Caring between risks: voices that construct the teaching identity of an early childhood education teacher in response to a critical incident
Authors
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Ignacio Figueroa-Céspedes
Universidad Diego Portales
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2756-1831
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Esteban Fica-Pinol
Universidad Metropolitana de Cienicas de la Educación
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7142-0825
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Ana Clara Ventura
CONICET/Universidad Abierta Interamericana
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1721-0023
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Abstract
This article examines the construction of the professional teaching identity of Ivana, a Chilean early childhood educator, based on a critical incident that occurred at the beginning of her professional trajectory —when a child accidentally ingested a sip of bleach (sodium hypochlorite). With a biographical-narrative orientation, data were generated through semi-structured interviews, biograms, and journey plots, followed by a thematic analysis guided by Dialogical Self Theory. The findings reveal an ecology of I-positions in tension and coalition—“I as a novice employee” and the voices of “I as a professional”, “I as a unionist”, “I as a principal”, and the “institutional voice”—and show how the union voice operates as a promoter position, shifting the attribution of responsibility from individual blame towards organisational and regulatory conditions. The incident functions as a turning point and biographical condenser, making visible tensions between care, justice, and risk management, and enabling a critical stance that transforms disruptive affects (guilt, anger) into situated responsibility and agency. Implications are discussed for transformative leadership, equitable working environments, and teacher education focused on critical reflection, social justice, and shared responsibility.Keywords:
professional teaching identity, early childhood education, critical incident, dialogical selfReferences
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