Gender equality in education in Iceland: Perspectives of school leaders at three school levels

Author(s):

Gudny Gudbjornsdottir(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2016

Network:

26. Educational Leadership

Format:

Paper

Session Information

26 SES 02 C, Leadership and Gender

Paper Session

Time:

2016-08-23

15:15-16:45

Room:

OB-H1.12

Chair:

Guri Skedsmo

Contribution

Since 2011 equality is one of six pillars of education in the Icelandic national curriculum guide for all school levels. By law, equality issues are since 2008 a new subject of study in primary schools. RannKyn, The Center for Research on Equality, Gender and Education, at the University of Iceland has been investigating practices and resistances towards gender equality in teacher education in Iceland, and now the focus is extended to school leaders and schools.

The study is organized in three parts. In the first phase the focus was on teacher educators, and in the second part we explored to what extent student teachers claim to have learned about gender issues in their studies. The general conclusion from the first two parts is that inspite of emphasis on equality in general, gender-inclusion (Kreitz-Sandberg, 2013) is not part of the teacher education discourse, and binary essentialist views of boys and girls are likely to prevail.

In the third phase of the study, here reported, the focus is shifted to school leaders in pre-, primary-, and secondary schools. An online survey was taken among school leaders in Reykjavik in January of 2016 focusing on their attitudes, knowledge, interest and practices of gender equality in their work. Also intended in this third and final phase is a similar survey and interviews with teachers in schools in the fall of 2016. Of particular interest is a) how the school leaders (and teachers) see the emphasis of gender equality and social justice in the present times of neoliberal school policy in Iceland and b) how the recent developments in the use of young peoples social media with the focus on fighting or no tolerance of sexual harassment (free the nipple, revenge porn) is influencing school leaders and teachers´ attitudes and practices.

Available Icelandic and international research has been scarce but studies suggest that focus on gender and equality issues is often missing in schools, met with resistance and a considerable gap is between scientific research on gender issues, and what is taught in teacher training and school practices in. There seem to be many reasons for a lack of focus on gender issues in 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 in Icelandic research(Gudbjornsdottir and Larusdottir, 2012; Einarsdóttir and Jóhannesson, 2011)

The research questions for this paper are:

How is equality and gender addressed by school leaders in pre-, primary-, and upper secondary schools in view of the national curriculum guide and the school policy in general?

How are the school leaders attitudes to gender and gender stereotypes?

How well do school leaders claim to know selected gender related concepts?

How interested are school leaders in having an education on gender and equality in their schools or a special course on those issues? Which issues should be emphasized in their schools?

Should the school leaders or schools address recent expressions by young girls in social media, of sexual harassment, if yes, how?

Would they use a special (Nordic or Icelandic) webpage on gender issues as school leaders? How often and what kind of materials would they like to see on such a page?

Method

Method In the part of our study focusing on school leaders an online survey of knowledge, interest and attitudes was administered to all heads of schools or school leaders in Reykjavik, Iceland (79 preschools; 43 primary schools and 15 upper secondary schools, N=135).The survey includes in all 25 questions and takes about 20-30 minutes to complete: There are questions about attitudes to equality issues, about knowledge of equality concepts and on interest/disinterest and present practices, as well as about their background (gender, education etc.). Finally the school leaders are asked if they agree to have a similar survey sent to the teachers of their schools, and if they are interested in that their teachers will participate in group interviews on the subject. After some effort the response rate is acceptable or from from 49-84% depending on different questions. Some respondents only answered selected questions including the background questions. An effort was made to overcome this shortcoming, with some success. In May of 2016 the respondents were offered to hear the results here presented, and discussing the survey and the subject afterwards. Unfortunately very few could attend such meetings in May and asked for such presentation of results and discussions in September, before the teacher survey begins. One such meeting was conducted, which gave some information on why the survey was not completed as often as it was started. Hopefully more qualitative information will be added after such discussions in the fall. The online survey was conducted by our education research institute, who also analysed the data here presented. http://menntavisindastofnun.hi.is/the_educational_research_institute

