Teacher proffessionalization on Preschool Education: Analysis of discursive meachanisms that build representations of femininity v/s masculinity in the preschool teachers’ profile

Abstract

This article identifies the discursive mechanisms that construct professional identity perceptions in early childhood educators based on their gender representations. In Chile, since the 20th century, early childhood education has been naturalised as an extension of parenting, and from the domestic space to the professional context (MINEDUC, 2017). Thus, the study uses a qualitative methodology that incorporates the Appraisal Framework (Martin and White, 2005), which is part of Systemic Functional Linguistics, to examine the construction of evaluative meanings expressed by early childhood educators with respect to the feminisation in their professional identity. The results highlight that this identity is based on the extension of moral motherhood (Valdés, 2006) as the axis of the understanding of the professional role. Similarly, the predominance and leadership of women in the field of early childhood education is observed, even when the incorporation of men in the educational act is considered necessary, but in secondary roles.