Does the gender of a practitioner matter in early childhood education and care? Perspectives from Scottish and Chinese young children

Xu, Yuwei

Abstract

This paper responds to concerns over the assumed ‘feminisation’ of early childhood education and care (ECEC) and adds children's perspectives to debates on whether more men should work in ECEC. Pictorial conversations were conducted with 280 children aged 2–6 years old from the cities of Edinburgh, Hong Kong and Tianjin. Findings show that although children sometimes related practitioners to their gendered experiences in and outside ECEC, children's gender subjectivities are dynamic and are linked to their short-term and long-term, fluid and stable, and interactive relationships with practitioners. This paper argues that practitioners need to openly discuss gender with children in ECEC practices and pedagogies.

Citation

Xu, Y. (2020). Does the gender of a practitioner matter in early childhood education and care? Perspectives from Scottish and Chinese young children. Children & Society, 34(5), 354-370. https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12371

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 7, 2020
• Online Publication Date: Mar 30, 2020
• Publication Date: 2020-09
• Deposit Date: Dec 15, 2021
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 17, 2021
• Journal: Children & Society
• Print ISSN: 0951-0605
• Electronic ISSN: 1099-0860
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 34
• Issue: 5
• Pages: 354-370
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12371
• Keywords: child agency; children's perspectives; early childhood education and care; gender; practitioners
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/7019590
• Publisher URL: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/chso.12371
• Additional Information: This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Xu, Y. Does the gender of a practitioner matter in early childhood education and care? Perspectives from Scottish and Chinese young children. Child Soc. 2020; 34: 354– 370, which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1111/chso.12371. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Use of Self-Archived Versions. This article may not be enhanced, enriched or otherwise transformed into a derivative work, without express permission from Wiley or by statutory rights under applicable legislation. Copyright notices must not be removed, obscured or modified. The article must be linked to Wiley’s version of record on Wiley Online Library and any embedding, framing or otherwise making available the article or pages thereof by third parties from platforms, services and websites other than Wiley Online Library must be prohibited.