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ERIC Number: EJ1051256
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2005
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1463-9491
EISSN: N/A
Teacher Talk about and around Sexuality in Early Childhood Education: Deciphering an Unwritten Code
Surtees, Nicola
Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, v6 n1 p19-29 2005
This article highlights initial findings from a qualitative research study in Aotearoa/New Zealand exploring the discursive production of children's sexuality in early childhood education. The article draws attention to teacher talk about and around sexuality. Drawing from heteronormative, developmentalist and biological discourses and discourses of children as asexual and innocent, this article shows that such talk acts to normalize or minimize children. Teacher resistance towards and silencing of sexuality, the functions the silences serve and the ways in which silences mark the borders of "normal" and "abnormal" are uncovered. The article suggests that the marking of borders jeopardizes teacher acknowledgement and celebration of difference and diversity. Gaps between the rhetoric of celebrating difference and diversity and the reality of practice are emphasized.
Symposium Journals. P.O. Box 204, Didcot, Oxford, OX11 9ZQ, UK. Tel: +44-1235-818-062; Fax: +44-1235-817-275; e-mail: subscriptions@symposium-journals.co.uk; Web site: http://www.wwwords.co.uk/ciec
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education; Preschool Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: New Zealand
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A