Towards mentoring as feminist praxis in early childhood education and care in England

Abstract

Following our contribution to a study of mentoring in seven European countries, we explored epistemological and ontological inconsistencies within mainstream mentoring systems and their regulated practice in England. We considered how feminist mentoring praxis can unsettle conceptualisations of mentoring relationships and challenge inequity in the early education systems and the practice of teaching young children. Predominantly female, early childhood educators suffer from low status in England, and their working lives may be controlled and policed through inequitable systems. On entering the workforce, trainees encounter a reductionist policy milieu where mentoring structures and normative assessment arrangements contribute to inequity. Mentors play pivotal roles in inducting trainees into their worlds of work with young children. Mentoring relationships can determine whether trainees accept the status quo. Principles derived from feminist praxis enable mentors to practise an ‘engaged pedagogy’, co-constructing knowledge, subverting hierarchies and contesting taken-for-granted aspects of policy and practice.

Keywords:

• early childhood
• mentoring
• feminism
• policy
• praxis
• England

Acknowledgements

This paper is based on a country report written for a cross-national study on ‘Workplace-based learning and mentoring practices in early childhood teacher education in Europe’, co-ordinated by Pamela Oberheumer (Munich, Germany) for WiFF (Weiterbildungsinitiative Frühpädagogische Fachkräfte). The Early Years Professional Development Initiative WiFF was launched in 2009 as a joint project of the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF), the Robert Bosch Foundation (Robert Bosch Stiftung) and the German Youth Institute (Deutsches Jugendinstitut). It is funded by the BMBF and the European Social Fund (ESF) of the European Union. The full-text report in German can be downloaded at: www.weiterbildungsinitiative.de/uploads/media/WiFF_Studie_22_Fachpraktische_Ausbildung.pdf.