The UN (2019) recognizes that despite progress towards gender equality, issues such as discriminatory social norms, under-representation of women in political leadership, and sexual or physical violence against women persist. In this regard, the 2030 Agenda states that gender equality is one of the most important challenges for sustainable development (Biström & Lundström, 2021). Therefore, through Development Goal 5 (“Gender equality”), this body calls on the entire international community to advance in equity and empowerment of women and girls, and argues that education is one of the ideal instruments for this (Spear & Da Costa, 2018). This shows that there is an interdependent link between SDG 5 and SDG 4 (“Quality Education”). SDG 4 sets the challenge of achieving inclusive and equitable education to promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. Target 4.7 stipulates that all learners should acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to promote sustainable development, including gender equality (UNESCO, 2017). Therefore, while education is not the only one call upon to eliminate inequalities, it is a fundamental building block for change (Sánchez-Torrejón et al., 2021). In this context, teachers are a key element in achieving quality education (Sunthonkanokpong & Murphy, 2019; UNESCO, 2015a, 2015b), and can consolidate democratic experiences that favour gender equality and inclusion. For this reason, the need to increase their professional development has been recognized in target 4.c.

The academy has shown different positions regarding the training and perceptions of future teachers on gender equality in Spain. Thus, in the work of Moreno-Vera and Díez-Ros (2018), it can be seen that these students have had no previous training experience in the gender approach, although they are highly committed to the subject. On the contrary, the study by Miralles-Cardona (2020) reveals that future Secondary Education teachers are not very favourably disposed towards gender training. Esteban-Ramiro and Fernández-Montaño (2017) show that students have a certain awareness and disposition towards the culture that is more accentuated in girls than in boys, and that boys have higher scores for both hostile and benevolent sexism. Despite this worrying reality, Spanish universities, where future teachers are trained, have opted for a restrictive approach to the gender perspective. Thus, there are few systematized experiences and, on the contrary, sporadic training proposals prevail (Arribas et al., 2020). There are no compulsory subjects on gender and education, and only in some cases do the curricula have optional subjects, which are rarely chosen by students (Merma Molina et al., 2015). In sum, research suggests that gender blindness is widespread in the university context, as the relevance of women’s experiences is ignored or marginalized (Benito & Verge, 2020). As demonstrated, the integration of gender equality in initial training still depends on teaching sensitivities rather than university policies.

Considering the above background, the present study aims to understand and analyze the thinking of future primary school teachers about the role of education in achieving gender equality. Based on this, the research answers the following research question: what is the perception of future Primary Education teachers regarding the role of education in promoting gender equality?

The methodology used was qualitative, as it is the most suitable for analyzing students’ experiences, taking into account the natural context in which they develop (Denzin & Lincoln, 1994). With regard to the sample, it was purposive. The study involved 92 students from the Faculty of Education of the University of Alicante who were studying for the Bachelor’s Degree in Primary Education. Of these, 69% were female and 31% were male; 61% were between 17 and 18 years old; 21% were between 19 and 20 years old; and 18% were over 21 years old. The open-ended questionnaire called TKP-GE (Gavilán, 2021) was used in order to identify the degree of knowledge and thinking of future teachers about education and gender equality. The interview could not be used, due to the situation of social distancing caused by COVID-19. The open-ended questionnaire has proven useful in qualitative research in the field of education (Cabero-Almenara et al., 2018), as it favours deep and thoughtful opinions of the participants and reliably reflects their point of view without the possibility of possible biases in the transcription of the narratives. At first, the purpose of the study was explained to the students, and they were asked to give their informed consent to participate in the research. Nine open questions were asked, one of which was: “How do you think the school promotes gender equality?” This study presents the results related to this question. The questionnaire was validated in a previous study (Gavilán, 2021), following Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin, 2016) and the expert method. Three specialists carried out the content validation using the triangulation process. Once the reliability of the instrument was demonstrated, the questionnaire was designed in a Google Form. The research followed the Helsinki ethical principles. In this way, the anonymous, voluntary, and confidential nature of the information provided by the participants was guaranteed. The time used to answer the questions was one and a half hours. Students were not compensated for their participation in the research. Data were collected during the month of September and October 2020 in synchronous virtual classes. Subsequently, inductive analysis of the collected texts was carried out. From this, a code map was designed consisting of categories, codes, and subcodes. The data were analyzed using the qualitative software AQUAD 7.

The student body, in general, recognizes the importance of education in advancing equality, and highlights four aspects: 1) Active teaching-learning methodologies. Although participants believe that the best way to promote gender equality is through active methodologies, they do not indicate any specific methodology. 2) The incorporation of gender equality into the curriculum. Students refer to the general treatment of gender equality, but believe that it is not necessary to formally and systematically integrate gender equality into the educational curriculum. 3) Gender spaces. Students highlight the importance of formal education to promote education in values, followed by education aimed at eliminating discrimination and stereotypes. They also timidly point out the importance of coeducation and education for diversity. Sport for the promotion of equality emerges, to a lesser extent, despite the fact that the importance of Physical Education in promoting equality has been demonstrated (Baena-Morales et al., 2021). Although the language is fundamental to building a culture of equality, only some women highlighted the importance of non-sexist language. 4) Teacher training. A small group of students stresses the importance of these professionals in education for equality; and another group, predominantly men, says that they are unaware of the role of education and teachers in gender equality education. Based on the findings, it is concluded that future teachers, especially male teachers, have a scarce awareness and low level of knowledge about gender-sensitive education. The European Higher Education Area proposes, theoretically, an educational paradigm shift in enhancing quality, inclusion, and gender equality, sustainability/green, and digital transition (European Commission, 2020), but this has not been implemented in practice. A co-educational ESD model focused on educating new, more egalitarian masculinities could be useful to overcome these issues.

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