ERIC Number: EJ1218152
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2019-Jun
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1476-718X
EISSN: N/A
Preschool Anxieties: Constructions of Risk and Gender in Preschool Teachers' Talk on Physical Interaction with Children
Åberg, Magnus; Hedlin, Maria; Johansson, Caroline
Journal of Early Childhood Research, v17 n2 p104-115 Jun 2019
Previous research shows that inexperienced preschool teachers experience anxiety in physical interaction with children. Against this backdrop, this article investigates how student-teachers and newly graduated preschool teachers talk about the risk of being accused of inappropriately touching children. This article is based on interviews with 20 women and men who recently started working in preschools, or who are soon to graduate as preschool teachers. Building on the notion of "relational touch," the article shows that concerns over touch involve much more than the physical act itself. Relations among teachers, parents, children, management and policies are actualised in the informants' narratives, narratives that are also tied to notions of gender and gender equality. The article shows that anxiety over touch is not gender-specific. The concept of relational touch is suggested as a tool to gain a nuanced understanding of the worries that especially newly educated preschool teachers can experience in relation to touch.
Descriptors: Preschool Teachers, Preschool Children, Teacher Student Relationship, Risk, Anxiety, Teacher Attitudes, Tactual Perception, Teacher Behavior, Student Teachers, Beginning Teachers, Gender Differences
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Early Childhood Education; Preschool Education; Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A