The term „gender“ is slowly becoming part of our commonly used vocabulary as an umbrella  category for describing our culturally constructed differences between men and women. This difference contains an unbalanced potential which is seen in different forms of inequality. Against this hidden inequality mechanism, many defending strategies and tactics have been developed in the field of common social practice and have been more and more reflected in the educational field. The research goal presented in this paper is to analyze if and how are these defending strategies including gender issues at school projected in the art education, particularly on the second level of General school.

The authors conducted an inquiry to find out the art teachers experiences, opinions and attitudes towards the gender stereotypes (GS) in art education. 220 participants/respondents have taken part in the research. The research has proven that gender issues are present in art education discourse. However the gender issues are not always handled intentionally and critically. That may lead to further unreflected confirmation of the stereotypes without developing critical and creative thinking in art educationists.

The presented study is a part of broader research focused on the complex analysis of the gender themes in art education and will be fully presented in Zuzana Svatošová´s dissertation thesis. Additional research parts are focused on the educational documents analysis, case studies of the particular teacher´s approaches and also on the action research that verifies gained knowledge from the previous findings. The research goal is to find effective ways of how to deal with gender in art education so that the educational goals as defined in the visual literacy, would be fulfilled.

The research framework is comprised by several theoretical approaches. The post-structuralist inspiration is one of them. The human Subject (I/me) is perceived here as a product of the specific historical and social practices and discourses. Human body is not perceived as a pure fact but always through the culture in which we live in (Foucault 1976). Judith Butler (1993) adds that human I/me gains its subjectivity through its subjection to the gender standards and its physical recurrence. Gender becomes a regulative ideal that produces (signifies and differentiates) bodies more or less acceptable and intelligible. The problem is not in the process of signification and differentiation, but in its final performativity/materialization of man/woman binarity. Hereby established gender difference policy, reproduces uneven patriarchal system of forces heterosexuality and falogocentrism. Butler´s generic performativity concept brings an opportunity of redefinition, de-identification that is based on the moving reiteration and quoting of the imposed roles and stereotypes.

This main approach is supported by other findings from the linguistics, psychoanalysis, deconstruction (Derrida, 1967), processes of semiosis (Kristeva, 2004) and also the visual theory.

The goal of the empirical research conducted in 2015 in  art teachers was to find out if and how the gender stereotypes are present in art education. Here are the basic research questions.

1. How is the gender issue addressed within the art classes on the second level of General school?

2. What is the core of the implemented issues? Are there any subthemes?

3. What kind of educational methods or techniques are being used?

4. What was considered a „correct result“ of the gender focused classes by teachers?

5. Are there any critical reflections of gender stereotypes in students?

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