Transition Studies of Graduate Teachers from a Gender Perspective

Author(s):

Gutiérrez-Esteban PrudenciaLuengo-González María Rosa

Conference:

ECER 2008

Network:

22. Research in Higher Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

22 SES 09B, Gender Issues in Higher Education (Part 1)

Paper Session

Time:

2008-09-12

10:30-12:00

Room:

B2 214

Chair:

Mariana Gaio Alves

Contribution

With the introduction of the new syllabuses and the recognition in the future of the It is common knowledge that society and academic institutions are expected to know the employability of young university people, such as the circumstances and routes towards employment (Purcell et. al., 2005; Brennan and Shah, 2003; Salas-Velasco, 2006). Cuadrado Roura (2003) and García Montalvo (2001) believe that universities have to confront problems such as the transition from the education system to the labour market and the imbalance between studies and labour market demands. In this respect, we can find several publications relating to graduate employment, among them, Aguaded and Tirado (2004), González Ferreras and Wagenaar (2003), Jiménez Aguilera (2003), Cuadrado Roura (2003), Martínez Martín (2002), García Montalvo (2001), Sáenz de Miera (2001) and García Espejo (1998). Additionally, this situation becomes more complex if the person who is looking for a job is a woman, Ibáñez Pascual (1999), López Sabater (1999), (Perrone, Webb and Blalock, 2005), Izquierdo (2001), Prieto (1999) and Birgin and Ackerman (2000) who talk about gender in work. In addition, Maruani (1998) has examined gender inequalities in the labour market, and detected an important symmetry between social classification of employment situations and social classification based on gender (Bourdieu, 2000; Gustafsson, 2000; Graham and Smith, 2005; Filippin and Ichino, 2005). So, although women reach a higher average in academic results than men, they have a larger unemployment rate. This has produced “extra qualified” women, that is, a disparity between posts in jobs and qualifications, so that qualified training and labour activity are not connected (Gómez Jiménez, 2002; González Suárez-Bustamante, 2003). On setting out reasons for the differences and inequalities in women and men’s situation in the workplace, surveys on graduates' transition from higher education to the labour market do not take into account gender inequalities. Because of this, we believe that it is necessary to focus our work from a gender perspective. On the other hand, Teacher-training and Psychopedagogy Degrees, as studies, are very similar, regarding the formative character of their syllabuses, as both are feminized and related to teaching (Rodríguez et. al., 2006). For these reasons, they are eminently and traditionally regarded as “typical for girls” (Richardson and Watt, 2005).different qualifications within Higher Education in Europe, the university formation is in question, where Higher Education quality is the priority in order to get a job in accordance with the courses taken. This study aims to describe the professional and work situation of the graduate students at the Faculty of Education at the University of Extremadura, analyzing the education received, paying special attention to the study of gender differences. We developed our study from a gender perspective, not only including the sex variable but also by analyzing the influence of this and studying whether there are gender inequalities in women’s and men’s careers. We believe there is not sufficient information available, so we would like to complete what has been suggested in previous studies, paying attention basically to gender differences. For this reason, our research questions are: Is there any variation between men and women in the transition to the labour market? What difficulties do these groups find? What are the difficulties to maintain the job?

Method

We use a methodology based on triangulation (using both qualitative and quantitative data). These data will be obtained with a questionnaire to graduate students, as well as discussion groups with graduates, employers and other people related to these issues. In order to collect data and information on the transition into the labour market of university graduates and to formulate quality indicators in each study (syllabuses), we used the following methods: graduate surveys, collecting information system for employment promotion at universities and employers’ and employees’ opinion through discussion groups, and we complemented these with open questions related to the questionnaire topics.

Expected Outcomes

Posts held by men and women in Teacher-training and Psychopedagogy degrees are different, although these distinctions do not necessarily reflect differences in the kind of institution. This leads us to link with the gender gap we found in the first job for the two degrees and the current job for women teachers, where they hold same posts, but carrying out different skills, as has been said. The data demonstrate clearly that the educational progress of women does not have a continuation at the labour market. The proportion of women who have an undefined contract in their current employment has grown slightly over the years, but there still remains a gender gap in the first and latest job. The wide range in the proportion of women across the two degrees in comparison with men, does not show them as having a successful situation after studying at university. We should note, however that in the majority of cases, equality of opportunities is believed to have been achieved, especially in a professional field such as education, mainly feminized, in particular in Primary Education. This is due to there is a tendency for women to believe they have not perceived any discrimination, neither in their posts nor in their professional careers even though they choose to be involved in a situation that can have an influence on the professional field, such as family duties. So, they still develop in a high percentage on their own. For instance, Spain has different proportions of female students, and this is mirrored in the quite different female participation rates in the labour market (46.3% and 61.4% respectively for 2003 according to Eurostat, 2005). Regarding women and men’s academic and training level, they are required to do continuous training during their professional career and they must also harmonize their family and home duties. So they represent a minority among the head teams in educational institutions, with particular under-representation evident at senior levels. Data compare the distribution of all students (men and women) across the posts between first job and current job. Here we can see that, except for female Psychopedagogy graduates, job conditions for women are worse (García-Aracil, 2007). Also noticeable is a substantial reduction in the opinion that they have noticed some situation of discrimination; however women report that discrimination still exists.

References

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Author Information

Gutiérrez-Esteban Prudencia

University of Extremadura

Sciences Education Department

Badajoz

Luengo-González María Rosa

University of Extremadura, Badajoz, Spain

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