Research shows that the concept of gender takes
root in children between the age of three and seven. From about the age of two,
children begin to develop the ability to recognise and label gendered concepts
like ‘man’, ‘woman’, ‘girl’ and ‘boy’. By the age of three, children start to
understand gender as a stable trait and are able to identify their own gender.
By the age of six, gender stereotypes in children have often already been
firmly set. These stereotypes seriously limit children’s
freedom to develop their unique and full potential, as they shape and steer
children’s expectations from an early age. Through an experiment based on
swapping clothes among baby boys and baby girls (around the age of 1 – 2), BBC[1] with the support of experts, showed how gender stereotypes practiced by
adults can differently affect brain development and skills learning by those
children involved. The video captures an experiment: adult volunteers are asked
to play with toddlers, and they unconsciously offer so-called “boys’ toys” to a
toddler they consider to be a boy and “girls’ toys” to a toddler they consider
to be a girl. Eventually, they find out that “the boy” is actually a girl, and
vice versa. Girls are offered more frequently fluffy toys and are engaged in
more calm and static playing, while the presumed boys are offered more complex
toys (constructions, robots) and in addition those that require to move around
the playing room. Researches confirm that brain, at that age, in only three
months can develop spatial awareness and how to move in the space around, if
toddlers are exposed to this kind of playing and learning opportunities.
Stereotypes replicated by adults are thus offering boys the opportunity to
develop this highly required competence, while girls are learning to be seated
and reflexive. This implies that, if stereotypes are continuing along with
their educational pathway, girls will be encouraged to be less interested, for
instance in spatial awareness, thus eventually reducing their expectation in
working with this kind of skills and topics, as effectively happens in the
actual labour market. That per se shows a limitation to girls’ full potential
that causes concrete discriminations, and in the meantime evidences the waste
of talents at societal level. Early childhood education and care teachers
are in a unique position to challenge and limit the maturation of these gender
stereotypes before they have a lasting harmful impact. Early childhood
professional thus should be fully aware not only of their influence in ensuring
an inclusive and successful educational pathway, where no one is left behind,
but also of the role that they play as change makers in the society supporting
democratic values and preventing and combating discriminations firstly based on
gender and also on ethnicity, age, religion, etc. It is indeed highly relevant
in the current times that ECEC professionals are surely equipped with
appropriate knowledge and skills on how gender stereotypes should be counteracted since the early years, especially in light of several different
theories and ideologies that seem to move the focus towards instrumental and
useless discussions. However, most
of ECEC educators at country level and in Europe have had no training in gender
issues in education and thus are not aware of how bias impacts on their own
behaviour first and on the development of children they work with second.
Through a general review that partners made of the existing training courses
addressing ECEC educators either as initial training or CPD in their own
countries and in some cases beyond them, it clearly emerged the lack of
structured and systematic initiatives towards gender equality competences’
development as well as gender equality pedagogical tools and methods to refer
to in educators’ professionalization. Despite the increasing importance to
equip children since the early stages of their life with capacities to be
inclusive and aware of diversity as a value[2] and the related policies that EU is promoting to
make Europe more inclusive, fair and resilient, investment in ECEC educators'
competences in this area is still underdeveloped[3] BEYOND project
responds to this need and provides the framework to elaborating and developing the contents for a
Training Course on gender equality in ECEC. This is based on the preliminary
analysis of ECEC educators’ training needs and gender equality practices in
education across Europe, thanks to the presence in the partnership of two
Europe-relevant bodies (the European Parents’ Association and the European
Trade Union Committee for Education), and specifically in the following
countries represented by the other Beyond partners: Italy, Bulgaria, Lithuania
and Cyprus. According to the results achieved in these preliminary activities a “Capacity Building Strategy” and a “Gender competences framework for
ECEC professionals” have been produced,
which are the point of reference for the training that will be delivered in
each partner country. In fact, partners have preferred not to have a common training of
trainers at transnational level as the situation of ECEC is very heterogeneous
across participating countries and in order to be able to actually impact and
start seeing a change in the beneficiaries’ behaviour, it is crucial to adapt
the common set of competences and methodology to the different contexts. The training course targets ECEC teachers and managers whose improved competences on Gender
Equality in Early years’ education can positively impact on both the curriculum
development and implementation and the overall education environment and
settings, including communication and management aspects. End-users of the Training Course should gain through their training the basic knowledge, skills and competences needed to
include gender equality in their daily work and specifically are expected to
change their values, attitudes and behaviours towards more gender equality.
Training of early years educators/ teachers/supporting staff at country level in IT, LT, BG, CY, focused on:
- gender knowledge, including the different discourses on gender;
- the meaning of gender stereotypes, how to recognise and address sexism, prejudices and biases, and how to challenge stereotypes;
- how to recognise the effects of the two-gender norm both in general and in education in particular;
- how to become willing and able to reflect on one‘s own norms, attitudes and expectations concerning gender;
- being able to teach in a gender-sensitive way.
