”Gender choreography and micro-structures: Early childhood professionals’ understanding of gender roles and gender patterns in outdoor play and learning”.

The purpose of this study is to exemplify child carers understanding of what it means to work with the concept of gender in a Swedish context. This is examined by observing play and learning in the playground at a Swedish daycare centre.

The study shows that all daycare centres work to change pedagogical practices related to gender roles and patterns, and that the daycare centres have a similar rhetoric in relation to gender-related work. The results show the following:  1) child carers regard the playground as a gender-neutral area; 2) gender roles are perceived as difficult to comprehend and to explain, and 3) in some cases, the children challenge the child carers by not responding as expected in relation to their gender. Furthermore, the study shows that in a few cases, child carers problematise play and learning in the playground on the basis of a gender perspective, and the researcher points out the complexity for the child carers of finding new ways to counteract stereotypical gender roles and patterns.

The data material consists of video footage and focus group interviews.  Four daycare centres participated and a total of six hours of video footage was shot in the playgrounds. Between five and 12 child carers from each daycare centre participated in focus group interviews. The interviews were semi-structured and, among other things, based on clips from the video footage.

Ärlemalm-Hagsér, E. (2010). ”Gender choreography and micro-structures: Early childhood professionals’ understanding of gender roles and gender patterns in outdoor play and learning”. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, 18(4), 515-525.