The main objective of this study was to describe the beliefs of pre-service teachers at the University of Pittsburgh about gender role differences and their related role and behaviors. Sociological perspectives related to gender differences, and gender and education such as functionalist, conflict, critical and feminist theories were reviewed. Research findings related to teachers beliefs and practices in the classroom were also reviewed.
The sample of the study included one hundred seventeen male and female pre-service teachers distributed between elementary education program and early childhood education program. A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data needed for this study. The questionnaire included three Likert scale parts, a demographic section, and two open ended questions. Descriptive statistics were used to examine the relationships between the variables.
In general, both male and female pre-service teachers tended to hold egalitarian views about gender roles, however, females tended to have a stronger egalitarian views about gender roles than males especially on employment roles. Age and marital status of pre-service teachers were not related to their beliefs about gender roles. Pre-service teachers also tended to hold egalitarian beliefs about teachers role in relation to gender roles and about specific males and females characteristics and educational practices; these beliefs were significantly related to pre-service teachers beliefs about gender roles. The findings also showed that pre-service teachers tended to believe that students are the ones who should decide on the preferable gender roles; however, it was acceptable for teachers to be involved in shaping students perspectives about gender roles. Finally, most pre-service teachers believed that teachers should try to reduce gender stereotypes that result in unequal learning opportunities for students to learn, and they suggested ways to do so.
The most significant implication of this study was the importance of sensitizing pre-service teachers toward issues of gender equity. In addition to the need for schools to adopt policies and recommendations that would provide equal educational opportunities to both males and females.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PITT/oai:PITTETD:etd-03042005-143552 |
| Date | 21 March 2005 |
| Creators | Almutawa, Farah Abdulaziz |
| Contributors | Scott Kiesling, William Bickel, John Weidman, R. Tony Eichelberger |
| Publisher | University of Pittsburgh |
| Source Sets | University of Pittsburgh |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.library.pitt.edu/ETD/available/etd-03042005-143552/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Pittsburgh or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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