Constrained or Sustained by Demands? Perceptions of Professional Autonomy in Early Childhood Education

Autor/inn/en	Oosterhoff, Arda; Oenema-Mostert, Ineke; Minnaert, Alexander
Titel	Constrained or Sustained by Demands? Perceptions of Professional Autonomy in Early Childhood Education
Quelle	In: Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 21 (2020) 2, S.138-152 (15 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Oosterhoff, Arda)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1463-9491
DOI	10.1177/1463949120929464
Schlagwörter	Teacher Attitudes; Professional Autonomy; Early Childhood Teachers; Foreign Countries; School District Autonomy; Accountability; Principals; Educational Environment; Psychological Patterns; Teacher Administrator Relationship; Educational Practices; Administrator Role; Netherlands + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Lehrerverhalten; Berufsfreiheit; Early childhood; Early childhood education; Teacher; Teachers; Frühe Kindheit; Frühkindliche Bildung; Frühpädagogik; Lehrer; Lehrerin; Lehrende; Ausland; School district; School districts; Autonomy; School autonomy; Schulautonomie; Verantwortung; Principal; Schulleiter; Lernumgebung; Pädagogische Umwelt; Schulumwelt; Bildungspraxis; Niederlande
Abstract	Early childhood teachers worldwide feel that their ability to act according to their professional knowledge and values is constrained. This sense of constraint is commonly attributed to the pressures of accountability policies, aimed at ensuring and improving educational quality. By law, Dutch schools are free to choose how they design their teaching practices. Nevertheless, efforts by the government to control daily teaching practices are encountered in Dutch schools. The generally recognized importance of teachers' professional autonomy led the authors to conduct an in-depth study on this topic in Dutch early childhood education. They interviewed experienced early childhood teachers in open one-on-one interviews to explore their lived realities. The findings contribute to the discourse on three topics: first, the generally felt forces of accountability stemming from a variety of actors in the school environment; second, the impact of these forces on daily education practice, as well as on teachers' emotions; and third, the role of the head teacher, who appears to be able to either enforce or inhibit these impacts. The results of the study show that where external forms of regulation and accountability measures are passed on by the head teacher, the negative emotional impact of the pressures is high. For head teachers, however, operating in a position between multiple fields of professional influence also seems to offer opportunities for maintaining a healthy balance between regulation and freedom. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2022/1/01