Self-perceived gender discrimination in teacher training: Same realities, different interpretations

Abstract

Introduction. Current educational policies call for guaranteeing educational spaces that promote gender equality, giving special importance to teacher training. In this context, understanding prospective teachers’ self-perception in terms of gender discrimination is essential in order to identify if they are sensitized to promote such equality. Methods. This work was aimed at analyzing student teachers’ self-perception and awareness with regard to gender discrimination during their university training. The analysis included 183 situations, together with the self-talk and emotions related to them, identified by 141 students (102 women and 39 men). The information was obtained by the use of thought-listing techniques and the analysis was carried out with the Iramuteq software. Results. The results showed participants’ lack of awareness as well as emerging shared representations about gender discrimination among students. These representations resulted from characterizations of gender roles or lack of awareness about the topic. Differences were also found according to gender, grade and academic achievement. Discussion. If we take into consideration the fact that participants were prospective teachers, the impact they could have is even greater, as gender role perceptions may affect our future generations at school, and, ultimately, the development of more just and egalitarian societies.