Teaching Gender in the History Classroom: An Investigation into the Initial Training of Primary Education Teachers

Delfín Ortega-Sánchez

doi:10.3390/educsci9020114

Abstract

In this article, we aim to, firstly, examine the social representations of a group of trainee Primary-Education teachers (n = 62) with regard to both the procedures and the social purposes of teaching History at school and, particularly, the role of women in History lessons. Secondly, we attempt to intervene in those representations and to evaluate the potential impact of a teacher training programme both in and for education in gender equality. Empirically, we employ a quantitative (means and standard deviations) and inferential (Wilcoxon’s signed-rank and Kendall’s tau-b tests) pre-experimental, pre-test/post-test design with no control group. The results shed light on the generalised acceptance of critical curricular focuses in History lessons that are directed towards training in historical and social thinking skills from a gender perspective. The sex of prospective teachers does not seem to influence these results. Likewise, these results confirm the didactic potential of using critical literacy resources in the classroom for improving the visibility of women and the female experience in the historic–social discourse of History as it is taught and in the promotion of models of global citizenship.

Highlights

Recent research underlines the fact that current curricula and textbooks continue to leave women invisible in the representations of students and trainee teachers, as they build on a framework of hegemonic discourse with markedly androcentric character [1,2]
The removal of the stereotypical persistence of desirable gender models [5] can be achieved through teacher training in History and Social Sciences in order to redefine the end-purposes of History teaching and question their present narratives
The presence and leading role of women in History lessons will not be done through additional inclusions in specific quotations or annexes, but through the discourse of change [6], with the aim of constructing integral social knowledge

Summary

Introduction

Recent research underlines the fact that current curricula and textbooks continue to leave women invisible in the representations of students and trainee teachers, as they build on a framework of hegemonic discourse with markedly androcentric character [1,2]. The absence of the historical role of women as citizens and main characters in History, evident in the assignment of architypes and integrated in the collective imagination, is still recognisable today in both curricular programmes and teaching practice [3,4]. The presence and leading role of women in History lessons will not be done through additional inclusions in specific quotations or annexes, but through the discourse of change [6], with the aim of constructing integral social knowledge. Using this valuable information and reflecting on what might intervene

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion