Curriculum Models and Identity: Three Stories of Early Childhood Teachers

Abstract

Questions of professional identity are discussed in this paper, based on a master's thesis defended at Universidade de Lisboa. The role of curriculum models in the construction of three early childhood teachers' professional identities is briefly examined and discussed. As each teacher works with a different curriculum, their ideas on the importance of "belonging" to a certain pedagogical model are presented and considered. The literature review is based on issues of professional identity, specifically in early childhood teaching and education; on the historical origin, characterization and definition of curriculum models; and on the two studied curriculum models: Waldorf Pedagogy and MEM-Modelo Movimento Escola Moderna ("New School Movement"). Using qualitative methodologies and framed within the assumptions of interpretative investigation, symbolic interactionism and ethnography, field investigation was conducted with three teachers in three different early childhood settings, each working with different models: Waldorf Pedagogy, Movimento Escola Moderna, and a third teacher who did not adopt any particular model in her practice.