligned qualification if not for the

expense. Laura, 40, a group leader, was also studying for a diploma and discussed

her course enrolment after her employer had offered to pay costs. Laura sought the

training to remain competitive and support her intention to continue in her role and


the ECEC sector. Rosie, 34, another assistant, was studying for her Certificate III on

the two days of the week she did not work, and while she didn’t indicate further

study beyond that point, was committed to continuing with her role in the sector

because “I want to be able to get better and better at what I’ve started.” Kari, 46, a

lead educator, had modified her original plans of becoming a teacher to become an

EC educator, and while “not really” interested in leaving the ECEC sector, said she

was open-minded to something coming along. Kari had no definite intent to pursue

aligned qualifications beyond her diploma, noting further study would be difficult on

top of the 40-hour week she worked, and would impinge on the little time she had

left at home with her husband, who also worked long hours. While she thought study

was a possibility at a later date, she was undecided as to the qualification and

discipline area, and considered four years to completion of a possible degree an

obstacle:

I'm not 100 per cent sure where I want to head, which sort of direction –

whether I want to do the bachelor… I haven't found anything I definitely – I

really want to do this, sort of thing (Kari, 46).

Suzanne, 47, an assistant, had no definite intent to pursue aligned qualifications

beyond her diploma, and intended to stay in her role and the ECEC sector in the

future. While she sought the job security not offered to her as a contract staff

member, she valued her organisation’s vision for ECEC beyond other employers, and

was therefore committed to staying in her role. Finally, June, 61, a teacher, did not

indicate intentions to stay in or leave her role, or intentions to pursue aligned

qualifications. Her position at the latter end of a second career may explain why she

did not address such intentions.

The three remaining participants in this group of ten EC educators (Susan, 43;

Sharon, 41; and Hayley, 44), with sectoral experience ranging from 15 to 25 years,

reported that they thought they would like to try something different, although they

were uncertain as to what this might be. They noted it would be difficult to make the

move because they were long-established in their fields, with relief educator Susan

stating, “I am comfortable, I guess, here and I’m not really pushing myself to do

anything else.” Susan also said she was “not really” considering any further study,

but while she did not elaborate further, if she was to look at more qualifications they

would be “probably not in childcare.” Another participant in this group of three,


Sharon, 41, a teacher, had more than 15 years’ experience in the sector. While she

was happy in her role, she sometimes wanted to try something different for the sake

of change, saying, “I think if I found what I wanted – like another thing that I wanted

to do or it was offered to me I would leave, yeah, try something different. I would.”

She said if she was to undertake further study, she didn’t have a clear purpose in

mind to pursue once it was finished:

I don't know, see, I don't know, that's why – I think just for myself really,

because I don't need it to be where I'm at unless I go somewhere else

maybe… I have thought about, like, helping more, as, like, people that need

help. I don't know really (Sharon, 41).

While committed to her role, Hayley, 44, a lead educator, was reducing her

work hours, citing financial stability and quality of life, as she was in the middle of a

“five year plan” with a view to retirement in the next decade:

I've done a lot of travelling. I'm going to hopefully keep travelling. I think

hopefully we'll have our mortgage paid and then pretty much, once the

mortgage is paid, I'm a free woman (Hayley, 44).

However, Hayley also said that if she did pursue further qualifications, she

would leave the ECEC sector for a school teaching job due to the holidays and

structure she considered would be more suited to her age and what she described as

reduced energy levels.

The group of four participants intending to stay in the ECEC sector and

diversify roles at the time of the study included Deanne, 48, a director, who aspired

to a role in training and assessment with her employer and was planning to

commence studying for an aligned qualification to allow her to do so; and Jasmine,

29, a lead educator, who intended to move into curriculum advice provision for EC

educators and wanted to re-enrol in an aligned bachelor degree she had put on hold

for parenting responsibilities. The two other participants in this group of four were

relief educators (Louise, 22 and Erin, 26). Louise had no intentions to undertake

further study at the time of the research, possibly because she held a Bachelor of

Early Childhood, the highest minimum qualification needed to pursue her ambition

to move into a teaching role in a kindergarten outside of long day care but in the

ECEC sector. Erin, who held Bachelors of Early Childhood and Social Work, also


aspired to teach in a kindergarten, and was interested in studying an aligned post-

graduate degree to support her interest in setting up a horticultural early childhood

program for children with attention deficit hyperactivity or autism spectrum

disorders.

The group of three participants who identified partly-formed intentions to leave

the ECEC sector (but were committed to their roles) included Renee, 51, an assistant,

who had recently qualified in aged care and considered a move into that sector

potentially desirable, and who had no intention to pursue aligned qualifications; Lola,

58, an assistant, who considered work in youth services appealing and expressed a

desire to undertake further study in youth services “to just do something with

children as well and being able to help them”, but had not decided on the

qualification type or course; and Mary, 26, a director, who felt there was “nowhere to

go” in her current role. Mary also felt overburdened by paper work, such as

managing rosters, salaries, and centre debt, and intended to pursue working with

children and youths at risk. Having already attained a Bachelor of Human Services,

she did not express an intention to undertake further study. For these three

participants, past interests can be seen to continue into future potential interests, with

career pathways linked by working with children or engaging in caring work. There

were no firm intentions in this group to pursue aligned qualifications. Finally, Trina,

56, a group leader, indicated an intention to leave the ECEC sector for retirement in a

timeframe of approximately five years due to health reasons. Moreover, Trina did not

indicate any intention to pursue aligned qualifications, likely explained by her

retirement plan.

The majority of participants had experienced continuity in their profession,

linking past interests to current and future roles (see Table 4.1). The median time of

EC educator service in the ECEC sector was 12 years, with the shortest length of

service at the time of the study being two years for assistant, Ariel, 30; and the

longest length of service 30 years for group leader, Laura, 47. The two participants

with intentions to leave the sector over the following five years from the time of the

study had eight years’ experience (lead educator, Hayley, 44) and 12 years’

experience (group leader, Trina, 56).


Table 4.1 Summary of study participants, employment intentions, and time in ECEC sector

Name Age Role Time in ECEC sector Stay in ECEC sector and in roles at the time of the study Hannah 21 Assistant 2.5 years Ariel 30 Assistant 2 years Rosie 34 Assistant 4 years Sharon 41 Teacher 16 years Susan 43 Relief educator 25 years Hayley 44 Lead educator 8 years Kari 46 Lead educator 20 years Laura 46 Group leader 30 years Suzanne 47 Assistant 16 years June 61 Teacher 19 years Stay in ECEC sector and develop into leadership roles Jasmine 29 Lead educator 7 years Deanne 48 Director 21 years Stay in ECEC sector and move into kindergarten teaching roles Louise 22 Relief educator 3 years Erin 26 Relief educator 5 years Possibly leave ECEC sector and move into the community services sector Renee 51 Assistant 8 years Mary 26 Director 8.5 years Lola 58 Assistant 15 years Leave the ECEC sector and retire from work Trina 56 Group leader 12 years

4.2.3 Summary

When viewed in light of the professional identity framework, and in particular,

the dimension of continuity being used to understand the research questions, this

study shows a link between present roles and past interests for almost 80 per cent of

participants. Furthermore, while the link between present and past roles appeared to

be the result of circumstance or constrained choices for a small number of

participants, more than three quarters of all participants signalled their intentions to

stay in the ECEC sector. This was whether they remained in their current roles,

diversified career paths, or pursued leadership opportunities. This finding aligns with

research that indicates such a link contributes to career stability (Skorikov &

Vondracek, 2010, p. 699). In this way, it can be seen that for many participants in


this study, their past interests and roles shaped their attraction to the ECEC sector,

and developed to support their intentions to stay in the ECEC sector.

Further considering the dimension of continuity, this time from the perspective

of future interests, there was a link between present roles and intentions to stay in the

ECEC sector for almost 80 per cent of participants. Interestingly, the same number of

participants (although not the same participants) revealed a link between their past

interests and attraction to the ECEC sector, as will be discussed in sub-section 4.3.1.

A degree of complexity can be seen in the decisions EC educators made and continue

to make regarding their work in ECEC. For example, uncertainty about what they

wanted to do or what would really interest them played a role in the future intentions

of two participants, while two others were focused on the satisfaction of material

needs (mortgage, retirement plans) until they could leave the ECEC sector. Another

two expressed partly-formed intentions to move into the community services sector,

while one indicated a strong intention to do so. Despite this, all 18 study participants

expressed intentions to stay in the ECEC sector in the short to medium-term, with

only two reporting definite intentions to leave the ECEC sector in a five year

timeframe. Future interests therefore shaped the intentions of most participants in

this study to stay in the ECEC sector.

With regards to intentions to pursue aligned qualifications, three participants

were in the process of doing so for the purposes of supporting continuing work in the

EC sector. A further three participants indicated partly-formed plans to undertake

aligned qualifications. Six EC educators expressed no intentions to pursue aligned

qualifications. Finally, a further six EC educators expressed either no intention or

partly-formed intentions to pursue qualifications that would be outside of their

present field. The dimension of continuity therefore appears to have less of an impact

in shaping EC educator intentions to pursue aligned qualifications.

4.3 BELONGING AND ATTACHMENT

Belonging and attachment is recognised as a key motivator for individuals in

deciding to pursue a certain profession or career path. This is because social identity

theory proposes that a positive sense of esteem is derived from being part of a group,

and therefore individuals who identify with their professional group will have a

favourable self-image and be positively oriented towards work (Ashforth & Mael,


1989, p. 34). In this study, participants identified a strong sense of belonging and

attachment with children, families, colleagues, and sector.

4.3.1 Belonging and attachment – children

Participants strongly identified that attachment – often described directly or

indirectly as “love” – for children was a key motivator for seeking EC employment

and continuing to work in their roles. Most participants linked love for the job to love

for the children. For example, Sharon, 41, a teacher, linked feelings of belonging and

attachment to how their roles related to child development, saying, “I love the

children – yeah, it’s from being around the children, watching them grow and learn

and their journey to school.” Susan, 43, a relief educator, who echoed this point, said,

“I just like interacting with children… being around children, you know, things that

they say make you laugh.” Some participants noted the positive effect children’s

innocent and playful behaviour and demonstrable affection had on them. Louise, a

22-year-old relief educator, had tried working with children in older age groups but

realised early childhood most appealed to her, stating, “I didn't get to put as much

heart into it, I guess, than I felt I could with the younger kids.”

