Male Teachers in Early Childhood Education: narratives, encounters and avoidances between bodies, games and care

Abstract

The narratives of male teachers of Early Childhood Education about the impositions and expectations given to them and to female teachers in the exercise of teaching, in these public, educational and collective spaces, are the center of this article. Produced through semi-structured interviews and problematized in the light of research in the field of Early Childhood Education and social studies of childhood, such as gender studies, reveal different ways that sexism and gender discrimination can impact the performance of teachers, such as the need to continually legitimize their professional skills and the surveillance and/or denial of the dimension of care. In addition, teachers reveal and acknowledge promoting and provoking bodily different experiences and games with children, contributing to the expansion of reflections about playful dimension in teaching, to the appreciation and recognition of male teachers and for a Pedagogy of Early Childhood Education in which to take care and educate small girls and boys is inextricably linked to male and female teachers.