This thesis examines the impact of engineering cultures on women engineering students' gendered and professional identities. It is simultaneously focused on exploring how identity shapes, and is shaped by, women's experiences of engineering cultures and the relationship between gendered and professional identities. The research is set within the context of existing research on women in engineering, much of which has focused either on women's experiences in industry or experiences of staff in academia, which does not acknowledge the importance of higher education (HE) as a gatekeeper to the engineering professions. Furthermore, despite numerous initiatives aimed at increasing the percentage of women entering engineering, the proportion of women studying engineering has remained stable, around fifteen percent, for the last few years. The research is grounded in an interpretivist approach, although it adopts a multimethod research design. Specifically it draws upon qualitative interviews with 43 women and 18 men engineering students, a questionnaire with responses from 656 engineering undergraduates and two focus groups with 13 women engineering students from seven departments at one university. These datasets are analysed with the aid of NVivo and SPSS to explore women engineering students' career choices; women's experiences of the HE engineering culture; the relationship between engineering education culture and women's identities; whether there are cultural nuances between engineering disciplines; and, implications for strategies to attract and retain more women in engineering. Key findings from the research are that women and men make career choices based on similar factors, including the influence of socialisers, knowledge of the engineering professions, skills, ability and attributes, and career rewards. However, the extent to which each of these factors are important is gendered. The research also highlights key characteristics of the HE engineering culture, including competition, camaraderie, gendered humour, intensity, more theoretical than practical, help and support for women students and reinforcement of gender binaries. These findings all suggest that women are assimilated into the engineering culture or, at least, develop coping mechanisms for surviving in the existing culture. These strategies reveal a complex and difficult balancing act between being a woman and being an engineer, in claiming a rightful place as an engineer, denying gendered experiences and becoming critical of other women. The research also tackles two key issues, rarely discussed in the extant literature. Firstly the help and support women students receive from lecturers and other staff, and the negative impact this has, and may continue to have, on women. Secondly, the analysis of discipline differences shows that design and technology is significantly different from other engineering disciplines in terms of culture(s) and women's experiences. The thesis concludes that women's enculturation into engineering results in their ‘doing gender' in a particular way. This means that women's implicit and explicit devaluing and rejection of femaleness, fails to challenge the gendered cultures of engineering and, in many ways, upholds an environment which is hostile to women.

Este trabalho teve como objetivo investigar os significados de gênero presentes nas relações entre as crianças e destas com as pessoas adultas nos diversos tempos escolares. Trata-se de uma etnografia educacional que priorizou como campo de pesquisa uma classe de quarto ano do ciclo I (antigo primário) da escola pública municipal Carlos Drummond, na cidade de São Paulo. Na dissertação, os significados de gênero são discutidos a partir do diálogo com diversos autores/as, entre eles Scott, Connell, Nicholson, Giroux, Apple, Enguita e Thorne. A análise dos tempos escolares, que pretende evidenciar como a organização escolar concorre para uma disicplinarização pautada na construção de corpos escolarizados, tem a perspectiva foucaultiana como base. Da investigação, que foi desenvolvida em campo no decorrer de todo um ano letivo, constaram: observações sistemáticas do cotidiano dos tempos escolares, entrevistas semi-estruturadas realizadas com as crianças, questionários dirigidos às suas famílias e a sua professora, estudo de documentações acerca da escola. A análise de todo o material coletado nesse processo, em que as crianças foram vistas como personagens centrais e tiveram valorizadas suas experiências e opiniões, mostra como se produzem e reproduzem estereótipos de gênero pautados em relações de poder na escola. Demonstra, no entanto, que esse poder não é unilateral, que as crianças não necessariamente internalizam os estereótipos de que são vítimas em suas condições de gênero, raça/etnia, idade e classe social, reproduzindo-os em suas relações, mas opõem-se a eles, contestando-os e desenvolvendo formas de oposição. Foi possível destacar, ainda, que a organização dos tempos escolares, em sua extrema preocupação com o exercício do controle e da disciplinarização, não contempla a diversidade e a dinâmica dos diversos ritmos e significados vivenciados pelos alunos e pelas alunas na escola, avaliando-os/as com parâmetros distantes de sua realidade. Assim, ao contrário do desejado, tronou-se evidente também a ausência de um questionamento crítico sobre a organização dos tempos na escola, sobre gênero e poder, revelando que o pensamento educacional tem dificuldade para acompanhar as mudanças históricas e a dinâmica das relações sociais, bem como a transformação das mesmas, o que muitas vezes o impede de contribuir para a construção de uma sociedade mais democrática. / The purpose of this research was to investigate the meanings of gender as they emerge in the relationships among children and between children and adults in different school times. This is an educational ethnography that has prioritized as research field a forth grade classroom (former elementary school) at the municipal public school Carlos Drummond in the city of São Paulo. In the dissertation, the meanings of gender are discussed in the dialog with different authors, like Scott, Connell, Nicholson, Giroux, Apple, Enguita and Thorne. The analysis of school times, which aims at making evident how school organization contributes to promote disciplinarization based on the construction of schooled bodies, is founded on a foucaultian perspective. The investigation took place during a whole school year and comprised: systematic observations of the routine of school times, semi-structured interviews with children, questionnaire directed to children´s families and teacher, study of documentation about the school. The analysis of all the material collected in this process, in which children were regarded as main characters and had their experiences and opinions valued, show how gender stereotypes based on power relations in school are produced and reproduced. However, it gives evidence that this power is not unilateral, that children do not necessarily internalize the stereotypes they are victims of, in their condition of gender, race/ethnics, age and social class, reproducing them in their relations, but they offer resistance to them, refute them and develop opposition techniques. It was also possible to emphasize that the organization of school times, in its extreme concern about control and disciplinarization, does not contemplate the diversity and the dynamics if the different rhythms and meanings lived by the student at school, evaluating them according to parameters that are far from their reality. Thus, oppositely to what one might desire, it became evident also the absense of critical debate about the organization of school times, about gender and power, revealing that the educational thinking has difficulty to follow the historical changes and the dynamics of social relations, as well as their transformation, what a times prevent it from contributing to the construction of a democratic society.