Enjoying being around children was often the element that participants

considered led them to defining their work as a career or profession. For example,

when describing the professional aspects of their work, participants referred to their

training base, knowledge, and skills in child development; development of

individualised learning plans; ability to provide opportunities for play-based

learning; ability to observe children grow and develop; and ability to create learning

opportunities for children they may not have in other contexts. Erin, 26, a relief

educator, described the “amazing opportunity” that her role presented to her in

contributing to child development, “We do all these wonderful things at kindy that

may not look like we're learning or we're doing all that structured stuff, but if you

take time just to look at their play, we're achieving really great prep readiness skills.”

4.3.2 Belonging and attachment – families

Participants also reported having strong bonds with families, often attributed to

relationship building and communication skills tempered by the placement of

professional boundaries. Suzanne, 47, a team leader, referred to her own team’s


strengths in building relationships with families because they all shared the child’s

best interest.

Participants discussed their own improved sense of esteem from the bonds

developed with both children and families and took pride in family enrolments as a

result of community references. They reflected these feelings of positivity back to

their place of employment as being a good place to work. EC educators reported that

families communicated that they wanted their children to be happy and healthy and

to have an enjoyable day of learning in the centre they attended. All participants

expressed confidence in their ability to communicate with parents through verbal and

written forms and drew improved self-esteem from the support parents gave them for

new ideas and program changes. They described their workplace as a positive

environment, with strong parent relationships; a key contributing aspect evidenced

by enrolment referrals from families. In describing the progress that she had made

with families since recently commencing in her role, Trina, 56, a group leader, said,

“I’m getting that bond with them now, and the kids are – they just go with you. Some

of the families were a little bit funny in the beginning.”

EC educators reported they had different relationships with different parents,

resulting in conflicted views of participants with regards to levels of belonging and

attachment to this group. Reflecting this inconsistency, an assistant float said:

Some parents I think are just normal, some parents are hard to deal with and

some parents it’s easy, they understand what’s happening around. Other

parents it’s a bit hard and you don’t know whether you’re wrong or not

(Renee, 51).

4.3.3 Belonging and attachment – colleagues and sector

All study participants reported the existence of strong, supportive relationships

between EC educators and their colleagues. According to EC educators, peers were

ready and willing to help each other and knew they could call on each other for back

up when needed. While almost all participants felt supported by management and

enjoyed being able to share information and ideas at meetings within a democratic

environment, a small number of individuals reported feelings of uncertainty

regarding leadership behaviour, thereby impacting their sense of esteem and

belonging.


Some participants referred to their colleagues as friends and drew feelings of

positive self-worth from planned social events with co-workers, as evidenced by

Hayley, 44, a lead educator, who said, “I would probably, even if I didn’t work here,

I’d still keep in contact with the girls.” Others saw their colleagues as being akin to a

work ‘family’. While increased belonging and attachment to colleagues contributed

to improved feelings of esteem and a positive self-image, some were cautious about

over-familiarity. For example, Mary, 26, a director, discussed the detrimental effects

on the centre and work relationships when colleagues’ friendships moved from the

working hours to weekends, noting, “When… the girls all start hanging out on the

weekends, if they have a fight… it translates onto the centre. Or they get cliquey.”

In a work environment where a single EC educator can be required to educate

and care for a group of children for several hours, isolation from colleagues is

inevitable. However, most participants indicated well-developed communication and

negotiation capabilities, useful in working around potential situations of conflict.

Such competencies contributed to participants feeling an increased sense of esteem

from belonging and attachment to colleagues. The process to resolve conflict usually

involved first discretely discussing issues – actual or potential – with their

colleagues, then escalating concerns to management if needed. This process of

conflict resolution was reflected in the following response from a lead educator:

…let's just communicate and talk about it as opposed to keeping it bottled up

and it's not going to solve anything and in the end it will make our

relationship stronger, which is in turn better for the children (Jasmine, 29).

EC educators also showed a strong degree of empathy and support for

colleagues who appeared to be coping poorly with pressure. Empathising with

colleagues gave individuals a positive self-image in the way they supported co-

workers. For example, Laura, 46, a group leader, either informally checked in to

speak directly with the affected colleague or escalated the issue to centre

management, saying, “If I saw something that was alarming I would not dismiss it.

I’d follow through in case it could help that poor person.” A lead educator concurred,

acknowledging a colleague may feel lacking in support:


So, if you try and work together, collaborate together, and try and make that

– if the situation ever arises again, try and make it so everyone is on board

(Hayley, 44).

EC educators noted that an improvement in their abilities to reflect on their

behaviours increased their sense of belonging and attachment to colleagues, as

Hayley, 44, emphasised, “I think that’s one thing in the last three years, it has really

changed, is the fact that I can – that I'm willing to accept other people's thoughts and

ideas and work alongside with them.”

Belonging and attachment to a role can be influenced by collegiate

relationships at both the workplace and broader organisational levels, as was

identified through the experiences of those in leadership. They reported feelings of

disconnect, and therefore a reduced sense of esteem, belonging, and attachment,

within a hierarchy that was perceived as remote and detached. For example, as one of

a 650-strong group of organisational leaders, Mary, 26, a director, felt powerless in

being able to provide feedback to more senior staff, stating, “They have a name for

us. I think we’re the coal miners… I think it’s like the people on the ground… they

can’t hear everyone.” However, Deanne, 46, another director, considered the

organisation’s management structure to be open, evolving, and responsive to

feedback. This increased that participant’s sense of belonging and attachment within

the management team.

The three EC educators who were pursuing aligned qualifications in this study

indicated that feelings of belonging and attachment to the sector were partly behind

their efforts. All three were partly motivated by feelings of wanting to continue to

belong to a sector to which they were attached. Belonging and attachment to the

sector could also be seen to support the partly-formed intentions of a further three

participants to pursue aligned qualifications to continue working in the field. The

remaining 12 participants had no intention of pursuing aligned qualifications, or had

partly-formed intentions to pursue qualifications outside of the sector. Belonging and

attachment was therefore considered to have less impact in shaping their decisions to

study aligned qualifications, if they were to study at all.

4.3.4 Summary

This study considered how the professional identity conceptual dimension of

belonging and attachment shapes EC educator decisions with regards to attraction,


ongoing employment, and training. All EC educator participants, without exception,

reported feelings of positive self-esteem arising from belonging and attachment to

the group of children in their charge. Almost all participants derived the meaning of

their work as professional from this increased self-esteem and confidence as a result

of being around children, and the favourable self-image resulting from being

responsible for child development. These findings are consistent with links between

belonging and attachment and professional success, as discussed in Chapter 2.

When discussing belonging and attachment to families of children attending

centres, most EC educators reported a strong sense of such, and that they enjoyed

amicable and productive communication with the families. This was seen as an

extension of the strong sense of belonging and attachment they felt for the children

and suggests maturity of social interactions, which is linked to individual ability to

stabilise in a role, also an important contributor to strong professional identity.

This study also considers how the professional identity conceptual dimension

of belonging and attachment to colleagues impacts EC educator decisions to remain

in or leave the ECEC sector. Participants reported feelings of belonging and

attachment to colleagues through friendship, and feelings of being well-supported by

colleagues and also wanting to return that support. They also indicated positive

interactions as a result of mature communication and negotiation skills, leading to

satisfactory relationship outcomes. While one participant perceived management

could be disrespectful at times, with adverse impacts on her sense of belonging and

attachment, this study demonstrates that overall, participants’ had increased esteem

and positive self-worth from feelings of belonging and attachment to colleagues.

However, two thirds of EC educators in this study did not indicate they were deriving

self-worth from belonging to the group, with plans to pursue aligned qualifications.

Therefore, overall findings indicate the theoretical dimension of belonging and

attachment is beneficial to EC educator professional identity and positively shapes

participant attraction to and intentions to stay in the ECEC sector. However, this

dimension was not found to have as strong an impact on EC educator decisions to

pursue aligned qualifications.


4.4 STATUS AND ESTEEM

As a way of viewing an individual’s social or professional position in relation

to others, status and esteem can be understood in terms of the positive self-image and

esteem one derives from associating with a group perceived to be of high status

(Haslam, 2001, p. 21). Tajfel (1978) asserted that individuals are primarily motivated

to identify with a group that fulfils the need for a positive sense of self-esteem.

Individuals experience values socialisation and are exposed to rhetoric and

messaging through which they form self-views and meaning about their profession

(Slay & Smith, 2011, p. 87). In this study, EC educators addressed their own status

as a relative concept, perceived in comparison with other individuals and groups. In

doing so, they compared themselves and their work to work done in the home, to

teachers, other families, and their own families. They also revealed information

regarding the impacts of increased administrative demands and surveillance of their

work as a result of professionalisation efforts, along with their views on their pay

levels, and the way this affected their self-esteem. Moreover, participants discussed

their own perceived status from the perspective of how they believed members of

other groups saw them, including teachers in standalone kindergartens and schools

(outside of long day care centres), families of children attending centres, and their

own family members.

4.4.1 Status and esteem – views of others

Recent government moves to professionalise the ECEC sector prioritises

education over care in the work of EC educators, and is intended to lift their

professional status. However, EC educators in this study questioned the way their

status was viewed across a range of societal groups, indicating that their own levels

of esteem were impacted by the views of others, undermining those state efforts to

professionalise the sector. For example, participants perceived that teachers who

were employed outside of long day care valued their own roles as being more

educationally focused than those of EC educators, who they thought of more as

babysitters. Erin, 26, a relief educator, was disappointed by what she felt was the

“talking down” of her profession, especially as it was her choice to work with the

pre-prep age group, stating, “It’s not nice when they think that they're so much

higher above anybody else… we know what we're doing is right for the children and

really great and giving them wonderful learning opportunities through play.”


Participants expressed indignation at these views and believed the work of

kindergarten and school teachers was the same as, or less demanding than, that of an

EC educator, particularly with regards to the folio reporting sent home to families.

