Student Teachers’ Knowledge and Interest in Gender Equality

Author(s):

Gudny Gudbjornsdottir(presenting / submitting)Thordis Thordardottir Steinunn Helga Larusdottir

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

07. Social Justice and Intercultural Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

07 SES 08 A, Gender Identities and Education

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-04

09:00-10:30

Room:

B004 Anfiteatro

Chair:

Francesca Gobbo

Contribution

Formally the education on gender equality issues has recently become stronger in Iceland. Equality issues are since 2008 a new subject of study in primary schools, and since 2011 equality is one of six pillars of education in the national curriculum for all school levels. This is very noticable as this should have happened in the 1970´s according to the Icelandic equality laws.

In view of these developments and recent research and developmental studies from elsewhere, including Finland (Lahelma, 2011), Sweden (Arreman and Weiner, 2007), England (Skelton, 2007; Younger 2007; Younger and Warrington, 2008) and Portugal (Botelho-Gomes, 2012), our study is aimed at investigating the main practices and resistances towards gender equality in teacher education in Iceland. Available Icelandic research has been scarce but recent studies suggest that education on gender and equality issues in teacher training is poor, met with resistance and a considerable gap is between scientific research on gender issues and what is taught in teacher training and other university departments (Gudbjornsdottir, 2012; Gudbjornsdottir and Larusdottir, 2012; Leiknisdottir, 2012; Sigurjonsdottir, 2011, Weaver-Hightower, 2003).

There seem to be many reasons for a lack of focus on gender issues in teacher education and schools, according to international research: Curriculum overload; gender issues are sensitive and politicized, and it is not acknowledged that this is about scientific knowledge on gender issues. Theories on masculinity and femininity are considered complicated and contradict traditional essentialist views on gender differences (Lahelma, 2011; Weaver-Hightower, 2003).This seems to be the case as well among Icelandic teacher educators (Gudbjornsdottir and Larusdottir, 2012)

Younger (2007) and Younger and Warrington (2008) have recently surveyed the attitudes of student teachers in English primary and secondary schools, and the latter found that there is a need to “re-activate debate about gender identity and inclusivity within initial teacher education and training in the UK, and to reconnect research within the academic community and teaching on such courses” (p.429). Our present research from the Center for Research on Equality, Gender and Education http://menntavisindastofnun.hi.is/rannkyn/forsida is still ongoing, but now the findings from student teachers at the end of their teacher training in collected. In the spring of 2014 the plan is to collect qualitative data in view of the quantitative findings.

The research questions for this paper are:

1. Knowledge:

A. How well do student teachers claim to know gender concepts like equality, gender, stereotypes, masculinities, the gender system, sexualities and homophobia? Is there a difference in the self-reported knowledge of these concepts between students in their first year of their 5 years of teacher training and those more advanced?

2. Interest or disinterest:

B. How interested are student teachers in learning more about gender and equality in their studies generally or having a special course on those issues?

C. Which of given gender related content dimensions are they most interested in learning more about as student teachers?

D. If student teachers are not interested In equality education, which are the main reasons?

Method

In the part of our study focusing on student teachers we use two methods of data collection: Firstly, a survey of knowledge, interest and attitudes with a questionnaire was given to students in their first year in the spring of 2013 (N=138) and in the fall of 2013 (N=116) for more advanced student teachers at the School of Education, University of Iceland. A convenience sample was used, those students that attended class on a certain day were included in the sample and they filled out a paper version of the questionnaire. Distance learners had the opportunity to answer the survey on-line (36 students answered that way). The survey included in all 31 questions and took about 25 minutes to complete: There are ten questions about knowledge of concepts; eight questions about the received education on equality issues; four questions on interest/disinterest; three questions on attitudes and finally six questions about their background. The relevant questions for the present paper will be analyzed statistically to answer the research questions. The quantitative data from the survey is coming in these days, analyzed by our education research institute http://menntavisindastofnun.hi.is/the_educational_research_institute Secondly focus group interviews with student teachers will be conducted in the spring of 2014, when the survey results are ready, mainly to get a deeper understanding of the quantitative results. The focus group discussions will take 1-1.5 hours each, they will be recorded and transcribed and analyzed qualitatively. The participants in the survey were asked if they are willing to participate later in the focus-groups, and talk about the outcome. About 20 students have already volunteered. If the focus-group interviews do add to the answers of the present research questions they will be included in this paper. We are fully aware that the use of focus groups can be difficult (Kitzinger, 1995). They were particularly useful however, in the first part of the study focusing on teacher educators (Gudbjornsdottir and Larusdottir, 2012) and we have gained valuable experience that we hope will be of use with the student teachers.

