Gendered Structures and Processes in Primary Teacher Education- Challenge for Gender-Sensitive Pedagogy
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Northern Gender Studies 4 Universities of Oulu and Lapland GENDERED STRUCTURES AND PROCESSES IN PRIMARY TEACHER EDUCATION- CHALLENGE FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE PEDAGOGY Vappu Sunnari Femina Borealis 4 Editorial Board for Femina Borealis Gun-Marie Frånberg (Chair), Sweden Leila Seitamo (Vice Chair), Finland Tatyana Pachina, Russia AsbjØ rg Fyhn, Norway Editorial Board for Northern Gender Studies Taina Pitkänen-Koli (Chair) Mirja Kutuniva-Kerkelä Merja Nikkonen Jaana Saarinen ISBN 951-42-4604-7 ISSN 1239-2928 Northern Gender Studies ISSN 1239-8217 Femina Borealis GENDERED STRUCTURES AND PROCESSES IN PRIMARY TEACHER EDUCATION – CHALLENGE FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE PEDAGOGY Vappu Sunnari Doctoral thesis to be presented publicly at the University of Oulu, Linnanmaa, Hall HU106, on June 18, 1997 at 12 noon by permission of the Faculty of Education, University of Oulu, Finland Oulu Department of Teacher Education Northern Gender Studies 4, 1997 Universities of Oulu and Lapland Femina Borealis 4, 1997 Contents Abstract Tiivistelmä Acknowledgements 1.DRAWING THE MAP AND OPENING THE VIEW. 1 1.1.The research and development projects and the challenges posed by them. 1 1.2.The methodological premises and challenges. 5 1.3.Study themes. 13 2.LOCATING THE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT, THE SUB-STUDIES AND MYSELF. 15 2.1. Problems revealed. 15 2.2. The development project and its pedagogic progress. 18 2.3. The material used in this research. 32 3. GENDER IN CURRICULAR STRUCTURES: A STATE-LEVEL HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE. 36 3.1. Pedagogical backgrounds. 37 3.2. Material and methods. 49 3.3. Women in Cygnaeus’ public writings for a teacher seminar in 1856–1861. 51 3.3.1.Starting from the demand for a Finnish girls’ school. 51 3.3.2.First theses for a teacher seminar. 52 3.3.3.Shifts of focus during the excursions. 54 3.3.4.Proposals concerning primary teacher education. 57 3.4. The first seminar curriculum from the perspective of gender. 62 3.5. Looking further into the history. 68 4. GENDER IN THE CURRICULA OF PRIMARY TEACHER EDUCATION IN OULU. 72 4.1.Background. 72 4.2.Curricular observations. 76 4.3.Gender in the analysed curricula. 80 4.4.A look into the actual curricula through students’ minor subject choices. 81 4.5. Further conclusions . 84 5. GENDER IN PEDAGOGICAL PROCESSES AS ANALYSED THROUGH THE THEME ”PUPILS AS LEARNERS” . 86 5.1. Pupils as learners in students’ pupil descriptions . 89 5.1.1. The materials used and the themes for analysing them . 89 5.1.2. The types of pupils described . 89 5.1.3. Justification of pupil selections . 92 5.1.4. Sex of the students making selections. 94 5.1.5. Validations . 94 5.1.6. Presence of gender in the students’ pupil descriptions . 97 5.2. Descriptions of a boy and a girl as successful learners . 98 5.2.1. The material used and the idea of analysing it . 99 5.2.2. Descriptions of Anna and Ismo, two successful pupils . 99 5.2.3. Presence of gender in the descriptions . 101 5.3. Pupils as learners according to pupils’ group interviews. 103 5.3.1. The study setting and the material and methods used . 103 5.3.2. Anna’s and her classmates’ discussions on overconscientiousness . 106 5.3.2.1. Homework . 106 5.3.2.2. Overconscientiousness . 107 5.3.2.3. "Overconscientious pupils" in group discussion I . 108 5.3.2.4. "Overconscientious pupils” in group discussion II. 111 5.3.3. Summarising the discussions . 112 5.3.4. Gendering in the pupils’ discussions . 113 5.4. Reflections on the theme ”Pupils as learners” . 116 6. STUDENTS’ ENCOUNTERS WITH GENDER AND SEX-RELATED EQUALITY/EQUITY ISSUES . 119 6.1. The material used and the purpose of analysing it . 119 6.2. Answers to the first inquiry . 121 6.3. Answers to the second inquiry. 126 6.4. Changes in the contents of the two inquiries . 133 6.4.1. Changes in the focus of the two text corpuses. 133 6.4.2. Individual changes in focus . 134 6.5. Reflections on the answers . 135 7. GENDERED STRUCTURES AND PROCESSES – CHALLENGES FOR GENDER-SENSITIVE PEDAGOGY. 138 7.1. Gendered structures and processes in primary teacher education. 138 7.2. Gendering in primary teacher education as a challenge for developing gender-sensitive pedagogy . 147 7.3. Reflections on the research . 152 REFERENCES . 