This could perhaps explain why Jasmine, 29, a lead educator, aspired to move out of

her role and into a position providing curriculum advice to EC educators. Jasmine

wanted to re-enrol in an incomplete and aligned bachelor’s degree, and was

motivated to continue in her search for a more rewarding career path. Deanne, 48, a

director, was also motivated to move into a role in training and assessment and

planned to study aligned qualifications to allow her to achieve this goal. Suzanne, 47,

an assistant, did not intend to undertake further study but considered a teaching

course might be of appeal should she do so.

Scholars attribute a process where individuals adjust their identity to the

purpose of reducing cognitive dissonance (Marks & Thompson, 2010, p. 323) . This

can be seen when an individual may publicly display certain beliefs or behaviours

while privately pursuing those that are quite different. In terms of broader societal

views, this could be seen in the case of EC educators, who while indicating that they

very much enjoyed and placed high value on aspects of their work, perceived that

broader society continues to struggle with the value of their work. For example, the

secondary school-aged child of Laura, 46, a group leader expressed an interest in

pursuing work in EC education. However, the child’s teacher advised Laura they

would encourage the child to look at other avenues “because of how it is today.”

While Laura supported this advice in front of the teacher, she privately continued to

shape her daughter’s interest in EC educator work; thus, engaging in identity

adjustment to reduce the stigma associated with her work. This can be viewed as

subtle evidence of participants actively working to protect or preserve their own self-

image and esteem in relation to the views of others outside the profession.

Making education the key focus of EC educator work and the related

employment of degree-qualified teachers to run kindergarten programs was seen to

be a valuable move in lifting community understanding and appreciation of the

value, and therefore status, of EC educators. June, 61, a teacher, reported that

employed teachers met as a group to share information with families about their

capability, which she believed contributed to repeat family business and enrolment


referrals. Deanne, 48, a director, could also see positives in prioritising education

over care, saying, “…coming under the education umbrella should start seeing the

change… [the sector is] professionalising again, which is hopefully what's going to

come from being part of the education sector again.” Participants also considered that

community awareness of their increased responsibilities was growing. Although two-

thirds of participants decried societal use of the term “babysitter” in describing their

work, they considered these perceptions were changing. For example, Hayley, 44, a

lead educator said, “They want to see children learning through play and everything,

which is good.” This focus on education was also accompanied by a growing

recognition of the complexity of ECEC work, as Susan, 47, a relief educator, noted,

“…a few parents, they always state ‘Oh, I don’t know how you can do it’, like, with

so many children, so I guess in their view, they can see that we do a great job.” Flow-

on effects from sectoral messaging to parent audiences were also perceived, with

participants reporting increased discussion about the importance of EC education.

4.4.2 Status and esteem – views of self

Professionalisation efforts have also attempted to address the lower value

placed on EC educators’ work and perceptions that their duties are the same as

bringing up children in the home and so can be easily replicated (Lyons, 2012, p.

123). Despite these efforts, participants noted the ongoing attitudes expressed

towards their activities and those done in the home. For example, a group leader used

simile and metaphor to link activities at work and home:

I have eight children, normally doing nappies and in there with two and six

are out here…We're cleaners. We're gardeners… so we do a lot of stuff and

it's like a home. If there's washing out there, I'll bring that washing in now

because I've got to do it tonight otherwise. I'll put the next load of washing

on. It's like when you're at home. (Laura, 46)

Participants reported that the community is also perceived as continuing to

struggle with viewing the work of EC educators beyond gendered understandings of

their roles. Mary, 26, a director, reported her centre’s parents do not use the term

“professional” to refer to EC educators, using instead the terms “staff”, “the girl”, or

the “lady at the front desk.” However, EC educators have a strong self-belief in their

role as reaching beyond building centre enrolments to supporting the learning of

young children everywhere, and consider this to be an important contributor to


building community understanding of the work they do. For example, the same

director reported that although their centre ran special health-focused evenings and

invited different health professionals to present, parents did not attend:

But I've said… maybe it's because they feel like they don’t have anything to

give because [the staff] know it or you know everything, you do the

programs, so what do they have to offer? So, it's trying to re-educate the

parents that they have a lot to offer (Mary, 26).

As the sector has undergone professionalisation efforts, all participants

described the complexity of their roles in identifying their work as a profession or as

a career. Interestingly, however, almost all participants referred to their employment

as childcare at some point during the interviews, perhaps showing the enduring

nature of such terminology and that the sector at large is still coming to terms with its

work as a provider of ECEC services. However, most participants expressed

confidence in their abilities to perform as a professional when explaining their work

to others, reflecting a positive self-image and levels of esteem. Some described their

work as vital or being based around child interaction, ranging through professional

duties from observing children to developing their interests. Others said it was

important to be honest about the realities of their work when describing what they do

to potential EC educators. A common view among participants, as illustrated by this

relief educator, was that they identified as professionals:

… it’s the way you speak, it's the way you talk, and it's the documentation

and accountability and all that. It's really important to be accountable and to

be professional because it's so important – it’s somebody's child who's going

to grow up and it's going to give them a really good foundation if you can

stay professional (Louise, 22).

A small number of participants responded with uncertainty when describing

their work as a profession, referring to perceptions of management expectations that

they be seen as professionals. For example, when asked if she viewed her role as

being professional, Sharon, 41, a teacher, said, “I'm supposed to, yeah”, while Susan,

43, a relief educator, said, “…the standards have gone up now, so we’re sort of

looked at as teachers, I guess, now.” When talking about how she described her work


to others, Sharon identified the importance of her role in supporting children’s

transitions to school with a degree of hesitation:

They usually just go, like, ‘Oh what do you teach?’ and then I'll say ‘Like,

four to five years old kindergarten program, before they go to school’; yeah,

I help them to get – it’s not really helping them to get ready for school, well

it is kind of, but… yeah. (Sharon, 41)

Sharon also indicated doubt in her response when asked whether she would

recommend her line of work to a hypothetical friend interested in entering the field:

“Why is she going for it! I'd ask her why? Why do you want to go there? I think

she'd just have to weigh up the pros and the cons, like if she hasn't got work, well

then you need it.”

4.4.3 Paper work, surveillance and pay as impacting status and esteem

Paper work

As the ECEC sector has become more regulated, participants reported they

struggled to adapt to the increased administrative requirements of their work. EC

educators talked about the added burden of red tape and feelings of being constantly

monitored. They also indicated that they believed their pay levels did not adequately

compensate them for the work required of them, indicating how society valued them.

They considered that low pay rates placed them in economically vulnerable positions

where they needed to rely on the support of others or take on a second job to meet

commitments.

These responsibilities were added to EC educator’s existing duties involving

the direct education and care of children. Furthermore, reflecting and reporting duties

were seen as unhelpful and intrusive to the work of educating and caring for children,

with half of participants indicating it was near impossible to fulfil all of the

administrative, education, and care aspects of their job within an eight-hour shift.

June, 61, a teacher, said that if she did all the paper work and critical reflection asked

of her, she would have no time to spend with the children. Expressing that she felt

undervalued for the complexity of work she performed, June considered the NQF to

be unrealistic, particularly in its requirements for evidence of professional behaviour

and child learning progress. Limited hours outside of work were also linked to the


decision of Kari, 46, a lead educator, who felt further study would further reduce the

time she had to spend with family.

Hayley, 44, a lead educator, discussed the burden of requirements to enter

programming and reporting into a centralised system via an iPad, and the extra time

required to do so often exacerbated by technology malfunctions, stating “That can

take three quarters of an hour just to do one child.” Contrasting electronic reporting

to the former “pen and paper” method, Hayley said, “…now, it’s all…online, so

you’ve got to access the iPad, then you’ve got to get it set up, then by the time you

do all that, the child is up and gone.” Others described the complexity of their work,

with tasks ranging from fixing leaking taps and assessing child injuries to answering

parent account enquiries and reflecting or programming. Required paper work was a

key reason for why some study participants had possible intentions to leave the

ECEC sector to find work options able to be completed within paid hours.

Recent research has found that because early childhood teaching comprises a

prolific diversity of tasks in a range of environments, practitioners are vulnerable to

psychological burn out, and that children’s challenging behaviours can contribute to

burn out (Al-Adwin & Al-Khayat, 2017, pp. 181, 187). Study participants who

reported using their breaks to complete paper work also reported the flow-on impacts

on their ability to deal with challenging or overwhelming behaviours from children.

In turn, their self-image and levels of esteem were affected, along with their feelings

about their colleagues. A teacher resented an implicit requirement to autonomously

employ self-regulating behaviours:

…[but] it’s like are you using all the strategies? You get asked that.

Sometimes you feel like you get a bit of blame your way, about the way

you're dealing with it… I get quite upset and I just have learnt to stay calm

(Sharon, 41).

This sentiment was echoed by Susan, 43, a relief educator, who felt uncertain

about the strategies available to her to address challenging childhood behaviour,

stating, “Because we’re all in a room by ourselves and if you have quite a few

children, especially with the challenging ones, that can sort of emotionally bring you

down…”. The context of being the sole responsible adult isolated in a room and

managing children’s challenging behaviour was also addressed by other participants,


including Renee, 51, an assistant. To cope with incidents such as toys being thrown

at her head by children, Renee said she counted to 10 “to calm down… because this

is our job, we have to do our best.”

Surveillance

Despite claims to greater post-sectoral reform autonomy for EC educators,

academics contend increased regulation has led to increased surveillance of their

activities (Cook, et al., 2016, pp. 13, 15). Surveillance in this context can take form

in many different ways, whether through participant self-reflection and reporting

against standards, management supervision or visits from Department of Education

officials, or during meetings when staff, such as this teacher can feel called to

account:

Sometimes I feel like I can be used as an example and it can be a little bit

embarrassing… sometimes it will get brought up in staff meetings and then

everyone knows what it is and then it will be said like ‘no offence X’. When

it starts off like that I'm thinking, ‘Well it is an offence’. (Sharon, 41)

Participants were also wary of workplace mishap repercussions. For example,

Laura, 46, a group leader, said “Accidents happen so you’re always worrying about

incident reports or will things come back at a later date.” For Laura, the risk

increased with responsibility and was enough to stay any ambition she may have had

for promotion, despite her eligibility for one. EC educators are also wary of larger

consequences, as a teacher explained:

I think what motivated me (to join the union) was the fines you can get from

the department. If they walk in and see something is wrong and it could be

like a mistake, you've overlooked something, and then you can just get fined,

I don't know, $300,000 (Sharon, 41).

