Gender Identity of Students and Teachers: Implications for a Sustainable Future

Abstract

Considering the gender identity as a crucial aspect of the culture that shapes our daily life and recognising the research gap on this topic in the context of sustainable education, the paper describes the quantitative cross-sectional study on gender identity of students and teachers comparing the respondents by their age and sex. Three age groups (106 female and 62 male) participated in the study: 18ñ19-years-old pupils from comprehensive and vocational schools (n=59), 20ñ15-years-old university students (n=52) and 24ñ64-years-old teachers working at respective schools and universities (n=57). The original Bem Sex Role Inventory was administered to measure the individual gender identity types of masculinity, femininity, and androgyny. The majority of respondents from all age and sex groups described themselves as androgynous. Male and university students featured the scattering of scores more toward masculinity, while the scores of female, pupils, and teachers were more inclined toward femininity. No statistically significant differences were found among the three age groups, while sex appeared to be more influential factor causing significant differences between male and female in terms of gender identity with maleís inclination toward masculinity and femaleís inclination toward femininity. Dominance of androgynous individuals challenges the current approaches to the gender education in the context of sustainable development.Keywords: gender identity, androgyny, masculinity, femininity, education for sustainable development Today it becomes self-evident that gender identities and gender relations are significantly connected with the cultural progress since they determine the daily life of each person, family, workplace, and wider community. At the same time, global changes, especially social and economic turbulences push the cultural values toward modification and variations, different interests intervening this process (Schalkwyk, 2000). In this paper we suggest the possibility of creative adaptation of gender analysis, advocated for over 20 years, to the educational issues related to sustainability. Gender stands for the socially determined difference of cultural norms and expectations linked to the biological differences between the sexes. These social constructions of gender vary in time and place and between the cultures (European Commission 2009, part 1.2.).

The Effects of Teachers’ Gender, Teaching Experience, and Brain Dominance on their Teaching Styles

“…In this particular discourse, both female and male in their roles as teachers need to be both independent, competitive, assertive, compassionate, and understanding, etc. In addition, students rejected gender as a salient factor in teacher-student relations, and emphasized that individual teaching ability has the salient effect (Badjanova, Pipere, & Ilisko, 2017).…”

Journal of Teacher Education for Sustainability after the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development: Exploring for the Future

“…Little less prevalent group of papers that resembles the group observed in the previous study was papers describing school/educational environment, its issues and connection with ESD (six or 9.2%). This group can be exemplified by the papers ìSocial Equality as Groundwork for Sustainable Schooling: The Free Lunch Issueî (Kairiene & Sprindziunas, 2016) and ìGender Identity of Students and Teachers: Implications for a Sustainable Futureî (Badjanova, Pipere, & Iliko, 2017). Two papers adressed the preschool education theory and practice (e.g., ìValue Education in Estonian Preschool Child Care Institutionsî by Ulavere and Tammik, 2017); also the authors of two papers were dealing with theoretical issues and research in pre-service/in-service TE for ESD (e.g., ìEnvironmental Education in Pre-service Teacher Training: A Literature Review of Existing Evidenceî by Álvarez-García et al, 2015).…”