157 APPENDICES Sunnari, Vappu, Gendered structures and processes in primary teacher edu- cation – challenge for gender-sensitive pedagogy Oulu Department of Teacher Education, University of Oulu, Finland Femina Borealis Publications 4; Northern Gender Studies 4. Abstract My aim was to study gendered structures and processes and the challenges arising from them in primary teacher education. The topic was studied from structural and from agency-based and processual perspectives. The special tools used in the analyses consisted of culturally produced differences and asymmetry and the symbolic meanings given to them. The study included historical and contemporary parts. The historical part of the study acquired its focus through the structures of the first Finnish Teacher Seminar and through three annual curricula of primary teacher education in Oulu. Data for the contemporary analyses were collected during a pedagogic development project carried out at the Oulu Department of Teacher Education in the years 1988–1996. The most visible components of the gender system identifiable in the structures of the first Finnish Teacher Seminar were the following: – different aims for personal growth – sex- and grade-based division of prospective teachers: female teachers for girls of all ages and small boys, male teachers for boys aged 10 or more – differences in study subjects; especially in physical education, handicraft and pedagogy – everyday chores and pedagogical tasks of the students – moral code and normative control – different enrolment requirements. The sex-related differences in the first curriculum of the Oulu College of Teacher Education were surprisingly similar to the differences seen in the first Finnish Teacher Seminar. The academic curricula proved to be ostensibly gender-neutral. But the research findings showed, in accordance with several other research findings, that formal neutrality does not eliminate institutionalised gendered features or gendered perspectives for per- sonal and/or professional development. On the basis of the findings, the following aspects of the gender system and gender contracts in contemporary primary teacher education in Oulu could be identified: – Almost without exception, the students qualifying in the education of the first two forms were female. – Female students qualified in various subjects taught in primary school while male students rather tended to acquire their qualifications according to a more personal orientation. Their special qualifications were mostly physical education and technical work. – There was a tendency among the student teachers to notice boys differently from girls and to experience boys as more challenging, and to – interpret pupils’ school achievements in sex-related ways. This tendency was also shared by the pupils. Keywords: primary teacher education, gender, gender system, sex-related differences and asymmetry, equity and equality-promoting gender sensitivity in peda- gogy Sunnari, Vappu, Sukupuolittuneet struktuurit ja prosessit opettajankoulu- tuksessa haasteina sukupuolisensitiivisen pedagogiikan kehittämiselle Oulun yliopisto, Opettajankoulutuslaitos Femina Borealis -julkaisu 4, Northern gender studies 4. Tiivistelmä Tutkimus kohdistui luokanopettajakoulutuksen sukupuolittuneisiin struktuureihin ja pro- sesseihin ja niiden pedagogiikan kehittämiselle asettamiin haasteisiin. Sukupuolittunei- suuden analysoinnissa käytettiin tutkimuksellisina erityisvälineinä kulttuurisesti tuotet- tuja ja epäsymmetrisesti arvotettuja eroja sekä näiden perusteluja. Tutkimus sisälsi sekä historiallisen että aktuaalisen osion. Historiallinen tarkastelu kohdistui Suomen ensimmäiseen opettajaseminaariin rakennettuihin sukupuolittuneisiin struktuureihin ja niiden perusteluihin sekä kolmeen Oulun luokanopettajakoulutuksen vuosittaiseen opetussuunnitelmaan. Aineiston keruu sukupuolittuneisuuden aktuaalista tarkastelua varten suoritettiin Oulun opettajankoulutuslaitoksella vuosina 1988–1996 toteutetun pedagogisen kehittämisprojektin yhteydessä. Suomen ensimmäisen opettajaseminaarin sukupuolijärjestelmää luonnehtivat mm. seu- raavat tekijät: – Nais- ja miesopettajien koulutukselle asetettiin erilaiset persoonallisuuden ja ammatil- lisen kasvun tavoitteet. – Oppiaineissa oli sukupuolen mukaan määräytyneitä eroja. Erot olivat selvimmät liikun- nassa, käsitöissä ja pedagogisissa opinnoissa. – Päivittäiset, oppituntien ulkopuoliset työtehtävät eriytyivät sukupuolen mukaan. – Naisopiskelijoiden moraalin vartioimiselle asetettiin miesopiskelijoiden moraalin var- tioimista tiukempia määräyksiä. – Käytännössä myös sisäänpääsyehdot eriytyivät sukupuolen mukaan. Sukupuolittuneisuus Oulun opettajakorkeakoulun ensimmäisessä opetussuunnitel- massa sisälsi samoja aineksia kuin Suomen ensimmäisen opettajaseminaarin ohjelma. Akateemiset opetussuunnitelmat sitä vastoin ovat olleet muodollisesti ns. sukupuolineu- traaleja. Mutta monia muita tutkimustuloksia vastaten myös tämän tutkimuksen tulokset osoittivat, että muodollisesta neutraaliudesta huolimatta koulutus oli sukupuolittunutta: – Lähes poikkeuksetta alkuopetukseen erikoistuneet opiskelijat olivat naisia. – Naisopiskelijat hankkivat koulutuksen aikana erilaisia luokanopettajana toimimisen määrittämiä erityiskompetensseja. Miesopiskelijat näyttivät suuntautuvan erikoistu- misaineissaan enemmän omien harrastustensa