Increased surveillance and risk aversion was also seen as stunting learning

opportunities for children. This was frustrating for Erin, 26, a relief educator, who

believed children should be able to climb trees and high frames under appropriate

supervision and safety precautions. However, when Erin or her colleague left the

room for a period of time they were frustrated to see that upon their return the

climbing frames were packed away by colleagues “and the whole reason is it's not

safe or we don't want to supervise that.”


With increased regulation comes responsibility for managing the risk of child

safety in the room. This is complicated by the concept of “under roof ratio”, which

allows extra children to be sent into a room but be counted as part of another room,

resulting in more children for EC educators to supervise (ACECQA, 2011e).

Participants viewed this as an unethical, unfair, cost-cutting exercise at their expense.

Pay

EC educators were aware that government efforts to professionalise the sector

had not resulted in a commensurate increase in pay levels. While the influence of

family and peers is thought to contribute strongly to identity development (Skorikov

& Vondracek, 2010, p. 705), the perceived reactions of others to care-type tasks

impacted how EC educators viewed their roles, particularly when considering fair

pay. Thus, the concept of fair pay is strongly linked to how EC educators consider

others value what they do and adversely impacts their sense of esteem about their

work. In justifying their claims for better pay, participants described the complex

roles they undertake, from mother to nurse to educator, changing nappies and wiping

the noses of other people’s children, cleaning up vomit, working in a contagious

environment, and managing parent relationships.

Two-thirds of participants explicitly using the word “babysitter” to describe

what they considered their role definitely was not, even though that was how they

perceived society saw their roles. Several participants, including Rosie, 34, an

assistant, also identified the physical impact of their work as deserving of more pay,

“…especially with toddlers and you're picking up to change and if you haven't got a

very [good lower] back it sort of takes a toll on that, which – your limbs and

especially your knees – you’re up and down a lot.” While participants agreed the

caring and cleaning aspects of their roles alone justified better pay, Renee, 51, an

assistant, drew on her abilities in moulding the development of young children to

argue for improved remuneration. Recalling a news story reporting EC educators

were paid the same hourly rate as cleaners, Renee considered EC educators should be

paid more because “cleaners just clean.” Because her poor rate of pay impacted her

quality of life – “It’s hard sometimes… that’s why I have to spend wisely” – she had

taken on a second job as a cleaner. Deanne, 48, a director, shared the view that her


rate of pay placed her in a vulnerable position and that her quality of life would be a

risk if she did not have a partner to share finances with.

Low rates of pay also likely impacted the ability of EC educators who wished

to pursue aligned qualifications. Ariel, 30, an assistant, said while she would like to

undertake further qualifications the cost prevented her from doing so. Sharon, 41, a

teacher, and Hayley, 44, a lead educator, also considered expense to be an obstacle to

them taking up further study.

All but one of the study participants identified low pay as an issue, particularly

when contrasting work and conditions with those of other male-gendered

occupations with similar levels of qualification, or other occupations in general. For

example, Erin, 26, a relief educator, relayed that her husband worked in the building

trade and has a Certificate III qualification “but not once does anybody question his

ability because he has his qualifications… a Certificate III in Early Childhood as an

assistant seems to always be questioned, that are you really qualified? Are you good

enough for this job…”. EC educators considered an increase in pay rates would see

more men enter the ECEC sector, and that a worker with the same level of

responsibility in a male-dominated field would earn more.

Participants also contrasted the difference in requirements of a Certificate III

between ECEC and other industries, such as male-gendered trade-based fields. Mary,

26, a director, considered the delivery mode and approach of ECEC qualifications

could align with those of other “male” trades, stating “In the male industry, they all

go to TAFE or they do their apprenticeships, so I think that should transfer over to

our industry.”

4.4.4 Summary

This study considered the professional identity framework conceptual

dimension of status and esteem and how it shapes EC educator workforce

sustainability and training intentions in the ECEC sector. From the perspective of

others, study findings indicate a continuing perceived gap between how society

values the work of EC educators and how they as individuals view their relative

worth. However, EC educators welcomed efforts to lift workforce qualifications

(although they were only pursuing or intending to pursue aligned qualifications in

small numbers), and were enthusiastic about communicating their increased


capability with stakeholders. They considered community awareness of the

importance of their roles to be increasing, with positive implications for status

improvement. For the EC educators in this study, engagement with the educative

component of their work, and how this was positively viewed by broader society, led

to increased pride in their work with children. This study finds that despite ongoing

challenges, positive reform contributed to EC educators identifying with a profession

of value, consistent with theory outlined in Chapter 2 (Haslam, 2001). This applied

to both EC educators intending to stay in their roles, and also those two participants

who identified aspirational roles that they perceived held improved status (for

example, kindergarten teacher roles). In both cases, these roles were located within

the ECEC sector. This also applied to two participants who intended to study aligned

qualifications to position them to achieve promotional roles within the ECEC sector.

Status and esteem – the views of others, can therefore be seen to shape EC educator

attraction to and retention within the ECEC sector. This concept had less effect in

shaping intentions to pursue aligned qualifications for a larger number of individuals.

From the perspective of status and esteem – views of self, while the ECEC

sector continues to undergo professionalisation efforts with the stated aims of lifting

status and recognition, some EC educators identified that they were employed in

roles that almost anybody could fill, should circumstances require. Overall, though,

the way EC educators believe society values them has a small impact on the way

they view themselves. This could be seen in the way EC educators in this study took

pride in recognising the complexity of their work to identify as professionals, over-

riding feelings of uncertainty and self-doubt. The EC educators in this research

identified with a profession they valued, deriving esteem from these self-views and a

positive self-image. Consistent with research discussed in Chapter 2, such a positive

self-image allows EC educators to manage professional ambiguities and uncertainty

(Haslam, 2001, p. 21; Skorikov & Vondracek, 2010, p. 696). This study

demonstrates a link between status and esteem – views of self, and intention to stay

in the ECEC sector.

In contrast to status and esteem components of views of others and views of

self, however, EC educators in this study indicated increased requirements for

paperwork negatively impacted their ability to work efficiently and autonomously,


and therefore their status and esteem, and self-image. Furthermore, as with paper

work, increased surveillance negatively impacted the ability of EC educators in this

study to work autonomously, a key attribute of a profession. Surveillance therefore

negatively impacted participant status and esteem and self-image, and the ability to

deal with uncertainty in their profession and attempts to identify with a high-status

group. Individuals may seek to resolve such uncertainty by seeking identification

with high-status groups outside of the ECEC sector, or roles perceived to be of

higher status within the sector. Finally, even though several study participants

believed that individual passion for and enjoyment of the role communicated its

value to the broader community, only one EC educator failed to explicitly identify

pay as an issue. EC educator concerns about poor comparable remuneration

negatively impacted their levels of esteem and tempered their ability to identify with

an occupation they valued. Moreover, low pay could be linked to EC educators

deciding not to pursue aligned qualifications due to the expense.

The theoretical dimension of esteem and status as it relates to paper work and

surveillance may therefore deter EC educator attraction to the ECEC sector, and once

in the sector, may shape their intentions to leave the ECEC sector. Furthermore, this

research finds that surveillance negatively impacts EC educator levels of status and

esteem, and therefore attraction to the ECEC sector, as well as intentions to pursue

aligned qualifications. This element of the dimension of status and esteem may also

shape EC educator intentions to leave the ECEC sector. Finally, from a theoretical

perspective, low pay levels negatively affect EC educator levels of status and esteem,

and therefore attraction to and intentions to remain in the ECEC sector, as well as

intentions to pursue aligned qualifications.

4.5 MASTERY

The ability to master skills and execute them autonomously influences an

individual’s professional identity (Gilardi & Lozza, 2009; Jackson, 2016, p. 1315).

This is because mastery of skills is linked to a strong sense of self-esteem and

confidence within individuals to undertake their roles highly effectively. This further

influences an individual’s motivation and commitment to their profession (Baruch &

Cohen, 2007, p. 255). Mastery is supported by an individual having knowledge,

personality, and competence attributes, as well as certain motivations (Baruch, 2004,

p. 61). Beliefs, attitudes, and ways of behaving are built and developed as a part of


an individual’s development of self-efficacy, an indicator of performance in

workplace contexts (Hogg & Terry, 2000).

Participants raised the concept of mastery in several ways in the interviews in

relation to their knowledge, personality, and competence attributes; current

qualifications; and intent to pursue qualifications. The main areas of mastery for EC

educators in this study were the importance of their role to child development;

specialist competencies; other attributes including patience, an open communication

style, and a willingness to interact with families and the community; and intention to

pursue further qualifications.

4.5.1 Importance of the EC educator role to child development

The importance of EC educator roles to child development was the strongest

theme that emerged from coding of the transcripts, with the majority of participants

explicitly referring to their strong orientation towards working with children to foster

their development and pathway to lifelong learning. Recounting her experience of

observing the progress of the children in her charge, Ariel, 30, an assistant, said, “…

even from the beginning of the year when I first started here to them now, you can

see just in the wording and the different strategies and things like that, that are sort of

changing.” Kari, 46, a lead educator, discussed the importance of the influential role

she and her colleagues had on young children, noting, “It goes on for the rest of their

life. Just that encouraging to learn and learning through play and all that sort of thing.

It's the start of how they're going to grow up really.”

Taking a child-centred approach was recognised as being key to the work of

EC educators, with participants referring to their competence in developing self-help

abilities and self-regulation of emotions in very young children, and in allowing them

to make choices and decisions. Participants took pride in their competency in

presenting evidence of children’s learning through folios and wall displays reflecting

personality and individuality, and in developing resources to improve learning

outcomes. Knowledge of children’s needs or behavioural patterns was demonstrated

through participant understanding of principles of transitions and continuity of

learning, including working with families and the community prior to the child

attending long day care to support separation and attachment. Study participants also


promoted their abilities in developing literacy skills in young children through the

use of cutting, pasting, and drawing, and teaching literacy and language skills. For

example, a relief educator said:

I'm not teaching maths and I'm not teaching English in a sit down lesson, but

it requires a lot of skills and a lot of – a lot of skills in a lot of different areas

to be accountable to talk to parents, to model language to children and all

that and to give them a routine and all those sorts of things (Louise, 22).

