In this paper, I examine the claim that teachers' subjective experiences can lead to social change through the perspective of the early years teacher in Quebec. Fourteen early childhood teachers participated in memory writing and individual interviews. Data were inductively coded and analysed in terms of the teachers' subjective experiences of: (1) their occupational image, (2) their day-to-day work in early childhood settings, and (3) their constructions of childhood. Analysis revealed a closer understanding of the interplay between the teacher's internal and external experiences, particularly in terms of childhood as a discursive concept, gendered assumptions about professionalism, and psychoanalytic notions of individuation. The study suggests that change will require that early years teachers develop and articulate their understandings of their subjective experiences in ways that simultaneously expose deeply entrenched assumptions in the social unconscious that deny recognition to educators whose work relies on their accessibility to the youngest children.