Promoting professional development in Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) field: the role of welcoming newcomers teachers

This article explores the role of welcoming practices for the teachers’ professional development in Italy. It considers professionalism in ECEC as a complex construction in which relationships among colleagues play an important role. This article reports on one qualitative survey carried out with pre-school teachers in Emilia-Romagna Region. This study focuses on teachers’ perceptions on their professionalism conceived as situated construction and of their professional Self. It considers the arrival of a teacher in a new working context as a crucial moment for professional growth and conceptualizes welcoming practices as in-service training opportunities in the framework of collaborative research sustaining reflection at team level.