Participants also confidently outlined their expert competencies in talking and

listening to children to model language use, teaching children to play well with other

children, developing skills in using appropriate terminology, and also growing

knowledge about room and behaviour management strategies. Ariel, 30, an assistant

reflected on her own growth in her competencies, noting progress over the course of

the year regarding her use of terminology and strategies. With regards to personality,

attributes such as resilience, good listening skills, a sense of humour, patience, and

having a calm demeanour were identified as useful to the role of EC educator, as

Jasmine, 29, a lead educator, stated, “Patience is a big one – the ability to be able to

get down to level with the children to understand their needs and what it is that they

need to grow into confident beings as they enter the big wide world.”

Demonstrations of EC educators’ achievements in using their competencies to

support children to reach success caused considerable pride for participants.

Suzanne, 47, an assistant, derived satisfaction from children reaching milestones,

“They can master the grip of a peg, squeezing a peg. I mean just little things like that

and knowing ‘Hey, I had a part in that’.” The progress of children in terms of

confidence growth throughout their time attending the centre brought satisfaction to

participants, including a lead educator:

It's a hard job. It can be quite a thankless job at times. But I feel a sense of

achievement if I've done something with a certain child, or something's

happened special in our day, you get that sense of achievement. So, I think

that's another thing that keeps you coming back, because you can see that, oh

that's great, you've worked so hard with this kid for months on end and then

bang, something's finally happened (Hayley, 44).


4.5.2 Other specialist competencies

While the work of EC educators can be perceived as easily replicated in the

home, and therefore lacking a key element of what is traditionally understood to

constitute a profession (Lyons, 2012, p. 123), several participants rejected such

assessments. Instead, they argued that their competencies were specialised beyond

that which families and the broader community could offer in terms of child

development. For example, Rosie, 34, an assistant, said that she was able to offer a

developmental service that perhaps others in the child’s life could not, stating, “I’m

working with children that I can teach things. I can acknowledge things with them to

let them understand in ways maybe that sometimes it’s easier for somebody else to

give them that knowledge.” Participants discussed how their expertise was the point

of differentiation in establishing children’s learning journeys. Using play dough as an

example, a lead educator described how her role provided children with learning

experiences different to what they might achieve with their families:

…with painting and play dough, we make it fun, use all different surfaces,

use all different kind of resources. It's just not a piece of play dough plonked

on the table, ‘There you go guys’, because I mean, they could do that at

home (Hayley, 44).

June, 61, a teacher, encouraged good posture in children in her group who

exhibited an inability to sit on a chair properly, saying, “Their feet are up, their feet

are down, they're hanging off chairs because – and when you talk to them most of

them sit on the lounge to eat their dinner.” EC educators also emphasised the

difference between their role and babysitting, outlining their competencies in

building relationships with, observing, and teaching fine and gross motor skills to

children to demonstrate the complexities of their competencies. A lead educator said:

…it's not just babysitting, it's a lot more involved than that… you're building

those relationships with the children. You're getting to know them one on

one and you're observing and you're extending on their learning, and things

like that (Jasmine, 29).

However, as discussed in the previous section on status, while participants

strongly identified with the educative component of their work, some linked this with


home-based activities in relation to their personality attributes and competencies, as

illustrated by a teacher:

I basically see the children like my own children… you want to know that

the child is properly cared for. Okay, the learning side, but that comes with

what they’re doing as well. You don't need to be shoving that down their

throat. They've got years of that. So, we try and keep it fun every day,

because I think at the end of the day, I would hate for the kids to go home

and not want to come back again. So, that's a big thing for me. We respect

each other in the room. We have the room rules and consequences. So, I

guess at the end of the day, I'm a bit like their mum, I am. Sometimes they

do slip up and call you mum (Sharon, 41).

4.5.3 Leadership and social skills

With regards to collaborative competencies, professional mastery at the

leadership level, including setting high expectations for self and others was also

identified. EC educators discussed their abilities in identifying staff strengths and

relationships, and where support was needed, to escalate issues when needed; to

progress through leadership levels for support; to appreciate different perspectives;

and to delegate. Participants also identified strengths in community networking and

awareness of desirable staff skills. For example, Deanne, 48, a director, cited traits of

ideal candidates for the role of EC educator, including self-confidence, an open and

approachable communication style, a strong child focus, and openness to working

with the community. This point was picked up on by other study participants, who

acknowledged the risks of having a closed mind when listening to the views and

opinions of colleagues and the community. Suzanne, 47, an assistant, believed that

she reacted badly to criticism; however, due to her self-reflection capacity she was

flexible in assessing all options to bring about change. A director also valued the

different abilities of all staff viewed together as a whole:

We've all got different credentials, we all learn differently. Some people are

more skilled in one area, and some are better in others. That's what we bring

to the table. I might be really good at art. X might be really great at making

play dough. Y might be great at challenging behaviours. So, that's – we use

our strengths (Deanne, 48).


EC educators readily expressed confidence in their own self-efficacy with

regards to communication and negotiation with parents and management to find

common ground between centre and family expectations. According to a director,

this extended to educating parents about different behaviour management styles,

equity and social responsibility:

If they [the child] can't come to care, then how (sic) are they going to be like

at school, and that it's more important that their child learns the skills to be

able to play with different people, because that’s a skill that they will need at

school, so let's work on teaching that child that skill and we'll continue to

work with the behavioural child (Mary, 26).

Participants further indicated the importance of self-reflection in building

resilience in the face of perceived criticism from families. Familiarity with policies

and procedures enabled them to have conversations with families about issues

impacting safety and wellbeing.

Improving EC educator capability through professional development and

increased qualification levels is a key strategy to meeting intended goals for

improved service standards (SCSEEC, 2012, p. 9). All study participants held the

minimum Certificate III qualification required to be able to work in the ECEC sector,

with various EC educators holding a range of higher qualifications, including

diplomas and bachelor’s degrees. There were also varying levels of intent expressed

by EC educators with regards to pursuing further ECEC-related qualifications.

Of all 18 study participants, four had one or more bachelor’s degrees in

relevant disciplines (relief educator Louise, 22; director Mary, 26; relief educator

Erin, 26; and teacher June, 61). This study partly sought to understand EC educator

intent to pursue further qualifications, and in this group only one participant (Erin)

aspired to undertake postgraduate studies to improve her mastery in running

programs for children with a disability and in kindergartens. Louise, Mary, and June

expressed no intention to undertake further study at the time of this research. This

could perhaps be understood by Louise and Mary having already qualified and

mastered the key theoretical concepts required for their roles, and June’s

comparatively mature age.


Of the five EC educators in this study who held a certificate III in an ECEC-

related discipline, Ariel, 30, an assistant, was undertaking a diploma course at the

time of the study and aspired to further qualifications, but noted expense as an

obstacle. While studying the diploma, she had noted an improvement in her mastery

of observing and reporting on the development of children in her work. Laura, 46, a

group leader, was also studying for a diploma and discussed her course enrolment

after her employer had offered to pay costs. Laura viewed the training as a chance to

increase her competitiveness, but expressed that her skills had not changed or

improved since the training. In doing the training, Laura sought mastery to protect

her career, stating, “You can’t sit forever as an assistant, because there’s going to be

a lot more coming through.”

One component of professional mastery is that the individual has relevant

knowledge and competencies, gained from qualifications and experience (Baruch,

2004, p. 61). All EC educators in this study held the minimum qualifications required

to undertake their work. With regards to intentions to pursue aligned qualifications,

just under half of the study participants had no intentions, around one half had partly-

formed intentions, and three participants were in the process of upgrading

qualifications.

4.5.4 Summary

Viewed as a conceptual dimension through which to understand the research

questions in this study, mastery was something that all participants indicated they

possessed in relation to their roles. EC educators indicated strong feelings of self-

esteem linked to mastery and their ability to do their jobs well. As discussed in

Chapter 2, such feelings of esteem within a profession that is valued by the

individual leads to a positive self-image and is an indicator of strong professional

identity that is beneficial to career stability and success. Mastery is therefore linked

to attraction to and retention with the ECEC sector. However, EC educators derived

these feelings from workplace activities more so than the pursuit of aligned

qualifications, with only three participants in the process of undertaking study to

improve skills or role performance. Another two had partly-formed intentions to

pursue aligned qualifications to develop mastery to be able to work in other sectoral

roles. Therefore, deriving self-esteem through mastery was found to have only a

small influence on the plans of EC educators to pursue aligned qualifications.


4.6 SUMMARY

Following scrutiny of the professional identity literature, this chapter presented

an analysis of the data using the conceptual dimensions of continuity, belonging and

attachment, status and esteem, and mastery. The dimensions were investigated from

the perspectives of EC educators’ voices, derived from interviews, to understand how

they shape individuals’ attraction to and intentions to remain in or leave the sector,

and intention to pursue further qualifications. Using Denzin’s (2001, p. 59)

biographical method, whereby participants track their career arcs through narrative

recount, allowed individual reflection on choices across the conceptual dimensions of

the proposed professional identity framework. This narrative approach provided

compelling insight into the decisions of EC educators as they navigated their way

through careers in the sector.

The first dimension of the professional identity framework, continuity, can be

viewed in relation to past interests and future interests, as well as from the

perspective of the influence of significant others (Kielhofner, 2008, p. 106; Skorikov

& Vondracek, 2010, p. 705). During the interviews, participants addressed these

three different viewpoints in relation to their current roles. For most, interest in

working in an EC educator or related role had formed during or soon after secondary

school, consistent with literature findings that professional identity is a task of

adolescence. Family and friends of individuals were noted as a strong or positive

influence on their decision to enter and continue in their roles. Most participants

intended to continue in their current or related roles, thus demonstrating a

biographical narrative of career continuity. Only one third of participants were

actively studying or planning to pursue linked study options; however, continuity

was not strongly linked to participant intentions to pursue aligned qualifications.

Similar to continuity, the dimension of belonging and attachment was linked to

participant attraction and intention to stay in their own or related roles, consistent

with theory. The analysis indicates that participants had strong feelings of belonging

and attachment to children in their charge, leading to positive self-esteem and self-

image within individuals and a positive workplace orientation (Ashforth & Mael,

1989; Haslam, 2001). Participants generally reported positive relationships with the

families of children in centres; however, this must be balanced with findings from


the analysis of the dimension of status, where participants reported the need to justify

the importance of their roles beyond babysitting duties. Finally, participants

generally reported an enduring and mutually supportive sense of belonging and

attachment to colleagues, and more broadly, the sector, mostly deriving positive

esteem from these feelings. A clear link existed between these experiences and

individuals’ attraction to and intent to remain in their roles. However, belonging and

attachment was not strongly linked to individual decisions to enrol in aligned study

offerings.

