Gender and sexual identity construction in early childhood education: the case of a private kindergarten in Ankara

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2014
Şalgam, Didem
This thesis investigates gender and sexual identity construction in early childhood education in Turkey. The aim of the thesis is to understand how heteronormativity operates in childcare institutions and how children are socialized into social roles of gender and sexuality in early childhood education. This thesis also seeks to understand how children internalize and resist to/challenge gender and sexuality norms that are being imposed on them. The thesis is based on two and a half months of ethnographic field research conducted in a private kindergarten in Ankara. The data analyzed in the thesis is based on observations, interviews with early childhood educators, surveys completed by the parents of the children, and text analysis of the official curriculum used in the kindergarten. The thesis shows that heteronormative gender and sexuality are predominant in the kindergarten and that children are not given access to alternative gender and sexuality social roles. Therefore, although children have agency to resist to/challenge gender and sexuality norms, heteronormative gender and sexuality is largely reproduced in early childhood education.

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Citation Formats
D. Şalgam, “Gender and sexual identity construction in early childhood education: the case of a private kindergarten in Ankara,” M.S. - Master of Science, Middle East Technical University, 2014.