Interwoven identities in infant and toddler education and care: "What do you think babies will do with clay? Make pots?!"

This chapter considers how early childhood teacher identities are developed through negotiation within a landscape of personal and professional internal and external forces. It explores the challenging landscape of infant and toddler pedagogy and the way professional identity directly and indirectly promotes quality early education experiences for children. Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model of human development is often employed in early childhood education to develop understandings about the influence of context on the developing child. Classic conceptions of care and routine elements associated with “a carer ‘minding’ babies and toddlers” emerged as students consistently reflected they didn’t know what to do with babies. In Australia, the educators who work with infants and toddlers vary greatly in terms of their qualifications, and so does the quality of their work with infants and toddlers. The communication directly demonstrates the impact of centres that do not value quality pedagogical practice for infants and toddlers on students’ future career choices.