Sara Fröden
NORENSE funding: 50.000 NOK in 2016

Background and motivation for the project
The overall purpose of the project is to increase the knowledge and understanding of Waldorf early childhood education and also contribute to the discussion of feminist pedagogies in preschool practices. There is a relatively small amount of research in the area of Waldorf early childhood education in general and publications that particularly address issues concerning gender and the educational practice are scarce. I intend to complete an article where the central results of my doctoral thesis (Fröden 2012) are presented and further developed. This article, with the working title When gender becomes non-relevant: Situated decoding of gender in a Swedish Waldorf kindergarten, highlights the importance of rethinking the feminist theorizing of younger children’s understanding, experiencing and performing of gender.

Research questions
The aim of the article is to further examine the concept of situated decoding of gender – a concept first developed in my thesis. Firstly, by showing how this on-going process emerges and how it is maintained in the Waldorf pre-school practice. Secondly, by relating the concept to feminist theories, pedagogies and early childhood educational practices: How can the concept of situated decoding of gender contribute to a development of a feminist early childhood education? Is it possible to transfer the results of the study to another educational practice? Or in other words, is it likely that the situated decoding of gender will exclusively occur in the context of the Waldorf preschool and if so, why?

Sources, methods and theoretical perspectives
My thesis is based on an ethnographic study, which examines the practice of a Swedish Waldorf kindergarten with a specific focus on gender, age and spirituality in relation to material and spatial dimensions. A fieldwork was conducted over a period of 1.5 years with a group of seventeen children aged 3-6 years and two female Waldorf preschool teachers. The methods used were mainly participant observations and in-depth interviews. Drawing on Judith Butler’s understanding of performativity and (un)doing of gender, this article will contribute to the field of feminist theories by developing the theorizing of young children and gender, as well as to Waldorf early childhood education in general.

Fröden, Sara (2012): I föränderliga och slutna rosa rum. En etnografisk studie av kön, ålder och andlighet i en svensk waldorfförskola. örebro: örebro Studies in Education 35. Link to dissertation 

Publication
Frödén, Sara. (2018). Situated decoding of gender in a Swedish preschool practice. Ethnography and Education, 13(2) p 1-15. Link to article.