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knowledge and skills not possessed by lay people, considerable autonomy in practice and
entry to the profession, commensurate compensation, and a professional organization.
These dimensions differentiate a professional role from other types of occupations
(Darling-Hammond & Sykes, 1999; Saracho & Spodek, 1993).
Early childhood education as a profession is in process. Whitebrook (2002)
suggests that the benchmarks in professionalization include defining a distinct and
exclusive body of knowledge, establishing training and certification processes, increasing
political influence, and increasing the economic well being of its members. Since its
inception in the 1980s, the Canadian Child Care Federation (CCCF) has been working on
the four benchmarks in its desire to advance the occupation of early childhood education
and care (Ferguson, 2004). Many practitioners however, are ambivalent about
professionalization (Kuhn, 1999).
Kuhn (1999) found that among practitioners the reservations expressed towards
professionalization were related to what they perceived as negative attributes of an expert
culture. Being an expert was associated with impersonal expert-client relationships,
incompatible with the view of child care as caring relationships with children and
supportive relationships with parents. Some viewed a professional status as exclusionary,
setting the occupation too far apart from those being served and making entry into the
profession difficult.
Pence (1999) suggests that the perspective of professionalism in early childhood
education and care be widened to include a range of voices including parents, children,
community and professionals. The classical construction of professionalism as found in
medicine and law suggests that knowledge is a commodity that is held and produced by a