Gender in the Teaching Profession: University Students’ Views of Teaching as a Career

Abstract

The purpose of our research is to gain a better insight into what encourages young adults, in particular young women, to enter the teaching profession. The empirical part of the article is based on a pilot study including 132 students, with data collection being based on a survey approach using a questionnaire. The research attempts to address the context from whichthe desired characteristics of pre-service teachers with regard to their future employment arise. We have therefore tried to single out factors influencing the choice of teaching as a career, and to examine pre-service teachers’ attitudes towards the reputation of female and male teachers. The data obtained confirm the thesis that the predominance of women in the teaching profession(s) is an effect of the harmonisation of the female respondents’ habitus and their perception of the field they are entering. The perception of the teaching profession as a vocation (calling) that can be linked to the concepts of caring, giving and helping also proves to be very important. The data also confirms the thesis that the orientation towards life and work balance is important to our respondents of both genders.

Motivations for Choosing a Career and the Expectations of Serbian and Slovenian Preschool Teachers of Their Own Career Development

“…Motives associated with a predominantly extrinsic motivation were rated lower, which is consistent with other research (Andrews and Hatch, 2002;Bastick, 2000;Brookhart and Freeman, 1992;Cencič and Čagran, 2002;Gradišek et al, 2020;Ivanuš Grmek and Javornik Krečič, 2005;Kyriacou and Kobori, 1998;Richardson and Watt, 2006;Tašner, Žveglič Mihelič and Mencin-Čeplak, 2017;Watt and Richardson, 2007;Watt and Richardson, 2012). The motive of being in a profession with a good reputation in society was shown as more important of these (Item 7; M SRB = 3.14, M SLO = 2.91).…”

“…In this context, it would also be interesting to find out which gender they consider to be privileged in terms of career development. In their research, Tašner, Žveglič Mihelič, and Mencin Čeplak (2017) found that 3 rd and final year student teachers generally perceive male teachers as having a higher among colleagues than female teachers. The sample in the research also "displays a trend that men, on average, feel better positioned in relation to women in the teachers' profession overall" (p. 66).…”

“…Research on the motives of student teachers and teaching staff for choosing the profession in Slovenia (Cencič and Čagran, 2002;Gradišek et al, 2020;Ivanuš-Grmek and Krečič, 2005;Polak and Devjak, 2014;Tašner, Žveglič Mihelič and Mencin-Čeplak, 2017) and Serbia (Marušić, 2013) shows a strong presence of intrinsic and altruistic motives.…”

“…Results of a research among Primary Education and Two-Subject teacher students at the Faculty of Education, University in Ljubljana (Tašner, Žveglič Mihelič and Mencin-Čeplak, 2017), similarly identify four deciding factors in choosing a teaching profession as a career: a) advantages (i.e., lengthy holidays, convenient working days, relatively good promotion opportunities), b) caring tendency (contribution to a better life in society, desire to help others, learning and passing knowledge to others, as well as liking to work with children), c) gender advantage (profession that is recognised as typical for women, being privileged due to their gender, and wanting to become a principal one day), and d) job security (teaching provides a secure job, a job for an indefinite period, and provides good employment opportunities). Polak and Devjak (2014) reported on the results of a survey among 71 Preschool Education students in Slovenia, who were mostly driven by internal motives when choosing a study programme: "working with children, personal fulfillment, opportunities for personal and professional development and creativity" (p. 308).…”

Involvement of high school teachers in Health Promoting School program in selected township, Yangon Region, Myanmar: A cross-sectional mixed methods study

“…These differences could be due to differences in sociocultural and demographic backgrounds of study participants and variation in sample size. Currently, demographic, economic, political factors, and cultural norms were attributed to women for prevailing in teaching professions [ 44 ]. In Myanmar, teaching is one of the female-dominated professions and 86.2% of teachers in secondary education were female in 2018 [ 45 ].…”