PRoKita - Plural Role Conflicts and Collective Consciousness in Organised Childcare
Project period: 01.11.2023 - 31.12.2025
Project leaders: Prof. Dr. Sigrid Betzelt (HWR Berlin) and Prof. Dr. Ingo Bode (University of Kassel)
Research Associates: Johannes Eckstein (HWR Berlin), Femke Goergen (University of Kassel)
Funded by Hans-Böckler-Foundation.
Contents
Over the recent decades, early childhood education and care (ECEC) has developed into an expanding segment of Western societies and labour markets. Today, this sector is subject to multiple expectations that translate into demanding agendas at organisation level, including early skill formation, social inclusion, and child attendance relieving working parents from care needs. This complex task environment becomes exacerbated by the diversity of stakeholders which comprise parents from various socio-economic and cultural backgrounds; childcare workers with different occupational/professional profiles (in a traditionally feminised and ‘semi-professional’ field); providers pursuing and redeveloping distinctive pedagogic concepts and management approaches, etc.. From this perspective, and given both staff shortages and budget constraints in recent times, it was safe to assume that the sector is rife with tensions.
Mainly based on in-depth case studies and expert interviews at industry level, the research project PRoKita was geared towards gaining insights into how these tensions play out in German ECEC organisations, how the above mix of expectations shapes role conflicts therein, and how the latter affect the mind-sets of (various groups of) childcare workers. Dynamics feeding into forms of ‘collective consciousness’ – within organisations or a given occupational group – were of particular interest here. With this research agenda, the investigation highlighted dynamics which have hitherto received scant attention in the scholarship on childcare work and organisation, for instance: ambiguities inherent in the sector’s expansion and the set of expectations aligning with the latter; the complexity of casework with parents (from different social backgrounds) in ECEC settings in the context of such ambiguities; furthermore, role-driven conflicts at the workplace as well as repercussions all this has on the building of collective consciousness in the above sense. The findings bear relevance for the understanding of potentials and challenges related to the labour process in the current ECEC sector but also permit a critical reflection on what society at large should (not) expect from this sector in 21st century welfare states.
The project focuses on elementary care for children up to six years of age (within medium or large sized organisations) and takes account of the staff, managers, and parents alike. The fieldwork is based on both qualitative in-depth case studies of childcare settings and expert interviews which help gain insights from a broader perspective. We ran four case studies in public or non-profit care organisations (medium- and large-sized, located in in East and West Germany, with variations in the socio-economic profile of the respective clientele, that is, in underprivileged or wealthier districts, or more mixed ones). Moreover, a systematic Scoping Review on the ‚culture‘ of field expectations was conducted. Various data sources were used in our fieldwork, including documents from the selected ECEC organisations, semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and media analyses. The analysis of these sources is oriented towards a hermeneutical understanding of the data and with the ambition of drawing more general theoretical conclusions from the evidence.
The findings reveal that the agenda and related expectations on ECEC in the 21st century are not only very comprehensive but characterized by multiple inconsistencies (e.g., orientation towards individual subjectivity and socially inclusive caring versus standardized preparation for school); formalised (output) control measures have gained ground and exercise pressures on the staff, while specialized assistance for children with special needs are regulated in a disorganized way. These circumstances produce diverse role conflicts and role confusion for the staff due to high pressures of improvisation and adhocratic priorization which has disempowering effects in the end. Responsible for this is not only a lack of time and staff but especially a structural task overload and a context permanently demanding optimization. This is exacerbated by output- and quality measurement entailing extra work of documentation etc. that is not perceived as meaningful by the staff. All of this promotes individualized coping strategies whereas the collective consciousness as an occupational group and the willingness to go on strike appear to be rather weak.
Further information on the HBS website.