Taiwanese Languages Curriculum in a Third Grade Class of Elementary school Li-Shu Huang Abstract This is a case study on a grade three class in Kaohsiung municipal Da-Ai (A pseudonym) elementary school. The core issue was to teach Taiwanese proverbs with the integration of gender equity ideas, including topics of based on ¡§gender equity in a multi-culture society¡¨ and ¡§related issues in gender rights and interests¡¨ in the Nine-Year Integrated Curriculum Guidelines. The purposes of the study was to discuss the development process of gender concepts of grade three students in elementary school before and after taking the integrated course instruction, to know the academic achievements and the predicaments of students¡¦ learning. This research adopted qualitative research methods for collecting data by observations, interviews, worksheets and reflection checklists; to analyze data with frequency & T-test statistics, and then to make conclusions and suggestions wishing to be a reference in future integrated instruction. According to the above research purposes, the conclusions were as follows¡G A. Students¡¦ gender equity awareness¡G 1. Before instructions, students have their own gender stereotypes. 2. The students¡¦ stereotypes can be clarified and the viewpoints of gender equity can be built through instructions. 3. Through learning and sharing, the students can learn how to protect their body, deal with the crises and estblish the human relations. B. Integrated curriculum instruction¡G 1. The use of multiple instructions can stimulate reflections on gender concepts from both teachers and students. 2. The students admired the attempts of integrating gender equity ideas into Taiwanese language instruction. 3. The instruction can raise parents¡¦ attention toward children¡¦s gender attitude. 4. The integration of gender equity ideas into Taiwanese language curriculum ¡® instruction can have positive inpact on boys and girls¡¦ gender awareness, particularly in the case of girls. 5. Multiple instruction models of Taiwanese language curriculum can raise the interests on students¡¦ learning. 6. The integration of gender equity ideas into Taiwanese language curriculum ¡® instruction can help students use Taiwanese in their daily lives. Based on the findings, the researcher provided several suggestions as follows¡G A. We should implement gender equity education with the help of household education. B. We should create an envivonment with non-sexual discrimination and stereotype learning in order to support the teachers implementing multiple instructions. C. The teachers should develop reflecting abilities on gender concepts. D. The integration of gender equity ideas into Taiwanese should be diversified. E. The teacher self-made inventory on gender equity attitude should be further revised. F. The number of research class and samples should be increased.

