Teachers’ gender and disciplinary background contribute to early sex differences in mathematics

Abstract

This study explores the influence of teachers’ characteristics (gender, disciplinary background, educational attainment, age and experience) on gender differences in mathematics achievement, at the earliest stage at which they appear (first grade), based on 3,800 teacher-student dyads. Although we don’t find direct effects of these characteristics, there is an effect of teachers’ disciplinary background that differs between male and female teachers. Students taught by a male teacher show larger sex differences when the teacher has a scientific background than when he hasn’t. This suggests that merely examining the impact of gender or disciplinary background in isolation falls short of capturing the complete influence of teachers' characteristics on students' sex differences in mathematics. These effects are specific to mathematics in 1stgrade, as they were found neither in mathematics in preschool (when sex differences are absent), nor in literacy. This is further interpreted in relation to teachers’ gender stereotypes and practices.