Training early childhood professionals in France (1947-2011)

Discover the fourth session of the seminar “Regards croisés sur la petite enfance” 2024-2025: Training early childhood professionals in France (1947-2011)

The seminar looks at early childhood as a social, historical and cultural construct. Theories and knowledge relating to the conception, birth and development of children are analyzed in terms of their interactions with their environment and gender norms. Against this backdrop, the seminar will explore the boundaries of this age category and address the question of its temporality according to medical, international, anthropological or historical standards.

As part of the renewal of the history of care work, from a gender history perspective, this study crosses several fields of research: the history of vocational training, women's work and early childhood. From the decree of August 13, 1947, which established the diplomas of auxiliaire de puériculture and puéricultrice, to the creation of the “Assistance, Soin et Service à la Personne” (ASSP) vocational baccalaureate in 2011, this research looks at the history of training in early childhood professions in a dual context: that of changes in women's work and that of the “democratization of education”. Based on national surveys from the 1970s, archives from nursery schools and oral interviews, this talk offers a history of the training of early childhood professionals in France after 1945. Adopting a “bottom-up” approach, it looks at the educational and professional experiences and trajectories of trainees.

• Zoé Poli: PhD student in history at Lyon 2, affiliated with LARHA (CNRS/Lyon 2), Mustella Foundation scholarship holder.
• Discussants: Nathalie Sage Pranchere: historian (IRD) & Michel Christian : histoiran (IRD)