Abstract

This research starts from the premise that the professional identity of child specialists is strongly determined by gender stereotypes and trapped in the woman-mother imaginary. This professional identity feminization would be the historical discourse effect, heir to the charitable beneficence and maternal role projection, which reveal the educator emotional role. The aim of this study is to interpret the professional identity of child specialists students from a regional public university, through 53 professional autobiographies written by final year students of 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 cohorts. The methodology, of an interpretative type, is framed in Discourse Analysis, from Cognitive Linguistics and metaphors theory. The analysis is developed in two stages. The first one is an interpretative approach to professional identity, through metaphorical analysis. In the second stage, autobiographical milestones are reviewed to define elements common to the life stories that allow the interpretation of their professional identity. The study allows to verify the initial assumption and establish how they shape their identity through the trope of the mother.

Keywords Preeschool Teachers; Vocational Training; Female Teachers; Professional Identity; Discourse analysis; Autobiographies