Preschool teachers\u27 recognition of gender stereotypes in children\u27s playing and learning

V diplomskem delu sem raziskovala, kako strokovni delavci v vrtcu prepoznavajo spolne stereotipe otrok pri igri in učenju. Spolni stereotipi so prepričanja o tem, kaj pomeni biti deček in kaj deklica, nanašajo pa se na informacije o zunanjem videzu, stališčih, psiholoških značilnostih, poklicih in interesih ter izhajajo iz družbenega konteksta. Osnovni cilj diplomskega dela je bil raziskati in preveriti, ali se strokovni delavci v vrtcu zavedajo pomembnosti spolne enakosti v komunikaciji, vzgojnem delovanju, odzivanju na čustvovanje in igro predšolskih otrok. V empiričnem delu sem ugotavljala, koliko se strokovni delavci v vrtcu zavedajo prisotnosti spolnih stereotipov v igri in učenju otrok. Zanimalo me je tudi, kakšne prednosti vidijo strokovni delavci v vrtcu v strokovnem zagotavljanju spolne enakosti med otroki v igri, njihovem učenju in ravnanju. Ugotavljala sem, kakšna stališča imajo strokovni delavci v vrtcu do spolnih stereotipov in kako se v tem razlikujejo glede na delovno mesto. Raziskala sem, kako pogosto strokovni delavci v vrtcu otrokom različnega spola v svoji skupini ponudijo za igro spolno nestereotipne igrače in na kakšne načine še skušajo odpravljati oziroma zmanjševati spolne stereotipe v igri, učenju in v ravnanju otrok. V raziskavo je bilo vključenih 61 vzgojiteljic predšolskih otrok in 51 pomočnic vzgojiteljic predšolskih otrok iz različnih slovenskih vrtcev. Na osnovi dobljenih rezultatov sem ugotovila, da so spolni stereotipi v vrtcu prisotni in da se jih večina strokovnih delavcev v vrtcu zaveda, vendar jih pogosto ne prepozna. Strokovni delavci jih poskušajo odpravljati na različne načine, pri čemer pa prevladuje pasivni način odpravljanja spolnih stereotipov npr., tako da vzgojiteljice in pomočnice vzgojiteljic otrokom pustijo, da se sami odločijo v katerem kotičku se bodo igrali oziroma s katero igračo. Zaželeno in strokovno korektno bi bilo, da bi strokovni delavci v vrtcu spolne stereotipe pri sebi ozaveščali in jih aktivno odpravljali.In my thesis paper I researched the recognition of gender stereotypes in children’s play and learning by kindergarten teachers. Gender stereotypes are certain preconceptions about what it means to be a boy or a girl. They refer to a person’s appearance, opinions, psychological characteristics, occupation, as well as interests, and originate from social context. The main goal of the paper was to research and check whether kindergarten teachers are aware of the importance of gender equality in their communication, educational work, reactions to a children’s emotional responses and in kindergarten children’s play. In the empirical part of my paper, I designed a questionnaire based on the findings of both foreign as well as domestic scholarly works on the topic and tried to find out to what degree kindergarten teachers were aware of the existence of gender stereotypes in children’s play, learning and behaviour. I was also interested in finding out which advantages do kindergarten teachers see in ensuring gender equality among children in their play, learning and behaviour. I wanted to determine which personal beliefs regarding gender stereotypes were being held by kindergarten teachers and how these beliefs differed based on their job position. I explored how often kindergarten teachers offered gender non-stereotypical toys to children of different genders in their group and in what other ways they tried to eliminate or decrease the amount of gender stereotyping in the play, learning and behaviour of children. 61 kindergarten teachers and 51 assistant kindergarten teachers from kindergartens all over Slovenia were included in the study. Based on the given results I concluded that gender stereotypes were still present in Slovenian kindergartens and that most teachers were aware of them, but they did not always fully recognise them. They try to do away with gender stereotypes through various methods. However, passive methods of doing so are still the predominant ones, despite the fact that ideally kindergarten teachers should try to reduce or get rid of gender stereotyping in an active way