The Unbearable Lightness of Being an Early Childhood Educator in Day-Care Settings

This article explores how working conditions and professional well-being intersect in day-care settings, shaping early childhood educators’ professional identities, especially at the start of their careers. Based on a qualitative and interpretative study involving a focus group with seven educators and thirty interviews across Portugal, the findings reveal a profession marked by overload, time pressure, institutional silence, and the invisibility of emotional labour. Yet, educators also demonstrate resistance, mutual support networks, and pedagogical reinvention. Wellbeing is conceptualised as an ecological and political issue, influenced by institutional structures, the absence of public policies, and cultural narratives that continue to devalue the profession. Special focus is given to novice educators, whose entry into the field is characterised by vulnerability, lack of guidance, and identity tensions, pointing to the urgent need for better initial training and institutional support. This article presents a critical analysis of professionalism in early childhood education and care, with implications for teacher education, including mentoring, supervision, and public policy development. It frames the work of early childhood educators in day-care as both an ethical commitment and a form of resistance. Ultimately, it amplifies educators’ voices as knowledge producers and agents of change, contributing to the pedagogy of dignity and the recognition of a profession often rendered invisible.