Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore the different ways in which a number of Chilean stakeholders conceptualise the 'good early childhood educator' in Chile. In a context where new foreign narratives are increasingly dominating the field and the recent standardisation of the educators' professional role is being implemented, this research constitutes a critical and alternative viewpoint, analysing the situation as a whole and creating dialogues between key actors in order to open possibilities to new understandings. Twenty-three participants, including early childhood educators, teacher educators and key informants from national providers of early childhood education, were interviewed. Adopting a postmodern approach to grounded theory (situational analysis), the participants' discourses were analysed and compared, together with a diversity of identified elements and human and non-human actors. Shared meanings, conflicts, tensions and local understandings were identified in the data and cartographic tools were used to illustrate them. The article concludes with some reflections on the new possibilities these findings can bring to the future of structures and discourses within the early childhood profession in Chile and worldwide.