The Role Of Gender in Choosing Teaching Profession and in the Establishment of Occupational Identity

Abstract

Gender-based occupational division is related to traditional role patterns and social norms that underpin the approach to 'suitable' jobs/ for women and men. Teaching has been considered as one of the most 'suitable' professions for women. Understanding the social realities of the factors affecting the choice of teaching profession and the establishment of the professional identity is the main focus of the research. In this direction, the aim of the research is to examine the choice of teaching profession and the pre-professional identity construction in terms of gender. An answer will be sought to the question of whether there are significant relationships between the messages that teacher candidates receive about gender norms, the role of gender in choosing a profession, and their pre-professional teacher identities. The research is a quantitative research and was designed in correlational survey model. The variables that are aimed to determine whether there is a relationship between them are gender norms, the role of gender in choosing a profession and pre-professional teacher identity. Data were collected from 370 students studying at faculty of education. The “Socialization of Gender Norms Scale”, “The Role of Gender in Occupational Choice Scale”, and the “Early Teacher Identity Measure” were conducted. T-test, correlation and regression analysis were used in the analysis of the data. The results revealed that men pay more attention to gender roles in choosing a profession, and women adopt the pre-vocational teacher identity more than men. It has been concluded that traditional gender roles, which are sub-dimensions of socialization of gender norms, are a significant predictor of gender role in choosing a profession, but the dimension of egalitarian gender roles does not significantly predict gender role in choosing a profession, and gender in choosing a profession does not significantly predict early teacher identity.