Early childhood care and education practitioners’ perceptions of their professional identity in two early childhood centres in the Western Cape, South Africa

Abstract

In South Africa and globally, early childhood care and education (ECCE) practitioners working with children aged birth to four years are still struggling with perceiving themselves as ‘professional’ practitioners. This is largely due to the general perceptions that they are still viewed as childminders, serving at the bottom of the pyramid with the lowest pay within the education sector. These practitioners who set the trajectory for future learning in early development are often undervalued and unappreciated, teaching in very under-resourced circumstances. This study explores the perceptions of four ECCE practitioners’ perceptions of their professional identity and how these perceptions influenced their approaches to teaching and care. The study was undertaken in two marginalised community ECCE centres in the poverty-stricken community of Capricorn on the Cape Flats. The theoretical framework of Wengner’s community of practice, Vygotsky’s socio-cultural theories and Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory approach was used as the analytical frameworks. I used semi-structured interviews and journal reflections to collect the data through a thematic qualitative approach. The findings suggest ECCE practitioners’ perceptions of their professional identity is influenced by both enabling and constraining factors. The constraining factors were contextually bound and related to negative perceptions by parents who believed ECCE practitioners as ‘babysitters’ that only play and care for the children. Another constraining factor was the environment in which these ECCE practitioners were required to teach, for example, the influence of gang violence. Whilst these constraining factors were contextually bound and contributed to ECCE practitioners having a weak professional identity the study also highlights that these practitioners valued their work and showed a high level of responsiveness to the children, embarking on a willingness to learn with and from children and families, wanting to advance their qualifications and careers. The findings have huge implications for how the practice of early childhood care and education is understood and what the value and contributions of ECCE practitioners are in a democratic country like South Africa. Whilst there has been important policy moves to professionalise the sector recently, the findings of this study call for how policy and research needs to include the voices and contributions of ECCE practitioners, especially those working in high risk and disadvantaged areas.