In the Canadian province of Ontario, the early childhood education and care workforce continues to be undervalued, underpaid and burdened with challenging working conditions. Drawing on Fairclough and Lazar, this study employed a feminist critical discourse analysis to explore the discourses of care work present in the 2018 childcare platforms of three major parties: the Liberal Party, the New Democratic Party and the Progressive Conservative Party. This critical discourse analysis provided an opportunity to consider the absence and presence of early childhood education and care discourses in the election platforms, and the consequences this has for the advancement of the workforce. The findings indicate that the early childhood education and care workforce remained largely invisible in the 2018 childcare platforms. When present, educators were often constructed as components of the early childhood education and care system’s stability. In addition, a discourse of ‘maternal care burden’ emerged in some platforms, which initially suggested progressive recognition of the gendered reality of care and care work for women in Ontario. However, the critical discourse analysis illuminates that the maternal-care-burden discourse, while suggesting that mothers are freed to enter the paid workforce, actually reinforces notions of care as women’s work. As well, this discourse further marginalizes the early childhood education and care workforce by downloading one group’s caring responsibilities to a new group of invisible carers – early childhood educators. In light of these findings, the need to disrupt discourses that continue to devalue the early childhood education and care workforce is considered as researchers and advocates seek to assert care labour as an essential public responsibility and a critical concern in political dialogue.

中文翻译：

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谁来照顾照顾者？在安大略省 2018 年的省选举中，护理工作的话语建构如何使幼儿教育者边缘化

在加拿大安大略省，幼儿教育和保育劳动力继续被低估、薪酬过低，并且工作条件充满挑战。本研究借鉴 Fairclough 和 Lazar，采用女权主义批判话语分析，探讨了自由党、新民主党和进步保守党这三个主要政党 2018 年育儿平台中存在的护理工作话语。这种批判性话语分析提供了一个机会，可以考虑选举平台中幼儿教育和护理话语的缺失和存在，以及这对劳动力进步的影响。调查结果表明，在 2018 年的托儿平台中，幼儿教育和保育劳动力在很大程度上仍然是隐形的。在场时，教育工作者通常被视为幼儿教育和保育系统稳定性的组成部分。此外，一些平台上出现了“孕产妇护理负担”的话语，最初表明安大略省妇女的护理和护理工作的性别现实逐渐得到承认。然而，批判性话语分析表明，母亲照顾负担的话语虽然暗示母亲可以自由进入有偿劳动力，但实际上强化了将照顾视为女性工作的概念。同样，这种话语通过将一个群体的照料责任转移到新的隐形照料者群体——幼儿教育工作者身上，进一步边缘化了幼儿教育和照料劳动力。鉴于这些发现，