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Gender Friendly Nurseries Update

We learn a lot about how to behave and what is expected from us before the age of 5. One thing we learn is a difference between how boys and girls behave. We learn gender stereotypes.

Rigid gender stereotypes that give rules on ‘how to be’ a girl or boy can harm all children and further the inequality been men and women.

To support children to fulfil their potential, and be who they are, they need to learn and play in a gender equal way. The Gender Friendly Nursery project aimed to support nurseries in Glasgow to provide this.

 

What is the Gender Friendly Nursery project?

The project provided training to Early Learning and Childcare settings on understanding and addressing gender inequality. The project gave nurseries the opportunity to become an accredited ‘Gender Friendly Nursery’. This process involved an audit of the nurseries policies and practices.

The project ran in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area nurseries. By May 2019, 25 nurseries and 35 staff had engaged in the programme.

The training supported workers to:

• Define gender, gender equality, and gender stereotypes.

• Identify gender stereotypes and understand the harm they cause.

• Understand the role of Early Learning and Childcare settings for under-fives in challenging gender stereotypes and securing gender equality.

• Learn how to challenge gender stereotypes.

• Know how to become a Gender Friendly Nursey and the support available.

The training followed a whole school approach, asking nurseries to consider how their leadership, management, resources, and communication with families can nurture gender equality.

 

What were the successes of the project?

• The training gave people a good understanding of gender stereotyping, its consequences, and how to embed gender equal play into practice.

• The two biggest impacts were the audit tool for book and play activities, and the dedicated time and support for staff to discuss stereotypes.

• Most of the feedback was positive with few suggested changes to the training materials.

 

What were the challenges?

• Communicating with parents and persuading them of the benefits of gender equal play.

• Few nurseries completed the audit and gained accreditation due staff turnover and high demands on staff time.

• Not all staff saw the need to be more gender equal or understood the benefits.

• Staff struggled to find the time to complete the training and the audit due to their workplaces being under-resourced and understaffed.

• There is a gap between national policy on gender equality and its implementation on the ground.

 

What did we learn?

• The audit impacted nursery practice but needs to be more flexible so more settings can follow the process.

• Practitioners would benefit from a group for discussing issues and supporting one another.

• Staff need supporting materials to engage effectively with parents on the reason for and benefits of the project.

• The project would benefit from working with partners to build in an intersectional lens, meaning the training would cover different and overlapping inequalities. This would increase Early Learning and Childcare staff’s understanding of gender inequality and other inequalities efficiently.

 

What happens now?

Early Learning and Childcare environments would benefit from training on gender equality as well as access to mentoring, peer discussions and relevant resources. However, significant resourcing is required to amend and run the programme. You can read further detail and recommendations in the full Gender Friendly Nursery Evaluation.

Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership Health Improvement are discussing with Glasgow City Council Education Services the next steps of the Gender Friendly Nurseries programme.

At Zero Tolerance we are exploring how to get the recommendations of the Gender Friendly Nurseries project embedded in Early Learning and Childcare environments across Scotland.

 

What can you do?

If you live in Glasgow, you can ask your local councillor to support the project.

If you live in Glasgow and would like your nursery to get involved with the project, ask them to contact Ann Logan, Glasgow City HCSP, Health Improvement at Ann.logan@ggc.scot.nhs.uk

If you live elsewhere in Scotland, you can contact your local councillor and let them know you’d support the project being run in your area.

 

Who was involved in developing the project?

Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) Health Improvement developed the Gender Friendly Nurseries Project in partnership with ourselves and:

• Respectme – Scotland’s anti-bullying service

• LGBT Youth Scotland – Scotland’s national charity for LGBTI young people

• Men in Childcare – deliver childcare training for men

• Fathers Network Scotland – aims to improve children's lives through the positive involvement of dads, father-figures & whole families
• Dr Nancy Lombard – Professor in Sociology and Social Policy at Glasgow Caledonian University

Read the full evaluation of the project.
Read the briefing of the project evaluation.