Unnoticed Professional Competence in Day Care Work.

On the basis of a selection of Danish daycare centres, this study examines how "unnoticed" professional competences are important for the early childhood educators' daily interactions, planning and care for children.

The study shows that "unnoticed" professional competences seem to occur in "ordinary" everyday situations at daycare centres. The study concludes that "unnoticed" professional competences are found in practical everyday life with the children, and recommends trying to increase focus on these competences. The study finds that the "unnoticed" professional competences are particularly pronounced in planning activities with the children. The study shows an example of unnoticed professional competences when the children are being prepared for a photograph at a specific social activity: The social activity can be initiated as part of the daycare centres' learning goals (educational curricula). The study identifies the unnoticed competences as the early childhood educators' endeavours to include all children in the photo, so that no children or parents feel neglected.

The authors find that the "unnoticed" professional competences are important for the early childhood educators' care for the children. The "unnoticed" professional competences are also under pressure and they are at risk of losing their priority, because current emphasis is on learning results, curricula, documentation etc. Some of the reasons why these competences are not recognised sufficiently are different management mechanisms and demands for documentation and learning results etc.

The study is based on observations of everyday life in two Danish daycare centres and on interviews with about 30 early childhood educators. Furthermore, data was collected through reports from workshops for early childhood educators. Observations of participants were carried out for a period of two weeks. The interviews focus on the early childhood educators' own perceptions of the competences required in their fields of work. Moreover, the study focusses on the early childhood educators' own professional development, and how they experience change within their fields of work. The workshop was organised as a future workshop; i.e. a process in three parts: critical perspectives on existing conditions, an open utopian perspective on what daycare centres could be like, as well as a realisation process in which utopian perspectives are re-examined in order to produce ideas for specific initiatives. The two daycare centres were selected on the basis of a goal to reflect the variation in the social and educational background and ethnicity of the children's parents. Therefore, one of the daycare centres mainly has middle-class children. The other has a greater variation of children and includes a larger percentage of children of unskilled or immigrant parents.

Ahrenkiel, A., Schmidt, C., Nielsen, B.S., Sommer, F.M. & Warring, N. (2013). Unnoticed Professional Competence in Day Care Work. Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies, 3 (2), 79-96.