Gender-responsive pedagogy in early childhood education: a toolkit for teachers and school leaders

The toolkit offers an introduction to gender-responsive pedagogy (GRP) in early childhood education (ECE) and serves as a practical guide that can be adapted to any context and the related needs. It is a source of ideas that individual teachers and school leaders can put to immediate use in their classrooms and schools. The toolkit comprises five chapters. The first gives an overview of gender in education in the African context. It also contains key definitions related to gender and education, and references to international commitments to gender equality in education. The second chapter, which forms the core of the toolkit, introduces GRP in ECE. It explores how gender-responsiveness in lesson planning, lesson delivery, the teaching and learning environment, learning materials, interactions and use of language can foster real learning. The third chapter focuses on GRP and school leadership, identifying ways to integrate GRP in schools through the different dimensions of school leadership. Chapter 4 offers some ideas for practical classroom activities for learners, designed to generate opportunities to talk about gender roles and challenge stereotypes in the ECE classroom. The fifth chapter consists of guidelines for an interactive game, called Go Gender Go, for teachers and school leaders. Playing this game in groups encourages conversation and reflection on the content of the toolkit.