Abstract
In the early-childhood care sector, the occupation of home-based childcare providers is especially subject to the familialist paradigm that assigns women from modest backgrounds with little formal education to this almost exclusively feminine line of work. This study focuses more specifically on home-based childcare providers working in rural and suburban areas, spaces that are marked by isolation and a lack of interlocutors. There are many limitations to the occupation’s professionalization model (Aballea, 2005; Alberola, 2009). After providing an overview of the institutional norm of nursery school as it contrasts with the informal situation of home-based childcare, analysis shifts to three obstacles to expressing demand for training that are indices of low professionalization: the place and space of work, little social and familial arrangements, and work skills. Finally, in counterpoint, the article explores the role of the employment contract with parents in formalizing a feminine occupation that is still seen as a customary familial service (Dupraz, 2008).
Highlights
To this day, early childhood occupations in daycare, nursery school, and above all home-based childcare are marked by a lack of gender diversity
Our study focuses on this social category, those practicing in rural and suburban3 areas, which are marked by isolation and the lack of interlocutors such as RAM and outposts of the PMI (Protection maternelle et infantile; Mother and Child Protection Services), which are largely absent except for inspections
Home-based childcare is subjected to a triple denial of professional skills: firstly because there are no relevant institutional supports organizations or they are far away; secondly because the place of professional practice is the worker’s private residence; and thirdly due to the limited prerequisites for eligibility for a professional license
Summary
Early childhood occupations in daycare, nursery school, and above all home-based childcare are marked by a lack of gender diversity. Our study focuses on this social category, those practicing in rural and suburban areas, which are marked by isolation and the lack of interlocutors such as RAM (relais assistantes maternelles, centers providing support for home-based childcare providers) and outposts of the PMI (Protection maternelle et infantile; Mother and Child Protection Services), which are largely absent except for inspections This applies in varying degrees to this professional group as a whole, subjected as it is to the uncertainty of an insecure occupation and the vulnerability of women. After an overview of the institutional norm of nursery school and how it contrasts with the informal situation of home-based childcare, we will detail three obstacles to the expression of a demand for training, indicators of low professionalization: the work place and space, small social and familial arrangements, and job-related skills. As a counterpoint, we will indicate the role played by the contract between providers and parents in the formalization of a feminine occupation that is still seen as falling under the status of a customary familial service [13]
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