How do orientations matter in preschool education : Places, choices, and gendering processes in preschool

• The aim of this presentation is (1) to highlight how an activity choosing system in a preschool co-created the children’s choices, explorations, and relations with each other (2) to explore the potential of using the concept of orientations (Ahmed, 2010) to understand gendering processes and gendered bias choices in (preschool) education. The presentation builds on a project on emergent science and gendering in preschool (Günther-Hanssen, 2020). Data for the project was conducted during a field study in a Swedish preschool with 25 5-year old children. The analysis is guided by a new materialist perspective, especially Sara Ahmed’s (2010) concept of orientations as well as Karen Barad’s diffractive methodology (Barad, 2014). During the presentation I re-turn (to) data from the research project together with the concept of orientations, and by using diffractive writing – writing different situations through one another (Günther-Hanssen, Jobér & Andersson, accepted). The expected findings concern how the preschool environment directed the children to orient towards some places and activities where their bodies seemed to “be in place”, and how certain spaces became oriented towards certain bodies. They also concern how the children’s gendered explorations and potential interests were specifically co-created by the activity choosing system used in the preschool. Instead of supporting the children to make their own choices of where to be and what to do, the choosing system co-created exclusion and inclusion by gender, affecting where, what and how individual children could orient, explore and become. These results are of relevance for Nordic Educational research since children’s interests and own choices is seen as a core feature in both policy and practice in in preschool education within the Nordic countries.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Pedagogiskt arbete (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Pedagogical Work (hsv//eng)

Keyword

orientations

gender

preschool education

children's choices

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)