(Un)doing gender in the nursery. Poster Presentation
Creators: name: Vogt, Franziska
name: Nentwich, Julia C.
name: Poppen, Wiebke
name: Schälin, Stefanie
Publisher: name: Pädagogische Hochschule St.Gallen
Year: 2012
Subjects: day care
gender
professional

description: Doing and undoing gender in the nursery a. Franziska Vogt, University of Education St. Gallen franziska.vogt@phsg.ch Julia Nentwich, St. Gallen University, julia.nentwich@unisg.ch Wiebke Poppen, St. Gallen University, wiebke.poppen@unisg.ch Stefanie Schälin St. Gallen University, stefanie. schaelin@unisg.ch b. Purpose and research questions Early childhood education is a female dominated field with more than 95% of the trained early childhood educators working in nurseries being women in most European countries. Men's position in this field is often contested. As research has shown, men working in a profession that is perceived as truly feminine have to engage in specific strategies in order to construct a masculine gender identity. Men in early childhood education for instance have been described to engage in giving 'high fives' in order to develop a truly 'masculine' way of having physical contact with the children. While studies show that both masculinity and femininity are 'done' while working in order to construct a stable gender identity, neither masculinity nor femininity are monolithic concepts. In line with a 'performative turn' in research on men in feminized occupations the more fluid and shifting aspects of identity as well as organizational processes have come into the centre of attention: Is there an organizational 'reaction' on men doing or undoing gender? How can men in early childhood education 'undo' the gender of their profession and hence become change agents towards gender equality? c. Method The empirical research project is situated in German speaking Switzerland and funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. The multi-method research design comprises 20 interviews with nursery managers, photographic documentation of space, 12 narrative interviews with male and 12 with female educators as well as ethnographic (video)observations in 4 nurseries. In a first step we conducted interviews with 20 nursery managers and also asked them to in-troduce us to the nursery's spacial arrangements, thereby commenting on the design, usage, daily rituals etc.. We captured these 'spacial walks' through photographs and digital audio recordings. In 12 nurseries a fully trained male early childhood educator is employed. At the mo-ment, we are conducting narrative interviews with these 12 men in early childhood education, as well as with one of their female colleagues respectively. In these interviews we are focussing the men's 'entrance stories' to the nursery gathering critical incidents of the day-to-day working practices and task allocation as well as aspects of organizational change. In a third phase we conduct ethnographic fieldwork in four nurseries, using participant observation, video observation and interviews to reflect daily practices, exploring doing and undoing of gender in interactions. d. Results Qualitative data analysis of the photographs and the nursery managers narratives has already been completed. Currently, the narrative interviews with the male and female educators are analyzed. Results will be presented at the conference. e. Conclusions and implications As initiatives in many European countries seek to address the gender imbalance in the early childhood profession, the question of men working in the field and the organizational implica-tions can be used to foster understanding of organizational practices and professionalization in early childhood