Expected Outcomes

The findings suggest that school leaders know some equality concepts very well, but other less so including the concepts of gender, essentialism and the gender system, all af which are important for deconstructing stereotypes. Around 50% of the leaders do not see boys and girls as different learners, but others say they are, 40% due to cultural reasons and 9% because of essential gender differences. The issues they suggest are most important to discuss in their schools are: Gender stereotypes(73%), gender and difference/multiculturalism(61%), gender related violence(48%), and social media and gender relations(48%). Only 12% mention sexuality/homophobia and 11% pornography. Over 90% of the school leaders say leaders and schools need special education to talk about sexual violence with their pupils, and around 40% say they are already doing something, more so in the upper-secondary schools than pre-schools. Around 2/3 of the leaders think they will use an Icelandic or a Nordic webpage on equality education and gender issues, at least once a month. They indicate what kind og material they favor on such a website, and what other qualities are required. The results are discussed in view of the first parts of our study and other relevant studies. Also the pros and cons of using gender as a key variable of equality, which is in line with Icelandic equality law, and the fact that Iceland has scored at the top for 7 consecutive years on gender equality by the World Economic Forum. Focusing on gender however, is at odds with other discourses of the time, such as neoliberalism, the immigrant situation in Europe, the problem of “boys” in schools, and the fact that gender does not have deep roots in the teacher education in Iceland or elsewhere, despite Unesco´s (2015) efforts to change that now.

References

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 Bloksgaard, L. Ann-Dorte Christensen, Sune Qvotrup Jensen, Claus Hansen,D., Kyed, M & Nielsen, K.J. (2015) Masculinity Ideals in a Contemporary Danish Context, NORA - Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research, 23:3, 152-169, DOI: 10.1080/08038740.2015.1046918 . http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08038740.2015.104691 Eagly, A.H. (2007). Female Leadership Advantage and Disadvantage: Resolving the Contradictions. Psychology of Women Quarterly, 31: 1 DOI: 10.1111/j.1471 6402.2007.00326.x http://pwq.sagepub.com/content/31/1/1 Einarsdóttir, Th. and Jóhannesson, I. Á. (2011). Kynjajafnréttisfræðsla í skólum: Hindranir og tækifæri. Ráðstefnurit Netlu – Menntakvika 2011. Sótt af http://netla.hi.is/menntakvika2011/030.pdf Gudbjornsdottir, G. and Larusdottir, S. H.(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. Gudbjornsdottir, G.(2012). Gender training in education in Iceland in view of good practices in Portugal, Denmark and Spain. Paper presented 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 Kreitz-Sandberg, S. (2013). Gender inclusion and horizontal gender segregation: stakeholders' strategies and dilemmas in Swedish teachers' education, Gender and Education, (25), 4, 444-465 Lahelma, E.(2011). Gender Awareness in Finnish Teacher Education: an Impossible Mission? Education Inquiry, 2(2), 263–276. Ringrose, J. (2013). Postfeminist education: Girls and the sexual politics of schooling. New York: Routledge. Lárusdóttir, S. H. (2014). Educational leadership and market values: A study of principals in Iceland. Educational Management, Administration and Leadership, 42(45), 83–103. Thun, C. (2012) “Norwegian Women Got Gender Equality Through Their Mothers' Milk, But Anti-racism Is Another Story”—An Analysis of Power and Resistance in Norwegian Feminist Discourse, NORA - Nordic Journal of Feminist and Gender Research, 20:1, 37-56, DOI: 10.1080/08038740.2011.596162 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08038740.2011.596162 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. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. (2015). A Guide for Gender Equality in Teacher Education Policy and Practices. http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0023/002316/231646e.pdf

Author Information

Gudny Gudbjornsdottir (presenting / submitting)

University of Iceland

School of Education

Reykjavik

Search the ECER Programme

Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
Search for authors and in the respective field.
For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.