Love As a Vocation. Professionalisms in Childcare 0-3

The feminisation of work has led to a political change favouring the expansion of early childhood education and care (ECEC). ECEC is considered to facilitate women’s participation in the labour market, thus reducing the risk of poverty and gender inequalities, and to improve children’s social and cognitive development to enable society’s productivity in the knowledge economy. In this context, ECEC services have diversified into different provision models (public, private for-profit and non-profit, social innovative initiatives) with varying degrees of institutionalisation. Despite the emergence of different work settings, each characterised by different formulations of professionalism and its pedagogical project, one common feature of their professionalisms is love. Professionals in the field – an overwhelming majority of women – must provide by-default love to their very young children, and they are chosen for their loving capacity more than their credentials. Care – as an expression of social love - is an ambiguous term in their discourses: once considered the primary scope of ECEC service, it is now neglected in favour of assuming a more educational attitude.

This paper will explore the consequences of the expansion of ECEC services on the professionalism of early childhood educators and the role that love plays in defining professionalisms in the different work settings examined. I will present the preliminary results of 20 in-depth interviews conducted with 24 practitioners in early childhood education services in Barcelona.