The role of gender, setting and experience in teacher beliefs and intentions in social and emotional learning and respectful relationships education

Abstract

In this paper, we examine teacher beliefs and advocacy intentions in relation to provision of social and emotional learning (SEL) and gender and respectful relationships (G&RR) education. Using multivariate binary logistic regression analysis, we examine the impacts of gender, teaching experience and school setting on (1) teachers’ beliefs about the significance of teaching for SEL and G&RR, and (2) their intentions to advocate for program implementation in their schools. Data were collected from a survey of 293 Australian teachers (137 primary and 156 secondary teachers) at exit from 13 two-day professional learning workshops aimed to foster readiness to teach a SEL and G&RR education program. The findings show significant differences remain post-training in beliefs and advocacy intentions on the basis of teacher gender, experience and location in a primary or secondary school setting. Females, teachers with 10 or more years of experience, and those teaching in primary schools demonstrate stronger beliefs in and greater intention to advocate for the implementation of SEL and G&RR education. We discuss the implications of these findings in relation to developing a deeper understanding of the ways in which gender and institutional norms might work to constrain or enable provision of SEL and G&RR education.