Authors

• Niemelä, Kaisa (University of Tampere)

Keywords

education, gender, gender role, lower secondary education, primary education, schoolteachers, sexuality, students, teaching

Abstract

The study focused on the significance of gender in teaching and the impact of gender on teachers' pedagogical choices. Finnish primary and lower secondary school teachers were asked to write about their thoughts on the subject in their own words.

In the writing invitation, the researcher listed some specific questions that the participants could use in formulating their thoughts. These questions concerned how teachers thought gender showed in everyday school life, whether gender produced inequality in school, how and what kind of inequality, what the potential participants thought of feminism, how they promoted gender equality in teaching, whether they thought gender roles supported the students' sexual identity, and whether they thought it was necessary to pay attention to gender or think about the significance of gender issues in teaching.

Background variables included gender, age group and whether the participant worked as a class teacher or a subject teacher.