Browsing by Subject "Genuspedagogik"

In conjunction with the new regulations in early childhood education, there has been an increasing emphasis and demand on educators’ knowledge concerning gender issues and their ability to understand how preconceived notions of gender affect how they perceive and act towards children, the pedagogical environment as well as their ability to distinguish gender norms in theory and practice, both in themselves and in others. The purpose of this study is to present Fenno-Swedish early childhood educators’ experiences of gender pedagogy after going through a gender pedagogical training program. The study investigates how they perceive and internalize gender pedagogy in theory and in practice and what kind of attitudes they hold in relation to it. Previous studies have shown that early childhood educators who consider working gender pedagogically in theory do not, in fact, do so in practice due to lack of knowledge and the need of education concerning gender issues among educators. In this study, gender pedagogy is defined in accordance with its theoretical starting point, that is, the attempt to avoid encountering and treating children and how they act and behave after assumptions that stem from gender stereotypical dichotomies such as boy/girl. A qualitative research method was used in this study and data was collected through semi-structured interviews with four early childhood educators with experiences in gender pedagogical training and practice. The interviews were recorded, transcribed and the data was analyzed through qualitative content analysis. Results show that all four informants consider that they work with gender pedagogical issues, but in different ways. Two out of four informants show tendencies towards a cautious and negative attitude towards the gender pedagogical training program. One half of the informants regard gender pedagogy as a starting point in their pedagogy while the other half perceive it as a method. The study shows that the educators’ perception of gender pedagogy play a decisive role in how they implement it in practice. The educators’ own interest and attitude towards gender pedagogy has shown to be a prerequisite in order for them to be able to internalize gender pedagogical issues and thus be motivated to put them in to practice.