Children's confrontation of gender scripts in early Childhood Education

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7213/1981-416X.25.085.DS12

Keywords:

Scripts de gênero, Infâncias, Educação Infantil, Pesquisa com crianças

Abstract

This article examines how young children in early childhood education develop strategies to navigate and challenge gender scripts in their daily school lives, focusing on the interactions between materialities, spaces, and relationships. Grounded in Gender Studies and the Sociology of Childhood from a poststructuralist perspective, the main objective was to analyze the ways in which children subvert and reinterpret these scripts—often unnoticed in the school context. This approach aimed to acknowledge children's struggles and acts of resistance, sometimes symbolic, in order to expand the discussion on gender issues in early childhood education from the perspective of childhood itself. Methodologically, this ethnographic study was conducted with a group of 17 four-year-old children in a public school in the Metropolitan Region of Porto Alegre. The research highlights the need to invest in inclusive and participatory school environments where children can express their own narratives and challenge traditional gender categories. The findings suggest that an inclusive curriculum, adequate teacher training, and public policies that foster freer environments are essential to ensuring children's rights.

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Author Biographies

Jéssica Tairâne de Moraes, Secretaria Municipal de Educação de São Leopoldo

Doutora em Educação pela Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS). Professora da Educação Infantil da Rede Municipal de São Leopoldo (RS/Brasil).

Jane Felipe, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRS)

Professora titular aposentada, vinculada ao Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação da Faculdade de Educação da Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (PPGEDU/FACED/UFRGS).

Published

2025-06-27

How to Cite

de Moraes, J. T., & Felipe, J. (2025). Children’s confrontation of gender scripts in early Childhood Education. Revista Diálogo Educacional, 25(85), 649–662. https://doi.org/10.7213/1981-416X.25.085.DS12