This thesis investigates preschool as a site for sexual pedagogy. It aims to generate knowledge about sexual pedagogical discourses in Swedish preschools and how these discourses, along with the agency of children and preschool practitioners, are constituted and reconstituted over time. 

The thesis is theoretically grounded in a discourse analytical approach, drawing inspiration from Norman Fairclough’s (1992/2008) critical discourse analysis and Judith Butler’s (1993/2021) theory of performativity. Based on an ethical standpoint that children can be understood as sexual subjects and that agency is always relational and dependent on interconnections, tension emerges between the support that enables agency and the restrictions that limit it. 

Methodologically, the study combines two empirical materials: sexuality education texts for educators published between 1969 and 2021, and focus group discussions with preschool practitioners. The texts are analysed using critical discourse analysis (Fairclough 1992/2008) to reveal how perceptions of children’s sexual play have changed over time. The focus group discussions are analysed using both critical discourse analysis and an age-critical and didactic analysis. These analyses provide insight into how practitioners negotiate their professional role within sexuality education discourses and how norms surrounding children and sexuality shape the conditions for both children’s and practitioners’ agency.

The results demonstrate that sexuality education discourses in preschool have changed over time; from an encouragement of children’s sexuality and sexual play to increasing restrictions. Based on the focus group discussions, two different perspectives on the child as a subject of rights emerge. With the practitioners’ support through the curriculum, the child is constituted as a sexual subject in two ways: with the right to sexuality as identity and the right to protection from sexuality as action. Since both practitioners’ and children’s agency is constituted in a reciprocal and relational process, the practitioner is also constituted in two distinct ways. Firstly, as part of a professional “we” alongside the curriculum and management, where the practitioner acts as the child’s advocate vis-à-vis parents whose views on children’s right to sexuality as identity differ from those of the preschool. Secondly, as a rule-follower in relation to sexuality as action, where the practitioner emerges as a monitor of children.

The thesis argues that sexuality education should be informed by professional considerations rooted in scientific knowledge and proven experience. Without education and discussion on children and sexuality, preschools risk becoming platforms for political agendas and unreflected norms. Education and reflection would strengthen practitioners’ professional agency and enhance children’s recognition as sexual subjects in diverse ways. The thesis advocates for a professional discourse on sexuality, sexuality education, and preschool-aged children, both within teacher education and in preschools. These discussions should integrate multiple perspectives, ensuring that children’s right to protection from sexual abuse and their right to sexual subjectivity are both addressed.