'You're all so good with poo here': mainstream media representations of the early years educator. Issue 1 (2nd January 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Chang-Kredl, Sandra; Pauls, Katherine; Foster, Katherine
• Is Part Of: Gender and education. Volume 33:Issue 1(2021)
• Page Start: 103
• Page End: 118
• Publication Date: 2021-01-02
• Subjects: 'Discipline -- cultural studies -- social/cultural classifications -- femininities -- substantive topics -- popular culture -- teachers/educators -- education sectors -- nursery and pre-school; Sex discrimination in education -- Periodicals; Sex role -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; Women -- Education -- Periodicals; Discrimination sexuelle en éducation -- Périodiques; Rôle selon le sexe -- Périodiques; Femmes -- Éducation -- Périodiques; 379.26
• DOI: 10.1080/09540253.2019.1632805
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0954-0253

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The undervaluing of early years educators reflects entrenched societal beliefs. We analyse representations of early years educators in 32 popular media texts through the lens of scholarship on care work and Bourdieu's notion of symbolic capital, with the view that working conditions for educators and symbolic representations of educators reinforce one another. The majority of the texts present images that reinforce societal assumptions about the early years educator as relatively unskilled and peripheral. One media text, Little Acorns [2016a. Bad Parents [Video File]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/_qrdruNu768; 2016b. Sleazy Dad [Video File]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/8NIlvNIl1lU], offered portrayals of female educators as complex characters with varied capacities and agencies. We argue that Little Acorns provides a beginning point for imagining forms of feminist success that are inclusive of educators, namely by placing educators and their work as central to the narrative, and that interrogating these popular media representations can contribute to attending to the rights of the predominantly female, working-class, and diverse early childhood workforce.