The purposes of this study are to inquire the individual class students' gender- role stereotypes and to understand the influence of gender equity education curriculum on gender- role stereotypes existing among seventh grade students. The subjects are one class (18 females, 20 males) of 7th grade students in Junior High School in Kaohsiung City as the case group. Showing students¡¦ changes of gender-role stereotypes in gender equity curriculum offers some implications on adolescent¡¦s gender equity education program in the future and to draw up a well teaching project eventually. The study adopts qualitative and quantitative methods to explore subjects¡¦ gender-role stereotype condition and reaction about gender equity education curriculum. The former of which is major method including observation, interview and document analysis. The latter of which administered questionary to subjects. In this study, the gender equity education curriculum met for one 1 hour period a week, for 14 weeks. Teacher¡¦s introspection connects with student¡¦s performance would be the feedback to help researcher adjusts teaching strategy once a week. From this process the final conclusions as following: (1) Junior high school students cultivate their gender-role stereotypes with social structure and people's expectation. (2) The conflict between gender is derived from unfair evaluation comes from gender-role stereotypes. (3) Girls accept flexible gender-role behaviors, but boys don¡¦t. (4) Students are used to rationalize the social gender separation, so it is difficult for them to have gender equity view. (5) Students can enlarge their scope of gender roles by reading stories and watching. (6) After gender equity education, students have more criticize ability about gender equality concept than before. Finally, based on the research results and my introspection, we can provide valuable suggestions to school education and further study plans.

For the purpose of achieving gender equality in education, this study analyses the transformative power of the elementary school teacher candidates on society. The theories in the field of sociology of education have been used as a starting point for the study. Based on the feminist pedagogies of different strands of feminism, feminist critical pedagogy has been presented to achieve gender equality in education. The transformation of curriculum and the hidden curriculum are elaborated to achieve a non-sexist education. After the depiction of the situation Turkey holds in the field of women&rsquo / s education, the research conducted in three universities using feminist methodology and interview method is presented. With a view on their gender socialization, gender perceptions of the teacher candidates are analyzed. The ways their lives both inside and outside the household are affected by patriarchal hegemony are depicted and their ideas on education and the reproduction of gender through education are analyzed. The new generation of teachers holds low transformative power to transform the inequalities in society. However, the females in the group are leading their own individual struggles that lead to changes in their close circles. The simplified notion of patriarchy they have makes them blind to the reproduction of it by women and supports the bias against feminists. The fact that they are open to change and yet detached from civil society is reason to conclude that in the short run the most influential results can be obtained through the institutional changes at teacher training programs and schools.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Open University. BLDSC no. DX178603.

The wide and enduring educational disparities between European and Asian heritage New Zealanders on the one hand, and indigenous Māori and Pacific Islanders on the other, have been a national education policy priority for some time. Such is the degree of focus on ethnic inequalities that very little attention is devoted to sources of privilege and disadvantage related to socio-economic status (SES) and gender, despite international scholarship showing that both of these profoundly influence experiences of schooling. The current study explores the ways in which SES, ethnicity, and gender influence students’ experiences of learning mathematics in New Zealand schools. Mathematics is a ‘gatekeeper’ subject for a range of highly lucrative career pathways dominated by European and Asian heritage men, making access to mathematical success a social justice issue with powerful material consequences. This thesis describes a mixed methods study of 425 Year Nine (age 13-14) students in three New Zealand state secondary schools, which investigated • the relationships between SES, ethnicity, gender, and success in mathematics, • cultural ideas about what types of people have mathematical ability, and • the effect of ability grouping on attainment disparities. European and Asian students had higher mathematics attainment than Māori and Pacific students. Pacific students reported enjoying mathematics despite their low attainment, whereas Māori students had very negative attitudes towards mathematics. Consistent with international studies, girls had lower confidence than boys in their mathematical abilities, despite having equal attainment. Interview data suggested that these differences in perceptions of mathematics were related to cultural ideas of mathematics as a ‘brain’ activity and therefore a natural fit for socially privileged men. Such ideas were further reinforced by ability grouping, which provided successful students with additional enrichment and withheld from low-attaining students the intellectual challenges that could have facilitated a shift to more successful learning trajectories.

The diploma thesis is focused on a specific learning disability, so called dyslexia. The thesis is divided into theoretical and practical part. Basic characteristics, symptoms and causes of specific learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, dysortographia and dyscalculia, are desctibed in the theoretical part of the thesis. Special attention is devoted to the differences in terminology of the specific learning disabilities. The practical part analyses time aspect of dyslexia diagnosis, re-education process, and further-more, the frequency of incidence according to the gender issues.

