• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.244-257
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• 2021

The purpose of the present study is to qualitatively explore childcare teachers' attitudes toward gender sensitivity education for early childhood. The study recruited 227 teachers and directors working in childcare centers around the Seoul metropolitan areas. The study utilised the interpretive science paradigm and visual methods for data collection, and thematic analysis examined the attitudes of 227 participants. Gender sensitivity education include gender flexibility and sexual orientation. Most participants showed positive attitudes toward the gender flexibility education. They regarded the gender flexibility as a topic socially accepted, suitable for early childhood development, and easy to implement. They also believed that the gender flexibility education would encourage the individuality of children. On the other hand, 53.3% of participants showed negative attitudes toward tolerance education regarding sexual orientation. Opponents expressed that an issue of sexual orientation did not reach a social consensus. They also worried that the topic is not developmentally appropriate for early childhood, and difficult to teach young children because of insufficient educational materials. At the same time, 40.5% of participants expected Korean society would embrace diverse sexual orientations in the future, and early childhood education would help young children adapted to changing contexts. This study discussed theoretical concepts of gender sensitivity, listened to childcare teachers' voices about education of gender flexibility and sexual orientation, and suggested more appropriate gender sensitivity education for early childhood.