Purpose

Since the early 2000s there has been increased attention on the professionalisation of the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) workforce in many OECD countries. This study focuses on what Australian early childhood educators holding the lowest level of qualification – Certificate III are experiencing in relation to their professional capital in a sector that is experiencing wide-spread and ongoing reform. The study identifies the human capital, social capital and decisional capital of these educators, then explores the interconnections.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper was funded by the Australian Research Council. The qualitative data consider the capabilities of certificate-qualified educators and how these are enabled or constrained within the workplace. The corpus of data for this study consists of 14 interviews with Certificate III-qualified educators from three locations across Victoria, Australia. Hargreaves and Fullan’s (2012) forms of professional capital (human, social and decisional) act as organisers for the themes identified through a thematic analysis.

Findings

Themes identified in the data speak to inequity in access to professional learning, the valuing of life experiences, clear divisions of labour that impact what knowledge is valued, and differences in educator agency in the decision-making process. Many certificate-qualified educators experience a workplace culture that lacks trust in an individual’s professional competence and does not appreciate collegial knowledge and skill building as a collective enterprise.

Originality/value

The conceptual framing of this study provides a unique way to explore the experiences of certificate-trained educators. The study introduces the idea of using exploratory categories and the identification of levels of human, social and decisional capital. This type of study involving this cohort of educators is unique.

中文翻译：

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追踪幼儿教育工作者专业资本的相互联系

目的

自 2000 年代初以来，许多 OECD 国家越来越关注幼儿教育和保育 (ECEC) 劳动力的专业化。本研究重点关注持有最低资格（三级证书）的澳大利亚幼儿教育工作者在正在经历广泛和持续改革的行业中所经历的与其专业资本相关的情况。该研究确定了这些教育工作者的人力资本、社会资本和决策资本，然后探讨了它们之间的相互关系。

设计/方法论/途径

这篇论文由澳大利亚研究委员会资助。定性数据考虑了具有证书资格的教育工作者的能力以及如何在工作场所启用或限制这些能力。本研究的数据集由来自澳大利亚维多利亚州三个地点的具有三级证书资格的教育工作者的 14 次访谈组成。Hargreaves 和 Fullan（2012）的专业资本形式（人力、社会和决策）充当通过主题分析确定的主题的组织者。

发现

数据中确定的主题涉及专业学习机会的不平等、生活经历的重视、影响知识价值的明确分工，以及决策过程中教育机构的差异。许多具有证书资格的教育工作者所经历的工作场所文化缺乏对个人专业能力的信任，并且不重视作为集体企业的大学知识和技能建设。

原创性/价值

这项研究的概念框架提供了一种独特的方式来探索经过证书培训的教育工作者的经验。该研究引入了使用探索性类别以及识别人力、社会和决策资本水平的想法。涉及这群教育工作者的此类研究是独一无二的。