Gender relations in higher education: exploring lecturers’ perceptions of student evaluations of teaching

Abstract

Quantitative evidence suggests that higher education students may exhibit gender bias against women when evaluating the teaching of male and female faculty. Qualitative research in this area has been concerned with the broader context of institutional sexism in academia, which has been represented as a pervasive and depressing in¯uence on women lecturers. Relatively little research has investigated university teachers' specific views about student perceptions and behaviour. This study explored this issue qualitatively in a group of British academics. While most of the female academics represented students as having prejudiced views about them, the prevailing understanding in the literature of women university staff as demoralized, alienated and experiencing tension between their occupational and feminine selves was not confirmed. Rather, women appeared entirely confident in their identities as conscientious teachers, a circumstance which related empirically (and possibly theoretically) to an almost unanimous derogation of their male colleagues. No body of literature about male lecturers' views of sexism exists: this study suggested that they contrast markedly with those of their female colleagues. Problematic aspects of women's apparent assiduity about teaching are discussed, as is the other principal area of concern raised by the study, namely the extensive areas of disagreement in outlook between the female and male respondents.

Evaluating courses: an examination of the impact of student gender

“…With the open-ended section the females responded to the presenter more favourably than the males. From the perspective of gender differences this partially supports the view noted in part one of this study, and also the research findings of Carson (2001), that females are more concerned with their relationships than are males. .006* For the 'hygiene factors' the work of Heckert et al (2002) would imply different reactions could be expected between females and males.…”

“…On the other hand studies by Basow (1995) and Tatro (1995) have shown when looking at the ranking of same sex instructors females have been consistently shown to rate female instructors more highly than they do male. Carson (2001) contradicts this and outlines the evidence that students generally appear to rank male instructors higher than they do female. These findings are not provide a clear pattern of gender differences and all fail to take into account and control for many variables which can effect evaluations.…”

Freirian perspectives on becoming female researcher-academics in special education

“…In the United Kingdom, the percentage of female professors stands at 15.3% and in Germany women represent a mere 8.6% of professors (Pritchard, 2007). It is suggested that women carry the "curse" of caring and that students have a certain expectation for women professors that requires the adaptation of a feminine style of teaching (Carson, 2001). Therefore, women in higher education are required to work harder to overcome their "curse" and meet not only the research standards, but also that of teaching and counseling (Carson, 2001).…”

Gender inequality in British and German universities

“…It has been noted by Hey and Bradford (2004) that females find it difficult to let go of being 'caring' and may 'do femininity' in the service of the corporate university (Hey & Bradford, 2004, p. 699). In the evaluation of higher education teaching staff by students there is evidence (Carson, 2001) that 'sexist' students expect women academics to adopt a feminine style in order to be acceptable. This is necessary for respectability and popularity but, paradoxically, being 'approachable' sometimes leads to a loss of academic credibility, and devoting a large amount of time to teaching-related issues causes a neglect of research and thus a failure to behave strategically.…”