Uninformed but Interested

Findings of a National Survey on Gender Equity in Preservice Teacher Education

Dados Bibliográficos

ID4306702
AutoresPatricia B Campbell (0000-0003-3815-2547, Campbell-Kibler Associates, Inc.), Jo Sanders (University of Washington, Seattle, and City University of New York Graduate Center)
Ano1997
Volume48
Fascículo1
Páginas69-75
Data de publicação1997-01-01
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Teacher Education (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0022-4871 • E-ISSN: 1552-7816
EditoraSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0022487197048001010
OpenAlexW2048474616
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas8
Referências citadas6

Professional and popular media have recently given welcome attention to gender equity and education. For example, national news programs and newspapers across America featured The AAUW Report: How Schools Shortchange Girls (American Association of University Women, 1992), a review of over 1,100 research studies from the last 20 years documenting gender gaps in educational persistence and achievement, especially in mathematics and science. For over two decades, researchers and program developers have produced a steady output of work on gender equity in education. The Women's Educational Equity Act Publishing Center publishes a 25-page catalog listing hundreds of gender equity materials, nearly all I intended for K-12. A 52-page bibliography lists hundreds more gender equity resources in mathematics, science, and technology (MST) for classroom teachers, most of which were developed for the K-12 level. The American Association of University Women (AAUW) report How Schools Shortchange Girls (1992) contains reviews of numerous studies and articles on gender equity in education in Grades K-12. Gender equity in teacher education has received much less attention. Sadker and Sadker (1980), in their analysis of common teacher education texts, found that one third contained no mention of sexism; none included materials on nonsexist teaching. In a study of education foundations textbooks reviewed for attention to gender equity, Titus (1993) concluded, I found little discussion of gender equity, suggesting low interest in this area by educators (p. 38). Several authors have included general recommendations to teacher educators on incorporating gender equity, described the need and suggestions of how to include equity in professional preparation of educational administrators, and offered a description of a course they developed for preservice students on gender equity (Eckart & Tracy, 1992; Rose & Dunne, 1989; Shakeshaft, 1990). The National Science Foundation funds few projects dealing with gender equity in teacher education; a notable exception is the Teacher Education Equity Project, funded by the National Science Foundation, IBM, Hewlett Packard, and AT&T from 1993 to 1996. Authors of the AAUW (1991) report, Stalled Agenda: Gender Equity and the Training of Educators, concluded that gender equity in teacher education amounted to a stalled agenda. Some professional groups are devoting attention to gender equity in teacher education. The American Association of Colleges for Teacher Education (AACTE) has a study group on gender equity, a standing committee on women's issues, and a program for leadership development for aspiring female leaders. AACTE was an early participant in the Sadkers' projects and included results of their research in annual meetings a dozen years ago. The Association of Teacher Educators (ATE) has a commission on gender equity in education. The 23 teacher education institutions of the Renaissance Group have an affinity group for sex equity. Professional associations directly concerned with gender equity have given attention to teacher preparation as well. The National Coalition for Sex Equity in Education has a task force on teacher preparation, and Research on Women in Education, a special interest group of the American Educational Research Association, devotes sessions to gender equity at its annual meetings. However, teacher preparation is not a primary focus for either group. The conjunction of teacher education and gender equity is relatively sparse. Omission of gender equity at the preservice level means that new teachers may enter the classroom not realizing how their behavior and the educational materials they use may inadvertently harm girls' performance and aspirations. If classroom teachers encounter in-depth, high-quality K-12 gender equity projects during their careers, such as Lawrence Hall of Science's EQUALS (Kreinberg, 1989), they may unlearn harmful patterns and learn beneficial ones

Demographic economics · Economic growth · Economics · Equity (law) · Gender equity · Higher education · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Political science · Sociology · Teacher education · Diverse Educational Innovations Studies · Gender Roles and Identity Studies · Psychology · School Choice and Performance