This study aims to show how teachers talk about their teaching with regards to gender in relation to literature.We have interviewed four teachers of Swedish for upper secondary school to discover how they feel about, and understand, the fact that gender is a factor in the teaching of literature and that they should present to the students literature written by both male and female authors. To analyze the interviews we use Sannersted's (1991) theory about teachers as street-level-bureaucrats ("närbyråkrater"). He states that teachers are persons who have to follow what politicians have decided but they are fairly free to choose how they do it, but to be able to follow a decision as closely as possible three qualifications have to be met. The teachers have to understand the decision, be able to follow it and want to follow it. We find that the teachers that we have interviewed are aware that they discuss gender issues with their students and they all claim that they present a variation of authors to their students. However, they all express concern that there might be some problems with regards to the material availble, it being very dominated by male authors.

Mathematics has been seen to act as a ‘critical filter’ in the social, economic and professional development of individuals. The Island of Mauritius relies to a great extent on its human resource power to meet the challenges of recent technological developments, and a substantial core of mathematics is needed to prepare students for their involvements in these challenges. After an analysis of the School Certificate examination results for the past ten years in Mauritius, it was found that boys were out-performing girls in mathematics at that level. This study aimed to examine this gender difference in mathematics performance at the secondary level by exploring factors affecting mathematics teaching and learning, and by identifying and implementing strategies to enhance positive factors. The study was conducted using a mixed quantitative and qualitative methodology in three phases. A survey approach was used in the Phase One of the study to analyse the performance of selected students from seventeen schools across Mauritius in a specially designed mathematics test. The attitudes of these students were also analysed through administration of the Modified Fennema-Sherman Mathematics Attitude Scale questionnaire. In Phase Two a case study method was employed, involving selected students from four Mauritian secondary schools. After the administration of the two instruments used in Phase One to these selected students, qualitative techniques were introduced. These included classroom observations and interviews of students, teachers, parents and key informants. Data from these interviews assisted in analysing and interpreting the influence of these individuals on students, and the influence of the students’ own attitudes towards mathematics on their learning of mathematics. / The results of Phases One and Two provided further evidence that boys were outperforming girls in mathematics at the secondary level in Mauritius. It was noted that students rated teachers highly in influencing their learning of mathematics. However, the teaching methods usually employed in the mathematics classrooms were found to be teacher-centered, and it was apparent that there existed a lack of opportunity for students to be involved in their own learning. It was also determined that parents and peers played a significant role in students’ learning of mathematics. After having analysed the difficulties students encountered in their mathematical studies, a package was designed with a view to enhance the teaching and learning of the subject at the secondary level. The package was designed to promote student-centred practices, where students would be actively involved in their own learning, and to foster appropriate use of collaborative learning. It was anticipated that the package would motivate students towards learning mathematics and would enhance their conceptual understanding of the subject. The efficacy of the package was examined in Phase Three of the study when students from a number of Mauritian secondary schools engaged with the package over a period of three months. Pre- and post-tests were used to measure students’ achievement gains. The What Is Happening in This Class (WIHIC) questionnaire also was used to analyse issues related to the affective domains of the students. An overall appreciation of the approaches used in the teaching and learning package was provided by students in the form of self-reports. / The outcomes of the Third Phase demonstrated an improvement in the achievement of students in the areas of mathematics which were tested. The students’ perceptions of the classroom learning environment were also found to be positive. Through their self-reports, students demonstrated an appreciation for the package’s strategies used in motivating them to learn mathematics and in helping them gain a better understanding of the mathematical concepts introduced.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-27T13:52:56Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Patricia Gouvea Nunes.pdf: 1241129 bytes, checksum: 81d5753f96863617a5d23d03b82f68f1 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-08-22 / The present dissertat ion aims at invest igat ing and analyzing how municipal - run nursery school male teachers f rom Rio Verde, State of Goiás, are seen by the school community. The study intended to answer the following quest ions: are there many nursery male teachers in basic educat ion? How does a male teacher consist himself in a social space that has mainly female teachers? How do the students´ parents and coworkers see male teachers in nursery schools? For this study, it was invest igated the inst itut ions and the number of male and female teachers that work in municipal - run nursery schools of Rio Verde. I t can be assumed that acknowledgement of women in this f ield of work became a habitus. I t was possible to ident ify that male teacher ´s pract ice in nursery schools in Rio Verde is expressed by power relat ions that run through social and gender relat ions in social spaces. Moreover, male teachers in places historical ly considered women´s spaces maintain t radit ional mascul inity in teaching pract ice, as cultural habitus kept by symbolic violence. The discussion and theor izat ion of gender and teaching were based on Scot t (1995), Louro (2011) , Assunção (1996), Carvalho (1999) and Rosemberg (2001). Bourdieu´s concepts of habitus and symbol ic violence and Robert Connel´s studies (1995) of mascul inity were used in order to understand and give theoret ical support to the invest igat ion. / A presente disser tação tem como objet ivo invest igar e analisar o professor homem na educação infant il da rede municipal de ensino de Rio Verde (GO) e como este é percebido pela comunidade escolar. A invest igação orientou-se por questões como: existem muitos professores homens nesta etapa da educação básica? Como o professor homem se const itui/se constrói nesse espaço social que é composto majoritar iamente por mulheres? Como os pais de alunos(as) e colegas de t rabalho percebem o professor homem na educação infant il? Esta invest igação desenvolveu-se mediante estudo bibl iográf ico, anál ise documental , aplicação de quest ionár ios e entrevistas. Levantou-se dados sobre as inst ituições de educação infant il de Rio Verde, destacando o número de inst ituições e de professores e professoras que nelas atuam, por sexo. Pode-se dizer que se tornou um habitus o reconhecimento de mulheres nessa mesma função. Ident if icou-se que a atuação docente dos professores homens do município de Rio Verde na educação infant il é marcada por relações de poder que permeiam as relações sociais e de gênero presentes nos espaços sociais. Constatou-se ainda que homens em espaços considerados historicamente como femininos apresentam a manutenção de caracter íst icas da prát ica docente associadas à masculinidade tradicional, como um habitus cultural mant ido pela violência simból ica. Teve-se como suporte teór ico para esta pesquisa estudos que nos permit i ram conceituar e contextual izar gênero e docência real izados por autores(as) como Scot t (1995), Louro (2011), Assunção (1996), Carvalho (1999) e Rosemberg (2001). Os conceitos de Habitus e de violência simból ica, de Pierre Bourdieu (2011) , e os estudos sobre masculinidades, de Robert Connel (1995) , auxil iaram-nos no entendimento e na sustentação teórica para as questões que nos propomos a desenvolver .

Made available in DSpace on 2014-08-20T13:48:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Diana Lusa_dissertacao.pdf: 532928 bytes, checksum: 5a9fc1cf1ed6d0b12aa8f1f244a50dad (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-01-14 / The main objective of this study was to analyze what speeches, teaching practices and interactions between the teacher(she/he) and students (she/he) have shown about gender relations. To take into account this larger goal, some questions were created in order to guide the study such as, which are the teacher s representations about boys and girls, men and women?; what do the classroom say, and how it is organized about the relationships that may be on this place?; How are treated femininities and masculinities on teacher s practices? what kind of work are developed in the classroom?, how do the teachers speak to the girls and the boys? The theoretical framework to support the analysis of field data has a brief review on feminist social theory from among others, Joan Scott, Guacira Louro e Maria Custódia da Rocha. There is also a reflection on education and gender, that it seeks to elucidate which concept of gender is used in some ways and also the relationship of this concept to teaching, when it takes a bit from the history of teaching and the process of feminization of teaching. It is also made a reflection about how school differences have been built and it is shown how some academic work which had as its study object gender in school . Besides what had been exposed, on the theoretical concepts are considered some of the cultural studies, such as identity and representation, about how we create ourselves and how we are being created (male and female) as social human beings from the representations we have and which has the world around us. It has been made an analysis with the theoretical and field data mentioned on the teacher s practices and what they said about gender relations, which is located in chapter six of this work. It was possible to see three teachers and three different ways of dealing with situations of conflict or gender inequality that appear in their classrooms. Three ways to understand being a man and being a woman , being a boy and being a girl . Teachers who struggle to demystify truths about gender, although that reflects in a different way similar representations about the place of men and women, especially in teaching, even if they do not agree with these social and cultural definitions. What we realized from this research is that even if the subjects are aware of gender issues there is some representation that teaching is a female occupation, even if this / these teachers are opposed to it. On the representation of boys and girls I did not notice differences in how these female teachers and this male teacher face boys and girls with respect to performance. When it comes to behavior subject it has some changes. It is believed that this study will contribute for further reflection on gender relations, particularly in schools, where this kind of study does not happen frequently. We hope to contribute to the academic and school environment with a more empirical study, which is not easy to find. / O principal objetivo deste trabalho foi analisar o que os discursos, as práticas docentes e as interações professor/a alunos/as mostram sobre as relações de gênero . Para dar conta deste objetivo mais amplo, algumas questões que nortearam o trabalho foram: quais as representações do professorado sobre meninos e meninas, homens e mulheres?; o que o ambiente da sala de aula e a forma como este está organizado, diz sobre as relações que podem se constituir neste local?; como são tratadas as feminilidades e as masculinidades nas práticas docentes? que tipos de trabalhos são desenvolvidos em sala de aula?; como o professorado se dirige às meninas e aos meninos? O referencial teórico para sustentar a análise dos dados de campo conta com uma breve revisão da teoria social feminista, a partir, dentre outras, de Joan Scott, Guacira Louro e Maria Custódia da Rocha. Conta ainda com uma reflexão sobre educação e gênero, na qual se busca elucidar o conceito de gênero e algumas formas como é usado; como também a relação deste conceito com a docência, quando se retoma um pouco da história da docência e o processo de feminização do magistério. É feita, ainda, uma reflexão sobre como as diferenças escolares vão sendo construídas e são retomados alguns trabalhos acadêmicos que tiveram como objeto de estudo gênero na escola . Além do já exposto, no aporte teórico são considerados alguns conceitos dos estudos culturais, como identidade e representação, sobre como vamos nos criando e sendo criados/as como seres sociais a partir das representações que temos e que tem o mundo que nos circunda. Os sujeitos de pesquisa foram três docentes: duas professoras e um professor. A metodologia utilizada foi entrevistas semi-estruturadas e observações. Foi possível perceber três docentes e três jeitos diferentes de lidar com as situações de conflito ou desigualdade de gênero que aparecem em suas salas de aula. Três jeitos de entender o ser homem e o ser mulher , o ser menino e o ser menina . Docentes que lutam para desmistificar verdades acerca de gênero, mas que deixam transparecer, ainda que de forma diferente, representações semelhantes sobre o lugar de homens e mulheres, em especial na docência, mesmo que não concordem com estas definições sociais e culturais. O que percebemos a partir da pesquisa é que, mesmo que os sujeitos tenham clareza das questões de gênero, ainda há certa representação de que a docência é uma ocupação feminina, mesmo que este/estas docentes sejam contrários a isso. Sobre a representação de meninos e meninas, não percebi diferenças no modo como estas professoras e este professor encaram meninos e meninas com relação ao desempenho. O que já muda de figura, quando o assunto é comportamento. Acredita-se que este estudo contribuirá para uma maior reflexão sobre as relações de gênero, em especial no âmbito escolar, onde não acontecem muitas pesquisas deste tipo. Esperamos assim, contribuir para o meio acadêmico e escolar com mais um estudo empírico, dos não muitos existentes.