Expected Outcomes

The findings are being analyzed these days. It looks as if the students have good knowledge of some concepts (Equality, masculinities, feminism, stereotypes) but very little knowledge of others (gender, hetero-sexism, gender-system, social constructivism). It is of interest to see if the difference between the knowledge of the he first year students and the others is significant. Those questions have not been analyzed yet, nor the questions on interest/disinterest. It is of considerable interest to see if the knowledge and interest of the student teachers reflect the views of the teacher educators (Gudbjornsdottir and Larusdottir, 2012) or if their interest and attitudes are different. That research suggests that equality is understood in a wide sense and there is a tendency to avoid or resist the gender dimension for various reasons. If that is the case then it is not expected that students in the first year and those that are further advanced will differ significantly in their interest and knowledge. At the same time there are worries that homophobia, prejudices, pornography, gender related violence and gender stereotypes are a problem both in education and in the Icelandic society, even if we have scored at the top for 5 consecutive years on equality by the World Economic Forum (2013). Ironically there seems to be a backlash among young people in Iceland who lately are becoming more and more traditional in their gender attitudes (Hjalmsdottir, 2009) and tolerant of gender related violence. It is expected that some participants are very interested and call for more education on gender, equality issues and inclusivity in the education of teachers. The research experience and findings will be discussed in view of findings from Finland, Sweden, England and Portugal, and the changing teacher education in Iceland which is now 5 years at the university level.

References

Arreman, I. and Weiner, G. (2007). Gender, research and change in teacher education: a Swedish dimension. Gender and Education, 19(3), 317-337. Botelho-Gomes, P. (2012). Guides for Education “Gender and Citizenship”. Paper presented at Exchange of good practices on gender equality. Gender training in education Portugal, 18-19 October 2012. European Commission. http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/files/exchange_of_good_practice_pt/pt_discussion_paper_pt_2012_en.pd Gudny Gudbjornsdottir. (2009b). Minnisblað um jafnréttisfræðslu í skólastarfi, til forseta Menntavísindasviðs (Status report on gender and teacher education in Iceland) http://vefir.hi.is/kennaramenntun/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/GG-jafnrétti-og-kennarmenntun1.pdf Gudny Guðbjornsdottir and Steinunn Helga Larusdottir.(2012). „Þotulið“ og „setulið“: Kynjajafnrétti og kennaramenntun. Netla – Veftímarit um uppeldi og menntun. Menntavísindasvið Háskóla Íslands. Reviewed article published Desember 31. Retrieved from  http://netla.hi.is/menntakvika2012/006.pdf. Guðný Guðbjörnsdóttir.(2012). Gender training in education in Iceland in view of good practices in Portugal, Denmark and Spain. Paper presented at a conference on Gender training in education, Portugal, 18-19 October 2012. European Commission. http://ec.europa.eu/justice/gender-equality/tools/good-practices/review-seminars/education_en.htm Hjalmsdottir, A. (2009). “Reality Bites” Attitudes Toward Gender Equality Among Icelandic Youth. MA thesis: The University of British Columbia. Retrived on January 28. From https://circle.ubc.ca/bitstream/id/32087/ubc_2009_fall_hjalmsdottir_andrea.pdf Kitzinger, J. (1995). Qualitative Research: Introducing focus groups: A guide for medical professionals. in BMJ Clinical Research Ed. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2550365/pdf/bmj00603-0031.pdf Lahelma, E.(2011). Gender Awareness in Finnish Teacher Education: an Impossible Mission? Education Inquiry, 2(2), 263–276. Skelton, C. (2007). Gender, policy and initial teacher education. Gender and Education, 19(6), 677-690. Weaver-Hightower, M.B.(2003). The "Boy Turn" in Research on Gender and Education. Review of Educational Research, 73(4), 471-498. World Economic Forum.(2013).The Global Gender Gap Report 2013. Retrieved January 21, 2014 from http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GenderGap_Report_2013.pdf Younger, M. (2007). The gender agenda in secondary ITET in England: forgotten, misconceived or what? Gender and Education, 19(3), 387-414. Younger, M. and Warrington, M. (2008). The gender agenda in primary teacher education in England: fifteen lost years. Journal of Education Policy, 23(4), 429-445.

Author Information

Gudny Gudbjornsdottir (presenting / submitting)

University of Iceland

School of Education

Reykjavik

Thordis Thordardottir

University of Iceland, Iceland

Steinunn Helga Larusdottir