Preschool student teachers, technology, and gender: positive expectations despite mixed experiences from their own school days

Abstract

The Swedish preschool curriculum emphasises preschool teachers' task to stimulate children's interest in science and technology. Technology education, however, has not always had a given place in Swedish early childhood education, and this has been associated with female preschool teachers' fear of technology. This qualitative study explores how students training to be teachers in Swedish preschool view both the technology education they themselves received during their school days and their future task of teaching technology in preschool. The study's empirical material is an assignment that the students did within their Preschool Teacher Programme. Seventy-nine students, including 77 women and 2 men, described their experiences in writing. Many students describe a boring technology education which made them, as girls, feel marginalised. However, there were also those who felt quite at ease with their technology classes. Nevertheless, the students, regardless of their former experiences, have a positive attitude towards the task of teaching technology. Technology education in preschool is viewed as something quite different from the technology education they themselves had in school. The students stress that technology in early childhood education should be something that children and preschool teachers explore together.

Keywords:

• preschool
• student teachers
• technology education
• masculinity

Notes on contributors

Maria Hedlin is a senior lecturer in education and a teacher educator at Linnaeus University, Sweden. She has published course literature on Swedish educational gender equality policy. Her main interest is gender research on teachers and teacher education.

Gunilla Gunnarsson is a senior lecturer in education and a teacher educator at Linnaeus University, Sweden. Her research interests primarily concern teaching for learning science and teacher competencies.