Este trabalho teve como objetivo investigar os significados de gênero presentes nas relações entre as crianças e destas com as pessoas adultas nos diversos tempos escolares. Trata-se de uma etnografia educacional que priorizou como campo de pesquisa uma classe de quarto ano do ciclo I (antigo primário) da escola pública municipal Carlos Drummond, na cidade de São Paulo. Na dissertação, os significados de gênero são discutidos a partir do diálogo com diversos autores/as, entre eles Scott, Connell, Nicholson, Giroux, Apple, Enguita e Thorne. A análise dos tempos escolares, que pretende evidenciar como a organização escolar concorre para uma disicplinarização pautada na construção de corpos escolarizados, tem a perspectiva foucaultiana como base. Da investigação, que foi desenvolvida em campo no decorrer de todo um ano letivo, constaram: observações sistemáticas do cotidiano dos tempos escolares, entrevistas semi-estruturadas realizadas com as crianças, questionários dirigidos às suas famílias e a sua professora, estudo de documentações acerca da escola. A análise de todo o material coletado nesse processo, em que as crianças foram vistas como personagens centrais e tiveram valorizadas suas experiências e opiniões, mostra como se produzem e reproduzem estereótipos de gênero pautados em relações de poder na escola. Demonstra, no entanto, que esse poder não é unilateral, que as crianças não necessariamente internalizam os estereótipos de que são vítimas em suas condições de gênero, raça/etnia, idade e classe social, reproduzindo-os em suas relações, mas opõem-se a eles, contestando-os e desenvolvendo formas de oposição. Foi possível destacar, ainda, que a organização dos tempos escolares, em sua extrema preocupação com o exercício do controle e da disciplinarização, não contempla a diversidade e a dinâmica dos diversos ritmos e significados vivenciados pelos alunos e pelas alunas na escola, avaliando-os/as com parâmetros distantes de sua realidade. Assim, ao contrário do desejado, tronou-se evidente também a ausência de um questionamento crítico sobre a organização dos tempos na escola, sobre gênero e poder, revelando que o pensamento educacional tem dificuldade para acompanhar as mudanças históricas e a dinâmica das relações sociais, bem como a transformação das mesmas, o que muitas vezes o impede de contribuir para a construção de uma sociedade mais democrática. / The purpose of this research was to investigate the meanings of gender as they emerge in the relationships among children and between children and adults in different school times. This is an educational ethnography that has prioritized as research field a forth grade classroom (former elementary school) at the municipal public school Carlos Drummond in the city of São Paulo. In the dissertation, the meanings of gender are discussed in the dialog with different authors, like Scott, Connell, Nicholson, Giroux, Apple, Enguita and Thorne. The analysis of school times, which aims at making evident how school organization contributes to promote disciplinarization based on the construction of schooled bodies, is founded on a foucaultian perspective. The investigation took place during a whole school year and comprised: systematic observations of the routine of school times, semi-structured interviews with children, questionnaire directed to children´s families and teacher, study of documentation about the school. The analysis of all the material collected in this process, in which children were regarded as main characters and had their experiences and opinions valued, show how gender stereotypes based on power relations in school are produced and reproduced. However, it gives evidence that this power is not unilateral, that children do not necessarily internalize the stereotypes they are victims of, in their condition of gender, race/ethnics, age and social class, reproducing them in their relations, but they offer resistance to them, refute them and develop opposition techniques. It was also possible to emphasize that the organization of school times, in its extreme concern about control and disciplinarization, does not contemplate the diversity and the dynamics if the different rhythms and meanings lived by the student at school, evaluating them according to parameters that are far from their reality. Thus, oppositely to what one might desire, it became evident also the absense of critical debate about the organization of school times, about gender and power, revealing that the educational thinking has difficulty to follow the historical changes and the dynamics of social relations, as well as their transformation, what a times prevent it from contributing to the construction of a democratic society.

The dissertation focuses on the exploration of the phenomenon of sexual harassment in Czech higher education environment, particularly on harassment of students by teachers. The sexual harassment is defined as unwelcome, inappropriate and offensive behavior that constitutes an abuse of power based on gender and formal structure. It comprises both less explicit forms of gender harassment (known as the "hostile environment") and more explicit forms of sexual (referred in the legislation as "quid pro quo"). The dissertation is based on a study of selected faculty of Prague university conducted in the turn of 2008 and 2009. It took a mixed research design combining quantitative questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews with students. The dissertation focuses on three main realms: i) students experience of sexual harassment, ii) the definition and perception of sexual harassment, and iii) coping strategies and solutions of sexual harassment. Quantitative survey showed that 67 % of respondents on the selected faculty have encountered some form of harassment during their studies. Students have mostly experienced the less explicit forms, i.e. gender harassment, however the more explicit forms of harassment, e.g. unwelcome sexual attention or unwanted physical contact, were no exception. Despite the high...