Gender Education in Early Childhood Contexts : A Conceptual Framework

The book reimagines gender as an area of power, collective learning and meaning-making in children's lives, presenting early education as an inherently political arena. In doing so, the book provides an original, evidence-informed resource for critical reflection and transformative practice in educational settings.

Addressing the timely and highly contentious issue of childhood, gender and sexuality, this book approaches polarised debates by proposing a unique, politically informed framework for gender education in early childhood. The book reimagines gender as an area of power, collective learning and meaning-making in children's lives, presenting early education as an inherently political arena. In doing so, the book provides an original, evidence-informed resource for critical reflection and transformative practice in educational settings. Situated within the pedagogical legacies of early childhood education, including the approaches of Maria Montessori and Loris Malaguzzi, as well as Vygotskian perspectives, this book reworks these traditions through a critical lens that foregrounds questions of power, agency and social justice. It presents a novel conceptualisation of gender and sexuality education, moving beyond developmentalist and adult-centric models. Throughout the book, gender is considered as an evolving and interconnected concept, addressing issues of equality, norms, stereotypes, and power dynamics, and their interplay with children's experiences of learning, relationships, consent, identity, physicality, safety, and emotions. A key contribution of the volume is its rejection of adult-centric assumptions about childhood. By taking children’s perspectives, experiences and forms of expression seriously, it offers a radical rethink of early childhood as a space where gender is actively produced, contested and reimagined. This original stance challenges dominant narratives and opens new possibilities for pedagogical and political engagement with young children. In a context of global tension and social division, where debates around gender and childhood are increasingly instrumentalized, this book offers a timely and critical intervention. It will be of interest to scholars, researchers and postgraduate students of early childhood education, curriculum studies and gender and sexuality education, as well as policymakers and practitioners involved in educational design and reform.