Lärarförbundet, förskollärare och statushöjande strategier: Ett könsperspektiv på professionalisering.

This dissertation investigates the strategies of a Swedish trade union, ‘Lärarförbundet’ (The Teachers’ Union), to deal with the fact that the child carer profession is dominated by women.  The paper investigates the strategies used by the union to upgrade the work and professional skills of child carers. The objectives are 1) to compare how the profession sees itself  and child carers’ own perception of status-promoting strategies and 2) to investigate whether these strategies can contribute to perpetuating or changing the value discrimination affecting professions dominated by women.

The analysis shows that the majority of the child carers believe that the union’s strategies actually upgrade their work and their professional skills. However, the child carers find that the union does not give priority to the areas that they think are important for the status of the profession, e.g. the child carers’ goals concerning promoting equal conditions for children throughout their childhood, their work with development and care, as well as their emotional and social skills.   These areas are often linked to feminine values and in failing to give priority to these, the union may be perpetuating gender discrimination in the profession. It is stressed that child carers are not a homogeneous group and that their different attitudes depend on, e.g. the area in which the work, the professional groups with whom they work, their training, age etc.

The sample consists of 265 child carers, who completed questionnaires, as well as three representatives from the union, who were interviewed. In addition to this relevant documents were reviewed.

Berntsson, P. (2006). Lärarförbundet, förskollärare och statushöjande strategier: Ett könsperspektiv på professionalisering. Göteborg: Department of Sociology, Göteborg University.