From kindergartners to kindergarten teachers: The compromise of a profession in late nineteenth-century Ontario

Abstract

This thesis examines the professional status of women kindergartners in Ontario in the late nineteenth- early twentieth century, by exploring the origins of the Kindergarten and the transformations that occurred to this system as it integrated into the provincially-controlled public education system. The masculine nature of the professions in nineteenth century, together with the gendered ideology that made the care of young children women's work, is critical to understanding what happened to the kindergartners as they moved from women-run private institutions to male run institutions of education in Ontario. This thesis examines the position, training, and inspection, of kindergartners in the provincial education system of nineteenth-century Ontario, while at the same time analyzing the meaning that "profession" had, together with its gendered and class connotations, and how this influenced the status of the kindergartners. I argue that kindergartening was a specialized profession when it was first introduced to Ontario in the latter part of the nineteenth century, and that the entry into the already existing teaching hierarchy, with its gendered social relations, began a process of de-professionalization, as control over the training of the new kindergarten teachers, as well as the support provided thereafter, moved from the hands of expert, professional women kindergartners into the hands of male government officials at the Ministry of Education.