Final Version May 5 07

Chapter Two:
The Journey’s Backdrop:
The Professional Landscape
(Literature Review I)
People working in child care know that doing the job well
requires specific knowledge and a broad variety of skills
and abilities. However, their self respect, job satisfaction
and ultimately their commitment to the job is constantly
eroded by their recognition that society considers child care
a low status, low skilled position.
(Doherty & Forer, 2005, p. 27)
Introduction
In order to study the impact of emergent curriculum on the practice and image of
early childhood educators it is important to frame the research within a context, that
describes the past, present and future for the field of early childhood education. The field
of early childhood education and care is rapidly changing worldwide with an uncertain
future path filled with predictions and possibilities (Morrison, 2004). This evolving
backdrop provides a contextual frame for the journey of those, like me, who have chosen
this occupation as their life’s work. In Canada, fragmentation has defined the field,
impeding progress towards actualization of the occupation as a profession. It is this
prevailing landscape that looms large behind each individual early childhood educator’s
curriculum decisions.
What will the field look like 25 years from now? Morrison (2004) makes 20
predictions and what tops the list is a move from a “romantic/developmental” to a
“rational/cognitive approach” (p. 1) that correlates with a shift from child-centred to
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