Emergent identity in child and youth care practice and education

This thesis addresses the issue of self-concept shift in child and youth care practitioners in the educational milieu. It is an autobiographical rendering of my own development and education as CYC practitioner and educator, which begins with my curiosity about CYC education in Canada and the point at which CYC candidates discover a sense of themselves as CYC practitioners. The initial stages of my inquiry included a journey across Canada to be with CYC graduates and co-investigate what contributes to their shift in self-concept from student to novice practitioner in their post-secondary education and how that influenced my CYC educator self-concept. The events surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic and other family health issues prolonged the investigation and triggered a reframing of the inquiry into self-concept shifting. Thus, the work evolved from initially being conceived as an ethnography of CYC education in Canada to more of a self-study of teacher education. The thesis puts forward this reframed conceptualization of CYC practitioner identity from a "shift" to a generative, emergent, and ever developing perspective on learning and growing.