Teachers' Work with Documentation in Preschool: Shaping a Profession in the Performing of Professional Identities­

Abstract

This article analyses how the teaching profession takes shape when policy demands on increased documentation in preschool is interpreted and enacted by teachers. The profession and professional identities take shape in the tension between two forms of professionalism: occupational professionalism, based on collegial authority, and organizational professionalism, regulated by policy, bureaucracy, and markets. Interviews with preschool teachers about documentation and parents highlight how different professional identities not only took form in the policy interpretation process, but also worked as arguments for ways of dealing with change. A major conclusion is that it would be a win-win situation for professionals, children/parents, and central/local authorities if the influence of occupational professionalism was strengthened through a revaluation of teachers' experiences and professional standards.

Keywords:

• teaching profession
• policy
• preschool
• documentation

Notes

¹Reggio Emilia is a pedagogical philosophy developed at preschools in the Italian city Reggio Emilia. The philosophy that emphasizes the importance of departing from the child's interests is now widely spread in Swedish preschools.

²Here she refers to an earlier part of the interview where her colleague was talking about IUP (Individual Development Plan), which is a mandatory document in primary and lower-secondary education and, for a while, has also been used in municipal preschools.