Discovering the Hidden Work of Commodified Care: The Case of Early Childhood Educators
The COVID-19 pandemic has drawn attention to the care economy, including commodified early childhood education and care (ECEC). While there is some literature about the low paid, invisible, and undervalued skills among the predominantly female workforce in the ECEC sector, there is little research i...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2024-11-01
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| Series: | Social Sciences |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/13/11/625 |
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| author | Frances Press Michael Bittman Linda Joan Harrison Judith E. Brown Sandie Wong Megan Gibson |
| author_facet | Frances Press Michael Bittman Linda Joan Harrison Judith E. Brown Sandie Wong Megan Gibson |
| author_sort | Frances Press |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The COVID-19 pandemic has drawn attention to the care economy, including commodified early childhood education and care (ECEC). While there is some literature about the low paid, invisible, and undervalued skills among the predominantly female workforce in the ECEC sector, there is little research into what these educators do in their working day and how this contributes to quality education and care for young children. This article provides a detailed examination of ten defined domains of ECEC work tasks, derived from data generated by educators’ use of ‘intensive hour’ time-diary methodology. The results reveal that the outstanding characteristics of this occupation are multi-tasking and the rapid switching of tasks as educators manage diverse expectations arising from work with groups of very young children, families, other staff, and meeting legislated responsibilities. Drawing on William J. Baumol’s economic theory, we consider the implications for productivity and cost tensions in ECEC. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-2d581bc3495b4bd2b72f8b3ae71355f0 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2076-0760 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2024-11-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Social Sciences |
| spelling | doaj-art-2d581bc3495b4bd2b72f8b3ae71355f02024-11-26T18:22:23ZengMDPI AGSocial Sciences2076-07602024-11-01131162510.3390/socsci13110625Discovering the Hidden Work of Commodified Care: The Case of Early Childhood EducatorsFrances Press0Michael Bittman1Linda Joan Harrison2Judith E. Brown3Sandie Wong4Megan Gibson5School of Education and Professional Studies, Griffith University, Mount Gravatt, Brisbane, QLD 4122, AustraliaSchool of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2350, AustraliaSchool of Education, Macquarie University, Ryde, Sydney, NSW 2109, AustraliaSchool of Education, Macquarie University, Ryde, Sydney, NSW 2109, AustraliaSchool of Education, Macquarie University, Ryde, Sydney, NSW 2109, AustraliaSchool of Early Childhood and Inclusive Education, Queensland University of Technology, Kelvin Grove, Brisbane, QLD 4059, AustraliaThe COVID-19 pandemic has drawn attention to the care economy, including commodified early childhood education and care (ECEC). While there is some literature about the low paid, invisible, and undervalued skills among the predominantly female workforce in the ECEC sector, there is little research into what these educators do in their working day and how this contributes to quality education and care for young children. This article provides a detailed examination of ten defined domains of ECEC work tasks, derived from data generated by educators’ use of ‘intensive hour’ time-diary methodology. The results reveal that the outstanding characteristics of this occupation are multi-tasking and the rapid switching of tasks as educators manage diverse expectations arising from work with groups of very young children, families, other staff, and meeting legislated responsibilities. Drawing on William J. Baumol’s economic theory, we consider the implications for productivity and cost tensions in ECEC.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/13/11/625care workearly childhood education and care (ECEC)labour processtime allocationproductivitylabour supply |
| spellingShingle | Frances Press Michael Bittman Linda Joan Harrison Judith E. Brown Sandie Wong Megan Gibson Discovering the Hidden Work of Commodified Care: The Case of Early Childhood Educators Social Sciences care work early childhood education and care (ECEC) labour process time allocation productivity labour supply |
| title | Discovering the Hidden Work of Commodified Care: The Case of Early Childhood Educators |
| title_full | Discovering the Hidden Work of Commodified Care: The Case of Early Childhood Educators |
| title_fullStr | Discovering the Hidden Work of Commodified Care: The Case of Early Childhood Educators |
| title_full_unstemmed | Discovering the Hidden Work of Commodified Care: The Case of Early Childhood Educators |
| title_short | Discovering the Hidden Work of Commodified Care: The Case of Early Childhood Educators |
| title_sort | discovering the hidden work of commodified care the case of early childhood educators |
| topic | care work early childhood education and care (ECEC) labour process time allocation productivity labour supply |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/13/11/625 |
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