Tricked by the Trade, Professional Identity in the Emerging Early Years Teacher and the impact of EYITT

is thesis contributes to contemporary debates about professionalism in the ECEC sector. This is achieved through the investigation of students’ emerging conceptualisations of professionalism in early years teaching. The focus is on the introduction of the new undergraduate Early Years Teacher (EYITT) professional qualification route and related training in order to examine students’ notions of their developing professionalism within the sector. This thesis utilises Wilber’s integrated theory (AQAL, 2006) as a methodological tool for the holistic mapping of multiple perspectives. AQAL Integral analysis is founded in quadrant mapping, which assesses four viewpoints for every situation. These are the Interior Subjective intentional (I) perspective, the Interior Collective cultural (We) perspective, the Exterior Individual (It) behavioural perspective and the Exterior Collective (its) social perspective. Critical Discourse Analysis was used to analyse More Great Childcare (DFE, 2013) because this policy document was pivotal in creating the political landscape at the time of data collection, which impacted on professional qualifications in the ECEC sector and, in particular, on Early Years Initial Teacher Training (EYITT).
The findings indicate that, in failing to establish full parity between those who hold the title ‘Early Years Teacher Status (EYTS)’ and school teachers with ‘Qualified Teacher Status (QTS)’, the government has restricted the potential employability of EYTS, and their access to equality in pay and conditions, which causes confusion as to the status and role of the Early Years Teacher. These factors, together with the absence of a related professional body, and a persistent government rhetoric which implies deficiencies in the quality of the ECEC workforce, have the potential to cause a dichotomy between the perceptions of professionalism in policy, theory and practice. These factors also have the potential to confuse the notion of professionalism in the ECEC sector, which in turn has a direct impact on the provision experienced by young children and their families.