The 3-year GENTLE project was all about stimulating the development of positive identities, relationships and self-esteem in preschool-aged children in central Vietnam through gender-responsive teaching and play-based pedagogies.
Countering early gender socialisation
“Gender is an important part of Vietnam’s early childhood education (ECE) curriculum. In my opinion, this is a difficult topic to convey to children, especially when teachers’ knowledge on gender is limited.” Setting the tone is Truong Thi Thu Nguyet (right), deputy head at the ECE department of the Quang Nam Department of Education & Training. She hits the hammer on the nail. While research shows that children start forming their gender identities at the young age of 4, ECE teachers and school leaders are not always equipped to create preschool environments that counter this early gender socialisation – and the emerging gender stereotypical thinking that accompany it.
With the support of the European Commission and the Belgian government, VVOB has been working closely alongside officials of the Quang Nam and Quang Ngai provincial Departments of Education and Training on ‘gender-responsive teaching and learning in the early years’ – or GENTLE for short – in 14 selected districts. Inequalities due to early gender socialisation are indeed one of the most persisting equity issues in central Vietnam, affecting both boys and girls.
Read up on GENTLE’s specifics in this factsheet
GENTLE kicked off in 2018. Over the past three years, VVOB, the Research Centre for Gender, Family and Environment, the provincial departments and district bureaus engaged some 2000 teachers and 300 school leaders of 153 schools on enriching their ECE classrooms with gender-responsive activities and language; and transforming the learning environments beyond the classroom too.
Participating teacher Vo Thi Ha Nhi (left) from Quang Ngai province illustrates: “In the past, boys almost never played with dolls. Now, they have the choice to play with any toy they like, dolls included. I also added more pictures of boys and girls taking up different roles in our classroom and prepared a variety of materials to stimulate participation of both boys and girls in activities. I can see that children no longer choose certain activities based on their sex. They join in together in the same activities.”
Want to integrate play-based, gender-responsive learning activities in your classroom and school? Take some cues from GENTLE:
- Take a good look at the learning environments, inside the classroom and beyond: provide room for gender-responsive images, banners, boards and equipment from the school gates to the playground and play corners.
- Consider your gender-responsive activity carefully: make sure girls and boys are sitting next to each other, encourage equal access to a variety of toys and games, talk about gender stereotypes through comics, poems, and songs.
- Be reflective about the language you use: use gender-neutral terms for your learners and take the time to express yourself responsively.
GENTLE also provided the development and testing of a toolkit in Vietnamese for teachers and school leaders on gender-responsive play-based learning in preschools, to be used by government staff in future trainings of additional schools.
“After the trainings, I indeed recognised that young learners often conform to gender stereotypes through their families and society, as well as through teachers who are not familiar with gender-responsive learning”, Tran Thi Tai, another participating teacher from Quang Nam province, testifies.
“Thanks to the gender-responsive play-based learning toolkit, we changed our classroom layout and preschool daily schedule to encourage non-gendered play in education settings. We also use gender-neutral language to address children. In addition, we involve their parents in activities to strengthen the relationship between school and family so that gender equality is advocated and promoted beyond the school.”
Changing fathers
GENTLE indeed also looked at the role of parents and caregivers – with a special interest in fathers and male caregivers – in ensuring young learners grow up free from harmful gender stereotypes. The project introduced nearly 25,000 parents and caregivers to gender-responsive education through widespread communication activities organised by preschools and through the dissemination of the leaflet below. These parents and caregivers were seen to attach more importance to gender equality and became more involved in their children’s education. Fathers and male caregivers even indicated taking up housework chores to set an example.
With GENTLE wrapping up in 2021, the participating government officials at provincial and district-level are continuing with the trainings on gender-responsive pedagogy for ECE teachers and school leaders far beyond the initial 14 districts.
“Thanks to the VVOB-led trainings, workshops and teacher professional development activities for the schools in my province, I am confident that the teachers are capable to deal with this difficult task”, Deputy Head at the Quang Nam ECE department Truong Thi Thu Nguyet concludes.
