Family Science Faculty Members' Experiences With Teaching From a Feminist Perspective^*

Abstract

Telephone interviews were conducted with 25 family science faculty members who were self-identified feminist teachers to explore how they conceptualized teaching, translated feminist theory into classroom practice, understood their own and students' reactions to teaching, and responded to challenging situations. Their accounts illustrate a commitment to students, the centrality of dialogue as a teaching strategy and as an indication of successful teaching, and the congruency in personal and professional ideology offered by a feminist perspective. These results highlight the opportunity for teachers to focus sincerely on the interpersonal dimension of the classroom, acquire the interpersonal skills to promote dialogue and to convey respect and care of students, encourage the practice of reflexivity, and approach teaching with integrity.

“The Glass Ceiling Is Kind of a Bummer”: Women’s Reflections on a Gender Development Course

“…Our findings appear similar to much of the conceptual work in both the HDFS and the WS literature on student hostility (e.g., Hartung, 1991; Tatum, 1992) and resistance (e.g., Allen et al, 2001; Blaisure & Koivunen, 2003). The lack of empirical work examining HDFS feminist classrooms prohibits us from comparing our results to the general trends in HDFS courses.…”

Reflective Teaching in Social Work Education: Findings from a Participatory Action Research Study

“…Reflection-in-action, the application of knowledge in an inductive manner to enhance contemplation in practice, is an inherent element in feminist pedagogical perspectives (Blaisure and Koivunen, 2003). Reflective inquiry has been shown to be a contemporary and progressive teaching technique in the classroom because it collaboratively enhances understanding of self and others (Sinacore et al, 1999).…”

Gender and Diversity Topics Taught in Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education Programs

“…At the same time, professors must maintain safety in the classroom by supporting ground rules of respect and sensitivity to the topics they teach. They told us that they must also maintain congruence between their personal and professional roles, which were often inseparable (Allen, 1988; Blaisure & Koivunen, 2003). Also, the professors interviewed told us that they need to foster a level of intimacy in order to deeply explore these topics inside and outside of the classroom.…”