The third framework dimension, status and esteem, is relational in terms of

how individuals view their own social or professional position compared to others.

Theory suggests that individuals will be drawn to groups that fulfil their own needs

for positive self-esteem. Participants in this study discussed how they perceived

others viewed their place in society, and how they saw themselves as EC educators.

EC educators had reason to feel pride in their roles, identifying with work they

described as a profession with a complex range of requirements. Tellingly, however,

they reported that community and sectoral segments placed a lower value on their

role, as evidenced through historically low pay and burdensome bureaucratic

requirements, than the rhetoric they received from government, and that they

considered they were implicitly expected to accept. EC educator professional identity

was therefore inconsistent with professional discourse with levels of autonomy,

esteem, and confidence impacted by external perceptions of their professional

position. Therefore, this study finds that the ability of participants to hold a positive

self-image in light of their status was hindered by external influences outside of their

control. The conceptual dimension of status and esteem negatively impacts EC

educator attraction to and intentions to stay in the ECEC sector, and intentions to

complete or pursue aligned qualifications.

Finally, the results show that participants were confident that they possessed a

strong degree of mastery and expertise in early childhood development, including

delivery of play-based learning and fostering self-help abilities and self-regulation in

young children. They identified the competencies that differentiated their skills from

those utilised in the home through their own mastery of child development through

patience, listening, resilience, and openness to ongoing learning that added value to

the roles they performed. Participants had completed at least minimum levels of


qualifications and considerable on-the-job experience, and were therefore satisfied

with their abilities to perform well in their field.

The overall findings show that the use of a professional identity framework has

shed light on problems in the ECEC sector, including EC educator attraction,

retention, and training, and ways to respond to these problems. The state uses

messaging through a range of channels (including the employer) to position EC

educators as professionals and to further the professionalisation process that is well

underway. However, participants expressed that the pathway to professionalisation is

blocked by obstacles, including status and esteem, leading to findings that EC

educators continue to work in a context that lacks the defining features of the

professions as outlined in the literature. The next and final chapter further details

understanding of the framework in answering the research questions in light of

workforce need and government initiatives, and the implications of these findings for

workforce sustainability.

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 91

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

5.1 INTRODUCTION

The past decade in Australia has seen significant legislative and strategic

change to reform the ECEC sector (ACECQA, 2011f). These reforms have been

introduced with the aim of improving workforce sustainability through

professionalisation, including increasing minimum qualification levels and ongoing

professional development requirements (SCSEEC, 2012). However, the workforce

faces enduring and ongoing challenges, such as historical and ongoing low pay,

complex and difficult working conditions, and low societal status when compared to

other occupations and professions. Nationally, 16 per cent of employees move out of

the sector on an annual basis (Department of Employment, 2016, p. 1).

This study aimed to understand the attraction of EC educators to a career in the

ECEC sector, and then to remain there and pursue aligned qualifications rather than

leave in search of better pay, conditions, and status. Professional identity was used as

a theoretical lens through which to answer the research questions, as the construct

represents collective social identity, and identity is thought to significantly shape an

individual’s commitment to their workplace (Baruch & Cohen, 2007, pp. 247, 249).

The characteristics of professional identity considered useful for this study included

the construct’s role in supporting individuals to set early career goals, develop a

goals-oriented career path, and later commit to a stable, sustainable career (Skorikov

& Vondracek, 2010, pp. 698-699). To analyse the data, the literature was probed to

develop a framework of professional identity comprising conceptual dimensions

pertaining to social identity, including continuity, belonging and attachment, status

and esteem, and mastery.

This chapter investigates the dynamics in play between these dimensions and

the workplace experiences of participants, to elicit understanding of the research

questions. Professionalism as understood within the broader workforce, and then

applied to the EC educator workforce, is then discussed. This qualitative research

finds that while EC educators desire to identify in their roles as professionals,

92 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

broader influences impact the status of their work and what this means for

understanding of being professional.

5.2 PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY AND EC EDUCATORS

5.2.1 Attraction to and retention in the ECEC sector

Attraction to the ECEC sector in this study was considered at the point in time

before individuals entered the field and during role commencement. Using the

dimension of continuity, data analysis revealed a strong link between current roles

and previous interests for approximately 80 per cent of participants.

Ten of the 18 participants were or had been early career entrants to the ECEC

sector, commencing in EC educator roles immediately after or soon after completing

school or university. Eight individuals in this group of 10 were strongly interested in

working with young children, leading to their attraction directly to roles in the ECEC

sector. The remaining two in this group of 10 participants had developed an

attraction to the sector after being supported into related roles after school. Of the

eight participants in the group of 18 who were later career entrants to the ECEC

sector, an interest in working with young children featured in the lives of five of

these participants, and eventually circumstances were right for them to act on this

through their attraction to working in the ECEC sector. Three of these participants

entered the sector by choice, after acting on their attraction to a role in EC education

to complete aligned qualifications. Two commenced in their roles because they

needed to work (although one had been studying teaching), while another acted on

her interest in working with children to commence work in a family member’s long

day care centre. Finally, two participants commenced in their roles by chance or in

response to a need to find employment, with the labour market within which they

found themselves appearing to influence their attraction to the ECEC sector more

than professional identity. However, the dimension of continuity from past interests

to current roles shaped the attraction of most EC educators in this study to their roles

in the ECEC sector.

The median time of service in the ECEC sector for EC educators in this study

was 12 years. When considering the dimension of continuity from the viewpoint of

future interests, uncertainty about future plans was at play (though not strongly) for


two participants, while three others considered a role in community services of

potential appeal. Only two of the 18 EC educators in the study clearly intended to

leave the sector over the following five years from the time of the study.

Because professional identity is biographical in nature, individuals who extend

their current interests to possible future directions are seen as actively involved in

continuity of career by building work identities around long-term goals (FAME

Consortium, 2007, pp. 15, 22). Findings indicate participants were attracted to the

ECEC sector with a partly formed or more definite idea of future development

prospects, which is recognised as a beneficial character trait for career stability.

Moreover, study findings about past, current, and future interests indicate

participants were actively involved in building these concepts and contributing to the

continuity of their own career paths. Some participants built on their ideas and aimed

to move into EC educator, teaching, or leadership roles, or intended to move into

related roles. Thus, the research demonstrates that the dimension of continuity

shaped the intentions of participants in this research to stay working in, rather than to

leave, the ECEC sector.

A key contributor to professional identity is socialisation into certain values,

and therefore the status and self-esteem derived from belonging and attachment to a

group (Ashforth & Mael, 1989, p. 22; Slay & Smith, 2011, pp. 86, 87). The link

between belonging and attachment and attraction to a role in the ECEC sector was

particularly strong for participants in this study. This was because all EC educators

indicated positive self-esteem from being in proximity to children and being

responsible for their mental, social, and physical development. By extension, EC

educators felt a sense of belonging and attachment to families in their partnered quest

to further child development. They also felt strong feelings of belonging and

attachment to colleagues due to supportive and nurturing relationships supported by

strong communication capabilities.

Investigation of the conceptual dimension of belonging and attachment

indicated that individuals were defining themselves through the work they performed

and the specific traits attributed to them (Mael & Ashforth, 1992, p. 106).

Identification with this type of work occurred largely from a young age, supporting

the notion that professional identity is generally formed in adolescence from interests

and influences (Erikson, 1968; Kroger, 2007).


As with attraction to the ECEC sector, the dimension of belonging and

attachment was strongly linked to EC educator intentions to stay in the sector. Again,

this was due to participants drawing positive self-esteem and self-image from

feelings of belonging and attachment to children, families, colleagues, and the sector.

Analysis of the research data found most participants not approaching

retirement indicated plans to stay in their roles, with a smaller number indicating

intentions to move into related roles in the sector. Therefore, most participants

planned to stay in the ECEC sector. Investigating the reasons for staying in the sector

through the professional identity framework identified that participants reported

strong belonging and attachment to colleagues. This dimension was understood in

terms of professional and social fulfilment and generally respectful relationships at

the employee and leadership level. Participants therefore perceived a real and strong

sense of group membership, unified through the type of work they carried out,

consistent with prior research findings (Ashforth & Mael, 1989).

In this study, status and esteem was considered from the views of others, the

view of participants, and from the impact of paper work and surveillance. Looking

first at views of others, study findings indicate that despite their own collective

confidence in their abilities to expertly support young children through

developmental milestones, EC educators worked hard to convince the broader

community that these capabilities extended beyond work associated with the

perception of maternal home-based tasks. This was due to the perceived attitudes and

values of teachers external to long day care services, parents of the children they

educated and cared for, and from regulating authorities. In response to their efforts,

EC educators reported a growing public understanding of the importance of their

work. This improved status gave them cause to feel pride in their work, and allowed

them to identify with a profession of personal value, contributing to their attraction to

their roles.

From views of self, a small number of participants noted their roles could be

performed by anyone who needed paid employment. However, the majority of

participants were aware of the complexity their roles required of them, identifying as

professionals in work that they valued for its greater moral purpose. This allowed


them to overcome the potential impact of status challenges and remain attracted to

their roles as EC educators.

The main challenge to professional status reported by EC educators came from

government strategies and initiatives for workforce professionalisation that did not

adequately account for the complexity of tasks undertaken. These tasks ranged from

nursing, mothering, and cleaning to planning, observing, teaching, and monitoring

the children in their charge. The burden of meeting red tape requirements with the

rise in monitoring and surveillance activities not only reduced EC educator abilities

to operate as autonomously efficient professionals trusted to apply their own

judgement to situations, but increased responsibility for risk and encroached on

teaching and personal time. Personal levels of esteem in their work were therefore

impeded.

Added to these concerns was the ongoing rate of low pay that EC educators

considered communicated to them the relative low worth of their work. Status and

esteem in relation to paper work, surveillance, and pay is an important dimension of

the professional identity framework. This is because this aspect of the dimension

moderates the positive shaping effect of the first two aspects (views of others and

views of self) on EC educator attraction to, and intentions to leave the sector.

