Current academic literature indicates that gender inequalities remain present in curriculum decision-making processes and teacher practices. These inequalities are manifested through the choice of educational content, the application of methodological strategies, the choice of educational resources, interpersonal relationships, the assignment of specific tasks, and even the choice of seating in the classroom. These ongoing gender-related issues prompt the need for teachers to receive specialized and transversal training in this area. Such training should aim to uncover gender relations as a type of power relation to promote social transformation.
Literature in teacher education suggests that the maintenance of gender stereotypes and biases in teacher discourse and practice reinforces the gender system and ultimately promotes inequality. Therefore, further research is needed to study the discourses emerging from educational practices around gender. Furthermore, research in this field should encourage critical reflection on teacher education planning and the teaching curriculum itself.
Adopting a coeducational approach and promoting education for gender equality requires a transformation of traditional educational curricula and overcoming the androcentric constructional basis of historical, social and literary knowledge. Such a transformation also motivates the inclusion of “multiple perspectives” in the understanding and interpretation of social reality. Even today, it is common to find clear images of so-called homogeneous gender cultural patterns that are beyond doubt in mainstream social communication discourses such as advertising and audiovisual artistic expressions. Overcoming or relativizing these patterns necessarily requires a reconsideration of the curriculum content.
Eradicating gender inequality requires not only integrating all the voices that have constructed social knowledge, but also overcoming gender stereotypes within the education system. It is therefore essential to identify deficiencies in teacher training and promote gender studies as a compulsory part of the curriculum in order to achieve an inclusive, pluralistic and diverse model of educational practice.
This Research Topic includes 15 papers from nine renowned international academic institutions (Austria, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Finland, Germany, Spain and Sweden) on key topics related to the incorporation of gender inequality in teacher training and the analysis of this concept in official school curricula, teaching materials and teacher practices.
The experiences and socio-cultural construction of the concept of gender constitute the explanatory core of the research question addressed in “Challenges of female inclusion for novice teachers. A case study of a public university of teacher training”. The study analyses how novice teachers of history and social sciences express the presence or absence of women’s historical experience in their teaching practice. The study shows the persistence of a positivist and male-centered epistemological approach in history teaching and highlights the urgency of addressing gender inequality as one of the most pressing social issues of our time. In this sense, “Classical Sociology through the Lens of Gender Experience” seeks to promote the discussion on the mediating role of gender experience in classical sociology’s theory of the transition to modern society. The study proves the constructive relativity of social knowledge and its impact on sociology teaching and learning.
Drawing from the concept of the socially constructed nature of sexism, the study “Intersections around ambivalent sexism: internalized homonegativity, resistance to heteronegativity and other correlates” investigates the levels of internalized sexism and homonegativity, as well as resistance to heteronegativity, among Spanish psychology students. The results are in line with those obtained in the study “Assessment of sexist and prejudiced attitudes towards homosexuality among Spanish future teachers: analysis of related variables”, which focused on the analysis of sexist and prejudiced attitudes towards homosexuality among future Spanish teachers. Both studies show the influence of factors such as political ideology, gender identity and sexual orientation on students’ beliefs and perceptions. They also point out the need to promote the eradication of discrimination based on gender and sexual diversity in the training of future professionals and to implement an intersectional approach to understand sexist constructions.
The consequences of the invisibility of female referents in education, and of models for building pluralistic and empowered identities, stem from the limitations inherent in traditional gender expectations and attributions. The educational hegemony of these attributions, the basis of the study “Nine contradictory observations on the upbringing and education of girls and boys – A strengths-based approach as a way to close the gender gap”, continues to limit girls’ potential expectations and talents. Through the “Nine contradictory observations”, the paper proposes a “strengths-based approach” as a way to close the gender gap. In line with this, “Mindfulness and empathy: mediating factors and gender differences in a Spanish sample” highlights the lack of studies aimed at analyzing the potential moderating role of gender in the development of empathic skills.
Research findings on gender gaps and gender differentiation do not seem to have the expected impact in the educational and social arena. From this perspective, on the one hand, the paper “Differentiating visibility – Male advantage and female disadvantage in gender-single-gender programs” starts with gender-differential representation of visibility within and between groups of students underrepresented in the program. On the other hand, the works “Wise distribution of feedback to empower girls in STEM fields” and “Girls in STEM fields: is it a female role model thing?” highlight that the presence of women in the development of STEM professions is still far away. This situation originates in the educational context and is influenced by traditional gender models and social factors that affect the construction of individual identity, as evidenced by the work “What governs women’s class identity? Evidence from China”.
These constructed identities are manifested in the underestimation of secondary school students’ self-efficacy regarding their abilities in STEM subjects, as shown in the study “Parent and Teacher Depictions of Gender Gap in Academic Assessment of Secondary School Students”. Thus, the analysis of self-efficacy, outcome expectations, interest in STEM fields, and the classroom intervention of multiple female role models are proposed as a necessary working space to correct this tendency. These results are completed with an analysis of the potential impact of gender-stereotyped biased student evaluations of classes in “Gender Stereotypes in Student Evaluations of Classes”.
In the field of physical education in Brazil, the work “Gender participation and preferences: a multiple case study of circus education in physical education in Brazilian schools” reports on the selective influence of primary education teachers in assigning circus physical activities according to gender, which can also be extended to traditional educational sport activities. To advance a critical and emancipatory training proposal on gender equality in this field, the work “Breaking the cultural “taboo” on the body and gender: the emancipation of Brazilian students from a thematic perspective of school physical education” highlights the importance of educational programs oriented towards the cultural construction of differential concepts of the body. From this perspective, the work “REFLECT: a teacher training program to promote gender equality in schools” highlights the hegemonic role of socialization agents in the maintenance of the status quo of gender stereotypes in education and in the future professional development of men and women. As a response to evidence of the persistence of the gender-single system and the influence of teachers’ attitudes and practices in promoting a truly coeducational educational environment, this program, aimed at future teachers of secondary education, aims to contribute to gender equality in a sustainable way, from the educational space of subjective actions (such as self-efficacy) and objective actions (pedagogy and knowledge).
All authors listed have made substantial, direct and intellectual contribution to the work, and approved it for publication.
This research topic was completed with the main support of the Qualification Research Group for Teaching History and Social Sciences (DHISO) (code 137), led by Professor Delfín Ortega Sánchez (University of Burgos, Spain), and within the framework of the projects “Teaching and learning the interpretation of contemporary problems and conflicts. What contribution do social sciences make to the formation of critical global citizens?” (EDU2016-80145-P), funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (Spanish Government), and “Education of the future and democratic hope. Rethinking social studies education in changing times” (PID2019-107383RB-I00), funded by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (Spanish Government).
The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
All claims made in this article are those of the authors themselves and do not necessarily represent those of their institutions, publishers, editors, or reviewers. Products evaluated in this article, or claims made by their manufacturers, are not endorsed or approved by the publishers.
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