What do you want to become, girl or boy? A genderstudy on a preschool

Abstract

We have conducted a study on a specific preschool department where we looked at how teachers in the department interacts with girls and boys. Our purpose of this study was to see if the teachers' work is based on specific gender norms and gender values, and how if so expressed.Through conducted observations and interviews reinforced with visual material in the form of photographs, we have tried to give concrete examples of how ideas about the concepts of "girl" and "boy" is constructed in social settings and in the interaction between teachers and children. Our study shows that educators are both consciously and unconsciously active in shaping gender norms, traditions and values. This also makes teachers' work in early childhood education a "gender creative practice" where stereotypical gender differences are created and recreated.