EC educators in this study expressed strong self-esteem levels in relation to

mastery – their ability to perform in their roles to a high standard. These levels of

self-esteem related to their mastery of knowledge of child development, certain

competencies, and leadership and social abilities. Mastery in this study was therefore

an important dimension in EC educator attraction to and intentions to remain in the

ECEC sector.

5.2.2 Raising the bar on qualifications in the ECEC sector

One sixth of the EC educators in this study were pursuing aligned

qualifications to continue in their roles in the ECEC sector. Feelings of belonging

and attachment also partly motivated the efforts of these participants, in addition to

those of another three who had partly-formed intentions to pursue aligned

qualifications. Intentions for the remainder of the EC educators in this study ranged

from no plans at all, to partly-formed ideas, either related to aligned qualifications or

unaligned qualifications. While current policy aims to improve the quality of EC


educators through extra qualifications, most participants did not consider this to be

necessary to them continuing in the ECEC sector, or to support their feelings of

belonging and attachment to their work. The dimensions of continuity and belonging

and attachment had less impact in shaping the intentions of EC educators to

undertake aligned qualifications.

While participants were enthusiastic about initiatives to improve EC educator

qualifications, this enthusiasm was not met with action from the larger group in this

study. Only two participants intended to undertake aligned qualifications to support

their aspirations for promotion within the ECEC sector. Overall, EC educators did

not consider increased status and esteem from pursuing aligned qualifications to be

enough to motivate them to study. This could be attributed to the reasons given by

some participants for obstacles to further study – time and cost. These reasons could

then be linked to burdensome paperwork requirements impeding on the time

available to pursue study aims, and poor pay, which would necessarily make study

more expensive. Combined with the lack of promotional career pathways available to

EC educators, these aspects of status and esteem can be seen to shape EC educator

intentions to delay or avoid pursuing aligned qualifications.

All EC educators in the study believed that they possessed mastery over a

range of skills that equipped them to perform well in complex roles, and derived

feelings of pride and esteem leading to a positive self-image. However, these feelings

came more from work tasks and the progression of their skills over the short to

medium term. Only three participants in this study intended to pursue aligned

qualifications to upgrade their skills and abilities. Therefore, the dimension of

mastery is negatively linked to EC educator decisions to undertake further

qualifications aligned to the ECEC sector.

5.2.3 Implications for the ECEC sector

The impact of the professional identity dimensions of continuity, belonging

and attachment, status and esteem, and mastery used to understand the research

questions in this study are summarised in Table 5.1.


Table 5.1 Impact of professional identity framework dimensions

Professional identity framework dimensions

Continuity Belonging and attachment

Status and esteem

Mastery R

esea

rch

ques

tion

s

Attraction to ECEC sector

Positive shaping effect


Moderated shaping effect


Intentions to stay in the ECEC sector



Moderated shaping effect


Intentions to pursue aligned qualifications

Negative shaping effect




This understanding of the impact of the dimensions provides a number of

considerations for policy and workplace practice when seeking to address challenges

the ECEC sector workforce faces. The dimensions of continuity, belonging and

attachment, and mastery had positive shaping effects on EC educator attraction to

and intentions to remain in the ECEC sector. The same dimensions negatively

impacted EC educator intentions to pursue aligned qualifications. The shaping

impact of status and esteem on the research questions was moderated by the effect of

paperwork, surveillance, and pay levels. Corresponding recommendations for policy

measures and workforce initiatives are outlined below.

EC educators as critical reflectors

Scholars contend that long day care is territorial in nature, with diverse groups

ranging from the government to providers to parents claiming their share (Sumsion,

2007, p. 320). Such behaviour can be viewed as a way of “keeping at a distance the

forces of chaos knocking at the door” (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987, p. 352), and shapes

the vulnerability of long day care services to market forces, profit-driven agendas

and status challenges (Sumsion, 2007, p. 321). Being entrusted with the

responsibility to make complex decisions based on experience is a key aspect of EC

educators’ ability to identify as professionals. But the highly-audited “tick box”

context within which EC educators operate reduces their capacity to perform as

members of a respected workforce in their own right (Fish & De Cossart, 2006, p.


403; Jovanovic, 2013, p. 538). However, EC educators in this research were well

aware of the complex requirements of their roles and had confidence in their own

mastery to execute these requirements to a high standard.

To begin to properly acknowledge these capabilities at the state and societal

levels, policy and workplace measures should shift focus from the accountability

models around which EC educator practice presently is centred, to a quality-

assurance based approach that supports staff to engage in reflexive and reflective

inquiry practices (Maloney & Barblett, 2002, p. 16; Osgood, 2010, p. 119). Focusing

on reflexive practice would allow professionalism to be viewed from the perspective

of EC educators on the ground, thereby providing them with a level of autonomy and

control over, and therefore respect for, the work they do. At a practical level, such an

approach would reduce the burdensome load of paper work, as well as the amount of

monitoring required to process red tape. Time could then be allocated to allowing EC

educators to engage in reflexive practices, such as self-reflection, sharing, and

collaboration. Drawing on their contextual knowledge and wisdom in such a

collaborative fashion localises EC educator decisions about what is best for the

children in their charge, rather than having these decisions in the hands of policy

makers. Such an approach would also assist in the re-valuing of the caring function

of EC educator work as critical and a foundation of professional credibility.

Sumsion (2007) suggested that the establishment of “critical communities” is

another strategy to directly empower EC educators in challenging and making

sustainable changes to dominant policy discourse (p. 321). Such communities have

previously comprised EC educators from a range of backgrounds and experiences,

tasked with reviewing curriculum, social justice outcomes, and regulatory

approaches to ECEC delivery. These participants have been involved in “recasting

themselves as grass root policy activists, with a commitment to open engagement

with politicians and policy makers” (Sumsion, 2007, p. 322), thereby challenging the

context in which individuals are subject to the regulation of over-arching discourse.

The success of such grass roots activism can been seen in the experiences of the EC

educators in this study, who reported an emerging awareness of the value of their

roles. Measures to boost these efforts could include strategies to broadly

communicate EC educators’ continuity of commitment and mastery of specialist


skills that make a difference to the lifelong outcomes they deliver for children in

their charge. Positioning EC educators as expert child development practitioners with

specialist knowledge in their unique education and care needs would aid appropriate

recognition of their value as professionals.

Creating a compelling case for increased qualifications

Participants in this research were not convinced that the pursuit of aligned

qualifications would aid in the recognition of their work as being professional, and

the case for further qualifications failed to resonate with them. Policy and workplace

measures need to provide a compelling case to motivate EC educators to undertake

further qualifications. Such a case could be based on initiatives that highlight or lead

to the development of appropriate career paths aligned to qualifications as they are

attained. Other measures already outlined may also lead to a stronger uptake of

further study, such as initiatives to reduce the administrative burden EC educators

presently experience. Such an approach would address concerns regarding the time

available to undertake further study.

In the absence of any significant increases to remuneration, initiatives to

increase study enrolments could also include government or employer-based

subsidies. Such measures would ease the financial burden recognised by some

research participants as being an obstacle to undertaking ongoing study.

Valuing EC educators for the contribution they already make

While EC educators face ongoing challenges regarding status and esteem in

their efforts to identify as professionals, they draw positive outcomes from the

dimensions of continuity, belonging and attachment, and mastery. Policy and

workplace measures could focus on and celebrate these aspects of being a

professional that EC educators already relate to. Recruitment strategies could target

candidates that have an interest in working with young children, highlighting the way

skills can be developed to make a unique and valued contribution to lifelong learners.

Retention strategies could then focus on continuity of interests and related career

paths and the belonging and attachment individuals feel from being part of a

collaborative, self-reflexive profession with its own specialist field of recognised

skills.


Further drawing on the satisfaction EC educators draw from being part of a

team and directed by supportive leaders, centre leadership can foster a collaborative

workplace culture whereby individuals contribute to, and have ownership of their

workplace vision and strategic direction. In doing so, EC educator accountability and

autonomy can be enhanced and status challenges addressed through reflexive

practise.

5.3 CONCLUSION

The ECEC sector in Australia has experienced significant growth, particularly

in the number of day care centres offering education and care services to children

and families in recent years (Productivity Commission, 2014). Demand for EC

educators, who directly deliver education and care services to around one third of

children aged 0–5 years in Australia, continues to increase (United Voice, 2014, p.

8). However, in the face of such staggering growth and demand at a national scale, a

range of entrenched and historic structural challenges present obstacles to the

sustainability of the EC educator workforce. Ongoing issues include a predominantly

female workforce perceived to be undertaking care work that can be conducted in the

home, the complexity of work tasks, burdensome paper work leading to overwork,

and poor pay. These can be summarised as status, conditions, and pay challenges.

However, despite these challenges, there are EC educators who are committed on a

long-term basis to their roles, spending many years in their positions or returning

after a break of some time to pick up where former interests were left. An

understanding of the decisions of those individuals who remain in EC educator roles,

despite the identified challenges, can assist in developing policy responses to the

workforce challenges the ECEC sector currently faces.

Prior identity studies have revealed useful information about the characteristics

of individuals who show career longevity. In career development literature, identity

studies have generally pertained to research involving professions, those occupations

defined by a set of elements setting them apart from other types of work. Professions

are understood to comprise a considerable period of training within a related

organisation overseen by a professional association, and a unique skill set exercised

by autonomous practitioners. Workplace studies have found certain characteristics


attributed to the professional identity of individuals have benefits for their career

longevity.

This research contributes to career development literature by developing and

demonstrating evidence of how aspects of professional identity inform careers; and

further understanding of perceptions about what it means to be professional. The

findings from this research provide new understanding of social identity theory,

particularly with regards to how self-image and esteem are derived as part of group

membership, and how one can view one’s work as rewarding and satisfying in the

face of challenges to status.

The study used biography and narrative to draw responses from the 18

participants in this study, revealing perceptions, beliefs, and cultural values about

ongoing careers in the ECEC sector across a diverse range of roles. This research is

unique in its approach to using well-recognised elements of a profession to

understand work that has not fallen within the traditional understanding of this

concept. Further insight has been provided to understandings of how society

perceives status and esteem (including the value of caring work), how these

dynamics are applied to and derived from what one does, how one does it, and how

one is compensated for such work.

