Gender and distribution of educational values among the staff in kindergartens

Science starts early: A literature review examining the influence of early childhood teachers’ perceptions of gender on teaching practices

“…Another study showed a comparable finding when staff members at 80 kindergartens in Demark responded to gender-related dilemmas. Teachers' responses to the gender dilemmas differed by child gender, but not by teacher gender, indicating that regardless of teacher gender, teachers consistently treated boys and girls differently (Olsen & Smeplass, 2016). A similar outcome was found in a study in Indonesia, where informal and formal interviews with teachers, conversations with children, and field notes of daily classroom activities were analyzed to explore care from staff.…”

“…In early childhood education, research shows that interactions between children and teachers have an important role in predicting child outcomes (Early et al, 2007). The results from this review indicate that teachers interact differently with children based on their gender (Granger et al, 2017;Olsen & Smeplass, 2016). The impact of differential treatment on science learning is still largely unknown and represents a gap in the literature for future researchers to investigate.…”

“…In fact, conversations with sons were three times more likely to include explanations and this held true at all ages (1-8 years) even though children who heard explanations had rarely asked questions (Crowley et al, 2001). It is not a far leap to suggest that similar differences in interactions could be happening in early childhood classrooms given the research presented in the Teacher Interactions category showing that child gender impacts teacher's responses and teaching practices (Adriany & Warin, 2014;Martin, 1998;Olsen & Smeplass, 2016). Fortunately, a recent study found that of 755 questions asked during preschool science lessons, no significant differences were found regarding gender of the child recipient (Hamel et al, 2021).…”

“…Second, to some degree interactions in the classroom contain bias and stereotypes and implicit gender bias may be present in how activities are designed and what materials are selected for use in the classroom (Borve & Borve, 2017;Rodriguez et al, 2006;Trawick-Smith et al, 2015). Third, children receive gendered messages from early childhood teachers which may impact their own view of themselves (Adriany & Warin, 2014;Burelski & Mitsuhashi, 2010;Granger et 2017;Olsen & Smeplass, 2016). Next, these ideas are interpreted while considering implications for science teaching and learning in the early years.…”

A gendered contribution to play? Perceptions of Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) practitioners in England on how their gender influences their approaches to play

“…An additional prominent narrative is that the call for more men is 'androcentric' and based on a deficit view of women (Olsen and Smeplass 2018). What is of further note is the fact that the inclusion of more men in the ECEC workforce could be detrimental to furthering gender equality; women have excelled in this workforce for many years, have supported children in learning through play, and it would be taking something from them if men now invaded this territory (Tennhoff et al 2015;Olsen and Smeplass 2018). Furthermore, if men act in gender specific ways when they engage in play then gender stereotypes will be reinforced (Hedlin and Åberg 2013;Jones 2015;Børve 2016;Brownhill and Oates 2016;Warin 2017).…”