ECEC teachers' paradoxical views on the new Chilean System for Teacher Professional Development

Abstract

This article presents the main findings of a mixed-method study that explored ECEC teachers' views on the recently enacted STPD for Teacher Professional Development (STPD) in Chile. Relying on a mixed-method design, we gathered data from individual and group interviews and an online survey conducted with 268 ECEC teachers. Drawn from both a priori and emergent categories, our findings reveal that participants held four paradoxical views on the new System: salary justice versus monetizing of the profession; professional teaching recognition versus counter-pedagogical identity, rigorous evaluation versus inappropiate evaluation instruments, and palpable individual career advancement versus doubtful field development. These paradoxes show that ECEC teachers have a positive global view of the new STPD, despite their perception of its individualistic and counter-ECEC pedagogical nature, suggesting a claim for their right to professional development and decent working conditions, as well as a criticism of the STPD's neoliberal foundation.