Exploring the Hidden Curriculum on Gender in Contemporary Picturebooks from the Book Dash Collection

In this article, I discuss how gender roles are represented in a selection of South African picturebooks, paying particular attention to how these books cumulatively constitute a hidden curriculum. The picturebooks of the Book Dash collection, an online collection of free children’s literature created in South Africa, have been chosen as the case study. The data have been analysed using thematic analysis. Eagly and Wood’s Social Role Theory provides the theoretical framework. Findings from this study suggest that when the picturebooks are read cumulatively, the persistence of gender role stereotypes can be observed in the Book Dash collection, which depicts gendered characters in various ways that could be read as both perpetuating and challenging stereotypes. The recommendation of this study for teacher education is that aspects of the hidden curriculum should be addressed carefully when teaching or selecting children’s literature for children.