Where the wild teachers are: The early childhood professional and the wild effects of professionalism

Abstract

Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak tells the story of a wild child and wild things who engage in wild times. The story is an inspiring tale for children and teachers to explore being wild. Here, we take the story further into the wilds through an exploration of professionalism, wondering where wild teachers are. We share a concern for the ways in which teaching is intensely disciplined and governed, and through which teachers are produced as docile subjects – tamed into teaching. In our roles in working with teacher professional learning and development in Germany and Aotearoa New Zealand, we have recognised that there is little to no acknowledgement of ‘wildness’ as a dimension of teacher subjectivity. More than this, being wild is typically introduced in a pejorative sense, of a behaviour or condition that requires regulation and control. The creative teacher engages with standardisation and normalisation in critical and, perhaps, wild ways. In this paper, we explore the ways of wildness through a series of reflections and vignettes that emerged on a road trip – a method with which we worked as a wild way to exploring wild things in wild places. The aim of this article on wildness and professionalism is to share our adventure, the experiences, the feelings and the thinking, and to invite readers to recognising and exploring wildness and professionalism through their own adventures, reflections and relationships.