Am I a teacher? How educare givers in Taiwan construct their professional identity during socialisation into public preschools

Abstract

ABSTRACTA new job position, “educare giver,” which was created after kindergartens and preschools in Taiwan were integrated in 2012, has caused several problems such as ambiguity in the role of childcare givers and inequity in the division of labour. Studies have provided a limited scope and have not examined the identities and struggles of educare givers at the individual and organisational levels. This study investigated the effect of contextual factors on the professional identities of educare givers during their socialisation. The researchers adopted a qualitative research design and conducted in-depth interviews with 20 educare givers at public preschools. The findings reveal that educare giver identities are those as teachers, labourers, and teaching and administrative assistants. Contextual factors that affect the construction of their identities at the three stages of their socialisation are information channels, educational background, the recruitment process, titles, the attitudes of stakeholders, and job assignments.