Preschool teachers and caregivers’ lack of repositioning in response to changed responsibilities in policy documents
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Date
2021
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Journal of Early Childhood Research
Abstract
Preschool teachers and caregivers have a close working relationship as part of a working team to benefit
the children in Swedish preschools. In 2011, a new educational reform was introduced according to which
preschools became a school form in their own right within the overall educational system in Sweden. The
objective of the policy was to strengthen the profession of preschool teachers by affording them clearer
responsibility over the quality of educational practices and curriculum work. It also entailed a division of
labour between the preschool teachers and caregivers in the working team. The current study explored
how Swedish preschool teachers and caregivers positioned themselves in response to these changes in
responsibility. In this qualitative study, data were collected from 17 preschool teachers and caregivers
via an open-ended questionnaire. Preschool teachers and caregivers viewed themselves as having equal
responsibility in the working team. Specifically, preschool teachers upgraded the competence and position
of caregivers while downgrading their own professional competence and position. Caregivers downgraded
the profession and position of preschool teachers and upgraded their own competence and position to be
equal to that of preschool teachers.
Description
Keywords
Caregivers, Leadership, Positioning, Preschool, Preschool teacher
Citation
Cervantes, S., & Öqvist, A. (2021). Preschool teachers and caregivers’ lack of repositioning in response to changed responsibilities in policy documents. Journal of Early Childhood Research, 19(3), 323-336. DOI: 10.1177/1476718X20969742