diff --git a/src/awkward/highlevel.py b/src/awkward/highlevel.py
index f559be8c2e..66cd94855b 100644
--- a/src/awkward/highlevel.py
+++ b/src/awkward/highlevel.py
@@ -1858,7 +1858,7 @@ def __init__(
             contents = []
             for k, v in data.items():
                 fields.append(k)
-                if is_non_string_like_iterable(v):
+                if (not isinstance(v, dict)) and is_non_string_like_iterable(v):
                     contents.append(Array(v).layout[np.newaxis])
                 else:
                     contents.append(Array([v]).layout)