”Becoming a Preschool Child: Subjectification in Toddlers During Their Introduction to Preschool, from a Gender Perspective”.

The purpose of this study is to contribute with knowledge about children’s start at their daycare facility, focusing on subjectification from a gender perspective. The study deals with children’s transition from home to daycare facility and particularly with the introduction phase at the daycare facility. Subjectification means the processes in which various positions are made available for the children, and therefore the author does not focus on the individual child, but stresses subjectification processes: how positions are created for children in social interaction with child carers and the pedagogical environment?

In the analysis, the author highlights three special positions which are made possible for the children. The first position is the needy and regulated child. Children in this category are considered by the child carers to have a great need for a key person when they are introduced to the daycare centre, and much care is given to these children. The second position can be seen as a contrast to the first category and is termed the competent child. This category stems from the fact that child carers’ attitudes towards children are also characterised by a vision that children can handle situations without help from adults. The third position is recognising the boy as something special. The author writes that in many situations she observed a special emotional interaction between a child carer and a certain boy named Albin. For instance, the child carer often praised Albin and paid him a great deal of attention by describing him as a “true fire-fighter” and a “charmer”. The situations involve the same child carer and the same boy every time. In these situations the boy is given the opportunity to adopt a position as “someone who stands out”. The author concludes that the special positive attention Albin receives can be interpreted as unintentional idealisation of masculinity. Results of the study show that gender is of great importance in interactive situations, including the interaction between adults and children and between children and the pedagogical situation. The study highlights gender as a category which is processed and actualised in most but not all situations.

A total of 19 children and four child carers at a daycare centre were observed for a period of six months. All the children had just started at the daycare centre, and therefore several parents were there for some of the time. The children were between 12 and 18 months, and the group consisted of 15 girls and four boys. Data was collected through observation and field notes.

Månsson, A. (2011). ”Becoming a Preschool Child: Subjectification in Toddlers During Their Introduction to Preschool, from a Gender Perspective”. International Journal of Early Childhood, 43, 7-22.