Influence of male teachers on elementary school children's stereotyping of teacher competence (original) (raw)
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This article presents a study that identifies the gender dynamics prevailing in a specific context of tokenism-elementary school teaching-in which the members of an otherwise socially dominant group are proportionally scarce-men. Our results contradict Kanter's (1977) theory by showing that male elementary school teachers do not experience the tokenism dynamics. In line with the Williams (1995) and gender symbolic asymmetry (Amâncio, 1997) perspectives, we have found that although men constitute a small minority in elementary education, they do not lose the social advantages they generally have, on the contrary, they seem rather to gain several privileges. Indeed, the results show strong links between the tokenism dynamics and gender asymmetry, putting the token men at an advantage. Thus, tokenism seems to be limited to contributions to maintaining the gender social order.
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The past 20 years have witnessed a significant metamorphosis with regard to clinical gender neutrality within the classrooms of public schools. However, the beginning and formative years of a child's formal entry into public school are overseen by female teachers. Men comprise only 12% of the teaching force in elementary school, and this 12% of men is clustered in upper elementary grades 4 through 6. This paper reviews the literature on discriminatory hiring practices toward male elementary school teachers and discusses the reasons for the perception of discrimination. The paper's overall conclusion is that, there is discrimination in hiring male teachers. The reasons for this bias may take overt or covert form, and additionally, this bias is rooted in a sociological and historic mindset. However, the paper finds that, aside from the external bias factors, men must assume a portion of the blame for their limited representation in numbers as elementary school teachers. Contains 23 notes, 10 references, and attached informational materials. (BT)
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" Sumsion (2005) stated that early childhood education persisted in being the most “gender-skewed” of all occupations. Apprehensions about the possible repercussions of this gender imbalance led to several international calls for the increase of male participation in early childhood education (Sumsion, 2005).According to Cunningham and Watson (2002) “a major barrier to men becoming early childhood teachers is the pervasive belief in our society and in our profession that men are less able to care for and educate young children than are women (Kennedy, 1991; Neugebauer, 1994). This belief can affect hiring decisions, teacher education programs, and career counseling” (p. 10). Consequently, the problem this paper will address is whether there is a bias in teacher education programs and whether their actions are detrimental to male enrollment in elementary education programs. The purpose of this study is to determine if teacher education programs are a specific factor deterring male teachers from pursuing elementary education. This study could help provide strategic information to help colleges “set the tone and create the expectation that male teachers will be welcomed and supported in early childhood education settings” (Cunningham & Watson, 2002, p. 10). It can also help academic institutions shape their policies, visions, or mission statements to reflect that men are supported in the full range of academic majors offered in education programs, including elementary and early childhood education. At the very least, teacher education programs will hopefully check their attitudes by evaluating their beliefs and assumptions about men pre-service teachers. This could help colleges recognize the “[importance] for teacher educators to assess the culture and environment of their classes” (Cunningham & Watson, 2002, p. 13) and thus avoid deterring male enrollment in teacher education programs. Further, the discovery of any bias or deterring actions in teacher education programs can be used to make recommendations to enhance recruiting efforts by local colleges and universities. "
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According to Gender Equality Commission of Europe Council (2015), Gender Stereotypes are the fixed perceptions about males and females` traits and capabilities designed to guide people behavior based on their gender. Many examples could be derived from literature concerning this social inherited issue. For instance, the commonly held belief is that men tolerate hard work more than women. This example is considered a positive stereotype for men but a negative one for women because it indicates that they lack natural hard working skills while men are born for hard working professions. Such a stereotype could lead to discrimination in hiring practices, schooling, teaching, and in many other social situations. Hall et al., (1988) defined stereotypes as personifications which are widely accepted and shared among members of a given society and handed down from generation to another. Meanwhile, Fung and Ma (2000) asserted that gender stereotyping is a subjective perception, which may be an intuition, a prejudice, an imagination, or a past impression of what a person has been before. Therefore, the expression of Gender Stereotype has been identified by the differences between sexes whereby males and females are arbitrarily assigned by roles determined for each gender according to the society beliefs and practices. These social rooted beliefs of gender stereotyped practice and awareness reflect the society expectations inherited from parents steering their children toward life choices that are deemed to be suitable for their gender. These parent beliefs and practices to Bertrand (2011), Bertrand and Hallock (2001), Blau, Ferber and Winkler (2002), and Fortin (2005), may in large part be contributed to determine the gender gaps that confirm the gender stereotype role in beliefs, practice and awareness. Accordingly, Bisin and Verdier (2000) found that the transmission of preferences and beliefs of families had the earliest impact on the development of their children's cognitive and social development. In the same sense, Farre and Vella (2007), Johnston et al. (2014) claimed that this transmission is usually expressed in the didactic teaching either directly or indirectly influencing the teachers' styles in terms of teaching and tackling tasks, responsibilities, gender language, behavior, thinking and practice that affect students' behaviors and outcomes through
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This paper explores situations that deter men from pursuing teaching certification in elementary education and presents the opinions of elementary school administrators regarding hiring practices involving male applicants. We contacted administrators from the 29 public school districts in Erie County in New York State and asked them to complete an online survey sharing their opinions about the lack of male teachers in grades K-2 and what they considered to be solutions to this situation. As gatekeepers to teaching positions, administrators can provide critical insights into strategies for increasing the number of males in the profession.