A New Type of ECEC Professionalism? Self-organised symposium (SIG)

The ECEC area – traditionally located in the "outskirts" of societal interest – has gradually moved towards a more central position, as an politicized area of social intervention and learning. New demands for evidence, new relations of economic interests, new research focusing on "what works" and new monitorial demands are evolving. At the same time, both transnational and national learning agendas is being implemented at a very large scale, carrying commercial systems, strong didactical implications and intensified requirements regarding control and documentation. This development has transformed the role of the ECEC institutions. But what about the professional? The question is whether we are looking at a completely new type of professionalism of the ECEC pedagogue. The aim of this symposium is to discuss the change in professionalism of edagogues, in the light of this drastic development, based on three different perspectives on this question, drawing on three different empirical studies.