Gender equal play in early learning and childcare

Gender equal play in early learning and childcare is an improvement resource that promotes gender equality in how children experience early learning and childcare (ELC) and gives people working in ELC practical tips on avoiding gender stereotyping.

The resource aims to boost their awareness of the positive benefits of encouraging and supporting gender equality from an early age. Launching the resource in December 2018, Maree Todd, Minister for Children and Young People said:

Evidence shows that gender stereotyping from a very early age has an impact on the decisions that girls and boys make about their future subject and career choices. This guide explains the importance of challenging gender stereotyping and provides ideas and examples for early years professionals of existing good practice.

Children’s experience of childhood and play is becoming more gendered and polarised between girls and boys, with products such as toys, books, online resources and clothes increasingly being produced and marketed along gender lines. Academic research highlights the negative impact on all children of gender stereotyping and the important role that ELC can have in positively promoting gender equality. This resource has been co-produced by the Care Inspectorate and Zero Tolerance in order to help practitioners enhance gender equality for children across all ELC settings. As part of this collaborative project, we worked in partnership with other organisations including Play Scotland, Education Scotland and the Gender Friendly Nurseries Project.

The benefits for children and society more generally from the ELC workforce becoming more gender balanced is part of promoting gender equality. The current expansion of funded ELC means that many more staff are needed, which provides an unprecedented opportunity. This resource is therefore intended to complement the Scottish Government’s ongoing activity to attract more males to join the workforce, supported by key partners such as Skills Development Scotland and the Scottish Funding Council. The Scottish Government’s Equally Safe strategy, for the prevention and eradication of violence against women and girls, is also supported by this publication.

Gender equality has a high media profile and the public debate can often arouse strong emotions. This can mean that some ELC services are understandably nervous about their approach to gender equality and avoiding negative stereotyping. The resource therefore offers practical and helpful tips on how to promote gender equality in an accessible and non-threatening way. As well as sharing practice examples of what has worked well in a range of different settings, we also advise on other practice resources available to services, such as children’s books, toys and activities, training and further reading.

In 2013 Zero Tolerance published ‘Just like a child’, a guide for childcare professionals on respecting gender equality in the early years. In co-producing this resource we wanted to not only provide an update to ‘Just like a child’, but also to highlight a range of practice examples narrated by practitioners. This adopts a similar format to other Care Inspectorate publications intended to encourage improvement across all ELC provision, such as ‘My World Outdoors’ and ‘Our Creative Journey’. In common with these other publications, for each practice example the relevant Getting It Right For Every Child (GIRFEC) wellbeing indicators are referenced.