ABSTRACT
This chapter is about how neoliberal inspired reforms of Head Start have changed the work of early childhood education (ECE) teaching, making it more intense and emotionally demanding. It focuses on differences in views of what counts as good teaching and how some conceptions of teacher professionalism support work intensification. The chapter includes descriptions of various contextual elements of Head Start, including how work is organized and assessed and the curriculum used. Education specialists met monthly as a group and then individually with one of three Early Childhood Coordinators (ECCs), each of whom supervised 4 or 5 education specialists. Federal policies loom over all that is done in Head Start, but intensification is not merely a phenomenon of early childhood education in the US. The managerialism of neoliberalism "does not allow teachers to direct and shape their own work; instead it places an emphasis on standards, measures of performance and outcomes" as means for gaining compliance.
