Discourses of the early years learning framework : constructing the early childhood professional

In Australia, as elsewhere, many factors have contributed to making the struggle for recognition of the professional status of early childhood difficult and ongoing. Arguably this has led to instabilities surrounding professional identity and how members of the field regard themselves and their work. The development and release of the Early Years Learning Framework for Australia (EYLF) was perceived by many as an opportunity to raise the status and standing of the early childhood professional within the early childhood field itself and in the wider community. The EYLF positions all those who work directly with children in early childhood settings as 'educators', and sets out the expectations for children's learning and what educators can do to promote that learning. In doing so, the EYLF produces, reproduces and circulates both new and familiar discourses of early childhood education. In this article, the authors draw on research capturing the perceptions of the early childhood practitioners who took part in the trial of the EYLF across Australia in 2009 to investigate whether and how curriculum interventions such as the EYLF have the potential to shape/reshape early childhood professional identity. Utilising the concepts of discourse, subjectivity, power-knowledge and agency, the authors explore the possibilities and dangers of the construction of an early childhood professional identity in and through the EYLF.