Teknik i förskolan – att motverka traditionella könsroller : En aktionsforskningsstudie

Sammanfattning: This study shows that developing a gender sensitive technology education in apreschool setting is a very complex and multifaceted task. The preschool, andthe preschool teachers, are expected to help the children develop their technologicalawareness and interest in technology without being limited by traditionalperspectives on gender. However, as research has shown, teachers’ expectationsof children’s behaviour and interest in leisure time activities aregendered and reflect historically developed gendered roles in relation to technology.As this study shows there is a palpable risk of the preschool teacherson one hand focusing on girls and boys as homogenous groups, where a singleindividual gets to represent the group as a whole; and on the other hand, missinggender structures if the mindset is that gender does not factor into theirtreatment of the children at all – that they, automatically in their role astechers, act gender neutral. In this study, the pedagogical conversation wasimportant for the teachers possibility to reflect about their own preconceptions.However, the conversation did not seem to be enough, it was also importantfor the teachers to get to see and reflect on how they actually interactedwith the children in the technological activities. Only then did the teachersactually start to question their preconceptions and began to discuss new waysof acting.