A look at the early childhood teacher education undergraduate curriculum: is it gender sensitive?

OpenAlex İngilizce

The aim of this study is to investigate whether the Early Childhood Teacher Education Undergraduate Curriculum in Türkiye is gender sensitive. A document analysis method was used. Course contents were obtained from the Council of Higher Education, and the learning outcomes of the courses were accessed from the Early Childhood Teacher Education Undergraduate Program web page of a university. In the content and learning outcomes of the courses, the terms “gender (sex), men/women, social background, equality, children’s rights and democracy, cultural diversity, norm-normalisation, gender bias, sexism-homophobia, LGBTIQ+ were searched for gender sensitivity. We found that these terms are used in a limited way in the curriculum and are mostly included in the content of elective courses. The teacher education curriculum has limited content for pre-service teachers on gender equality. Adding new courses to the curriculum or improving the content of existing courses to support the perception of gender equality among teacher candidates is recommended.