A professional identity framework was developed for this study, comprising

dimensions encompassing those characteristics that are likely to be apparent in

individuals with an enduring commitment to their profession. Of these dimensions,

the research found that individuals seeking and maintaining a career in the ECEC

sector share a number of common characteristics derived from the professional

identity framework developed for this research. The study participants possessed a

strong sense of belonging and attachment to children and actively engaged in

building long-term career goals linked to early interests, creating stable and enduring

occupations. Belonging and attachment to children and having a positive approach to

continuing to building a linked career narrative are traits linked to those EC

educators who remain in the workforce despite ongoing challenges.

However, the dimension of status and esteem is the most challenging to EC

educators in their quest to identify as professional. The prioritisation of education

over care, the ongoing devaluation of care as women’s work, increased surveillance


and paper work under the regulatory gaze, and continuing poor pay levels all impact

the role of EC educator in being defined as professional.

In addition to the findings described above, use of the framework has also

provided insight into the concept of EC educators and professionalism. Traditionally,

a profession is viewed as comprising expert knowledge, skills, and values uniquely

particular to the work undertaken, while individuals use their judgement when

exercising professional principles to autonomously carry out work and are respected

for this ability (Gilardi & Lozza, 2009, pp. 246-247). Status is closely guarded and

tied to the concept of a profession, with prestige ranked according to perceived

individual and public esteem (Sutherland & Markauskaite, 2012, p. 748). Osgood

(2010) argued that these elements of professionalism disregard the historical, cultural

and political context of those working in the ECEC sector when seeking to define the

concept for that workforce (p. 121). In this study, across the three dimensions of

continuity, belonging and attachment, and mastery, EC educators were confident

their expertise comprised knowledge, skills, and values that were worthy of

recognition in their own right. These aspects contributed to their attraction to and

retention within the ECEC sector. However, their ability to completely identify with

the traditional notion of professionalism was hampered by the dynamic of status and

esteem. This dynamic adversely impacted their ability to work autonomously, as well

as the levels of respect they perceived were afforded to them at the societal and state

levels. Status and esteem issues, such as limited available time and money also

weighed heavily on their intentions to pursue further qualifications.

Reform in the ECEC sector has focused the rhetoric of professionalism on

education over care, while requiring EC educators to be responsible for both (Cook,

et al., 2013, p. 3; SCSEEC, 2012, p. 5). This discourse positions EC educators as

specialist holders of knowledge and skills beyond those perceived as unskilled,

nurturing, and innate to women (Cook, et al., 2016, p. 3). EC educators in this study

were attracted to and intended to continue in their roles because of their desire to

work with young children and to be involved in their development in a professional

capacity. However, the dynamic of status and esteem again moderated their ability to

engage at the professional level, as they perceived they were viewed as conducting

little more work than anyone could in their own homes with their own children.


In light of this view, the use of a professional identity framework was

revealing. This was because participants disclosed their own struggle with regulatory

requirements purported to be professionalism, while expressing a desire to be

acknowledged for their skills and expertise in early childhood development through

concepts commonly associated with status, such as improved pay and social

recognition. The positioning of EC educators as skilled specialists rather than

nurturing, maternal carers as a step towards professionalisation is contentious. This is

because of the implicit devaluing of care through its connection to “women’s work”

and the linking of EC educator work to neo-liberal notions of measurement standards

and quality assurance (Cook, et al., 2016, p. 58). Despite this, participants reported

the continuing need to challenge societal perceptions that they were babysitters, and

the notion that the play-based learning they engage in with children was just play.

Participants indicated their ability to act autonomously was hampered by

requirements such as record-keeping, monitoring, preparation, and planning under

the “regulatory gaze” through centralised reporting systems, leading to overwork .

Using autonomy to take considered risks was seen as an individual responsibility,

with hefty penalties for workplace mishaps. Finally, while acknowledging the

challenges inherent in creating such change, participants believed that the status of

their work could be adequately recognised with improved remuneration.

Government strategies to develop the EC educator workforce in size and

quality to meet demand and standards are focused on growing awareness of the

appeal of working with young children and increasing qualification requirements.

Reforms have seen the introduction of standards and regulations that EC educators

are monitored against. This study calls for further understanding of government

approaches to professionalism in understanding the needs of EC educators. For a

workforce of such significant size, policy needs to consider a reframing of

approaches to creating time and space for EC educators to act with autonomy across

their skill sets within education and care, and to be highly valued in terms of status

and commensurate remuneration in these areas.

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APPENDICES 121

APPENDICES

Appendix A

Research application

122 APPENDICES

APPENDICES 123

124 APPENDICES

APPENDICES 125

126 APPENDICES

APPENDICES 127

128 APPENDICES

APPENDICES 129

Appendix B

Interview schedule

130 APPENDICES

ECEC Workforce Study Interview Schedule

Demographics

Indicate gender? Male Female

What is your position/role in this organisation? [for ‘ed’nal leader’ or ‘lead educator’, ask if in charge of a group or a program]

Director Lead Educator/Group Permanent Relief Staff Teacher Assistant Other:

Do you have supervisory/managerial responsibilities? If yes, how many staff do you supervise/manage? ______________ persons How long have you been employed in this centre? ____________ years

_____________ months How long have you been employed in the ECEC sector in total? ________ years

_________ months

What is your employment status?

Permanent full-time Casual: Casual part-time Trainee/apprentPermanent part-time Casual full-time Relief/Agency

How many hours do you usually work each week? In this job (contracted)? _____ Unpaid hours: ______ In all jobs (if you have more than 1 job)? ________

Are you a member of a union? Yes No If so, which union are you a member of? _______________________

Are you of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background? Yes No Do you speak a language other than English at home? No English only Yes – please state……………………..

What is the highest level of education you have achieved?

Junior high school Certificate III Post graduate Senior high school Diploma/Advanced Higher degree Vocational Bachelors degree Apprenticeship)

Is this qualification in early childhood? Yes No If no, what is it in? _____________________

Are you currently studying? Yes No If yes, what are you studying? _______________________

What is your year of birth? ________________

APPENDICES 131

What kind of household do you live in?

Single, no children Single, with children Live with parent Couple with children Couple without Share house

Other (please state) ____________________________________________________________________________Do you belong to any professional associations? Yes No If yes, which one(s)? __________________________________ Past Biography • Jobs held, including in high school • Age when started first job • Key (memorable; good or bad) experiences around workplace relationships; hours; pay; contracts • Reasons for leaving past jobs • Educational achievements, attempts and subjective experiences associated with this – school; post-school • Early motivations and expectations before entry into education and/or employment in the field of early childhood education and care a. early vocational expectations; b. was there anyone influential in this decision – teachers; parents; family members; vocational guidance offers etc. Probe: how did this influence your decision making? c. any career preferences that were abandoned; and if so, why? Present Biography • Current terms and conditions of employment: a. Award / contract arrangements b. Pay

• rate; • awareness of entitlements; • perceived adequacy relative to those they consider doing ‘similar’ work c. Hours • total hours/wk;

EMPLOYMENT AND EDUCATION

132 APPENDICES

• variability in work hours from week to week; • rostering or degree of discretion/autonomy over rostered hours; • frequency of overtime hours (and whether paid or unpaid); • timing of breaks and whether sufficient

• Current education and training trajectories a. Engagement in any current or recent courses, degrees b. Positive and negative experiences associated with these c. Expectations and perceptions, local and regulatory, around education/training

• Perceptions of ECEC work

a. Work itself • subjective likes and dislikes associated with ECEC work; • perceived strengths in the role? • Meaningfulness or satisfaction with the work • perceptions of physical and emotional job demands; • relationships with peer co-educator; What challenges do you face in building relationships with the people you work with here? How do you manage challenges with other co-educators? • relationships with children and parents; What challenges do you face? How do you manage challenges with parents? • If colleagues, parents or children have different views to you about what you do in your role, how do you process/ think about these different viewpoints? (probe: Tell me what goes on inside your head?) b. ‘Fit’ between paid work and personal obligations • Current personal caring and leisure activities; community activities; peers; relative to work • Work-study balance • Negotiating flexibility around timing and tasks with employer/manager c. Voice and centre management. What are your views about… / experiences of… in this local centre… • complaint handling; (staff complaints / parent complaints) • perceived ability to negotiate changes to working arrangements with manager/team leader; • reward and recognition; • performance reviews; • expectations of manager/team leader d. Professional identity • What does it mean (to you) to be an ECEC educator? • Would you see your work as a profession? Why is that? What qualities should a professional early childhood teacher/educator possess?

APPENDICES 133

• When talking to others who don’t work in ECEC, how do you describe your work to them? • How do you think others view the kind of work that you do? • How would you compare the demands of your work to… [pick two or three other professions – perhaps male-dominated; higher/lower status; plumbers / retail workers / primary school teachers]? • The ECEC workforce is comprised mainly of women. Why do you think that is? Any regrets in choosing this employment pathway?

e. Epistemic beliefs [Note: You may wish to use vignette below if these questions are not working]

• Are there any right answers in ECEC? Is anyone’s opinions as good as another’s? Why? Why not? Can you give me an example? • If the manager/team leaders have different views to you about what you do in your role, how do you process/ think about these different viewpoints? (probe: How you process this information in your head and what do you do?)

Item to capture “learning” and knowledge / epistemic beliefs in ECEC

Future Biography 1. Expectations for remaining in the ECEC workforce a. Expected tenure at this centre b. Expected tenure in other centres c. Reasons for expected tenure 2. Expectations for education and training a. Probe for timing and objectives

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3. What are the critical factors [for you] that would lead you to continue to do this work / drive you out of this occupational field? 4. Imagine you found out a close friend was offered a permanent position in a long-day child care centre. Your friend loves working with young children and supporting their early learning, but she has heard that the pay is low and the position, in terms of teaching, is not highly valued. What would you advise her?

**FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS (+18 MONTHS FROM BASELINE) Questions will repeat the ‘present biography’ and ‘future biography’ sets of questions above, with a specific emphasis on the changes and decision-making that have occurred in employment trajectory, educational pursuits, and personal/life circumstances in the previous 18 months.

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Appendix C

Participant information letter and consent form

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Appendix D

Recruit flyer

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Appendix E

Ethics committee approval letter

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