The theoretical part includes an explanation of the development of gender roles and gender stereotypes that are shaped in childhood and adolescence. Our country (and consequently also kindergarten) is committed to gender equality in society, so we are referring to official documents that oblige preschool teachers to work to promote gender equality in kindergarten. The preschool teacher’s knowledge and their personal views are very important in overcoming gender inequalities, which is reflected in researches carried out in kindergartens. As gender stereotypes are often seen in kindergartens, we have given examples on how preschool teachers can face them and how they can go beyond them with children.
In the empirical part we carried out a survey, which, through observations of groups and through interviews with children and preschool teachers, determined whether the educators and children observe the different characteristics of the genders in the kindergarten, and whether the preschool teachers are sufficiently expertly supported on gender equality in order to be able to confront gender stereotypes and in this context, appropriately influence the activities of the children. We have found that educators and children observe the different characteristics of the genders, some children emphasize them, while the preschool teachers rarely deal with them. Preschool teachers offer children a variety of materials and games that encourage boys and girls to play together, but they rarely talk with children about gender stereotypes and gender roles. Educators acknowledge that they are not sufficiently expertly supported on gender equality and on how to confront gender stereotypes.
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