By training students for economic and social sectors, vocational and technical education makes a profound, and at the same time, direct effect on both human and socioeconomic development of societies since it does not only prepare students with specific vocational skills but also paves the way for faster employment (Shavit and Müller, 2000). For that reason, it has been a primary concern for governments to evaluate and improve the effectiveness of vocational and technical education to create and sustain economic growth and development. Accordingly, different countries implement different curricula based on the needs of the sector, students, and society. Therefore, it is possible to see vocational high schools in different fields such as police schools in Finland, agriculture schools in South Korea, and trade schools in the UK and Germany. One similar characteristic that these vocational and technical schools in different countries have in common, however, is that the student population in schools are male-dominated. In their analysis of gender and race differences in vocational schools worldwide, van der Meulen Rodgers and Boyer (2006) showed that in the majority of the countries, the percentage of male students is higher than the females and that, although the information on the racial differences is limited, the students are unequally distributed across vocational schools in terms of ethnicity and social background. For instance, the social inequality between general and vocational education in Germany was discussed by Kupfer (2010). Similarly, Colley, James, Diment, and Tedder (2003) also argued that it is necessary to consider gender and class issues in the British context. Such segregation and gender-domination that is discussed in the literature also exist in the Turkish context. And it can be especially observed in vocational high schools that train students for sectors such as electronic technology, mechanics, and automotive technology, where almost all of the students are male. Based on this literature, it can be suggested that vocational and technical secondary schools hold distinct educational and social features that researchers need to take into consideration. In parallel with that, this study focuses on gender segregation in vocational education and analyzes the situation of male-dominated vocational high schools. Taking into account the literature on vocational high schools that puts forward issues of criminal acts (Savolainen, Hughes, Hurtig Ebeling & Taanila, 2013; Ünlü, Evcin, Burakgazi Yılmaz & Dalkilic, 2013) and smoking (Aho, Koivisto, Paavilainen & Joronen, 2017), it can be argued that it is crucial to explore and understand how female teachers experience the teaching process in vocational schools where male students are the big majority. Accordingly, the research question of this study is:

What are the lived experiences of female teachers in male-dominated vocational schools?

By exploring the lived experiences of female teachers, the study seeks to make a contribution to the international literature on vocational education, which appears to have largely neglected the gender perspective from teachers’ insight. Moreover, the findings of the study would also be suggestive for researchers that work on culture and leadership in educational organizations, and gender issues in education.

This study aims to investigate the work experiences and work-related problems of female teachers who are employed in male-dominated vocational high schools in Ankara, Turkey. For this purpose, phenomenological research as one of the qualitative research methods has been employed and semi-structured in-depth interviews were used in the study. The main purpose of selecting this method is to reach a comprehensive understanding of lived experiences and personal perceptions of the participants. Although the study does not have a claim of generalizability, it will present a detailed understanding of the work experiences and work-related problems of female teachers who are employed in male-dominated vocational high schools. Before starting the data collection process, the required permissions to make interviews were acquired from Middle East Technical University Human Research Ethics Committee and the Ministry of National Education. 5 schools were chosen from a list consisting of the names of male-dominated vocational high schools in Ankara by using a random sampling method. After choosing schools, participants were chosen according to their availability and willingness to participate in the study. Although we have permission from the Ministry, we still needed to inform the administrators first and upon their permission, we were able to reach the teachers for interviews. In total, 17 interviews were conducted with female teachers. 9 of them were teaching general courses while 8 of them were teaching vocation courses. The interviews were all conducted by the two researchers of this study. An informed consent form was signed by every participant. Verbal permission was taken to use an audio recorder during the interview and all participants accepted this request. Interviewees were asked about their demographic background, work-life background, perception about the current work environment, experiences and problems about being a female teacher in vocational high school, and their recommendations about overcoming these problems. Each interview took around 20-30 minutes. In the analysis process of the collected data, it is aimed to identify central themes and searching for recurrent experiences, attitudes, problems, and strategies. The raw data organized and coded in accordance with research questions, and content analysis was used to identify main concepts and categories.

The aim of this study is to provide comprehensive and in-depth data from the participants on the issue of female teachers who are employed in male-dominated vocational high schools. It is expected that the data obtained from participants will provide explanations for different experiences, attitudes, problems, and strategies of this group. The preliminary findings showed that there are considerable differences between the experiences of teachers who are teaching general courses and vocational courses. Their experiences mostly differ from each other in terms of expectations from students, teaching methods, attitudes towards their job, self-efficacy. On the other hand, both groups have similar problems and recommendations about overcoming these problems. The study also revealed some general problems about vocational high schools and students of these schools. After analyzing collected data, the results of the study will be discussed within the context of experiences, attitudes, problems, and strategies of female teachers who are employed in male-dominated vocational high schools. At the end of the study, recommendations will be put forward for the practitioners, researchers, and policymakers in the field under the light of the experiences of female teachers. Eventually, the study will contribute to the literature on vocational high schools from a gender perspective.

Shavit, Y., & Muller, W. (2000). Vocational secondary education. European Societies, 2(1), 29-50. Van der Meulen Rodgers, Y., & Boyer, T. (2006). Gender and racial differences in vocational education: an international perspective. International Journal of Manpower, 27(4), 308-320. Kupfer, A. (2010). The socio‐political significance of changes to the vocational education system in Germany. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 31(1), 85-97. Colley, H., James, D., Diment, K., & Tedder, M. (2003). Learning as becoming in vocational education and training: class, gender and the role of vocational habitus. Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 55(4), 471-498. Savolainen, J., Hughes, L. A., Hurtig, T. M., Ebeling, H., & Taanila, A. M. (2013). Does vocational schooling facilitate criminal offending? A study of educational tracking in Finland. European Journal of Criminology, 10(5), 606-622. Ünlü, A., Evcin, U., Burakgazi Yılmaz, H. B., & Dalkilic, A. (2013). İstanbul devlet liselerinde suç ve şiddet yaygınlığı: Okul türlerinin karşılaştırılması. Anatolian Journal of Psychiatry, 14(2). Aho, H., Koivisto, A. M., Paavilainen, E., & Joronen, K. (2018). Parental involvement and adolescent smoking in vocational setting in Finland. Health Promotion International, 33(5), 846-857