Two Teachers' Classroom Practice of Gender Equity

Gillian Francis, JoAnn Bergsma, Ling Zhang, and Lorraine Cathro

In this study two teacher researchers, Gillian Francis and JoAnn Bergsma, worked collaboratively with a university-based researcher, Lorraine Cathro, to examine and describe how they understood and lived gender equity in their classrooms. They were assisted by Ling Zhang, who compiled a literature review on the subject and contributed to the data analysis process.

In explaining the intent of their study, the researchers noted that the Saskatchewan Department of Education developed Gender Equity Policy and Guidelines for Implementation in 1991. The intent of this policy was to have gender equity become embedded in curricula and school practice. However, few Saskatchewan teachers seemed familiar with the policy or to have worked to implement it. What seemed to be needed to encourage implementation was a description of how gender equity might be lived in the classroom by teachers.

Specifically, the study outlined two teachers' understanding of gender equity and how they translated that understanding into practice, e.g., the development of teaching units, activities and materials. (Sample lessons and lists of materials useful to teachers are included in the project's final report.) It was believed that documenting what actually happens in classrooms as teachers implement gender equity would benefit teachers, administrators, parents, trustees, researchers and students struggling with how gender equity can be lived, rather than just discussed. The study, then, was intended to help fill the gap between the rhetoric of a policy and the reality of implementing that policy in a classroom.

A qualitative perspective was used to look at the teachers' work within the classroom and its context. Data were collected through classroom observations (16-20 hours in each classroom), teacher interviews, reflective journals and field notes, and informal meetings. The data were analysed and themes (main ideas which recurred) were identified.

The central theme that emerged in both classrooms was the importance of the teachers' role in promoting gender equity. Both teachers found that their own personal understanding of gender and their commitment to work consciously and with determination toward gender equity were keys to implementation. The teachers' lived experiences were filters through which they continually monitored their own actions. Both teachers became spokespeople for gender equity: they became involved in conversations, presentations and committee work in addition to their classroom work.

There were deliberate efforts to include gender issues, develop a non-sexist curriculum, and use gender equitable materials in both the classrooms studied. Through use of children's literature as a springboard for discussion of gender in issues in the grade one classroom and a unit on gender roles and stereotypes in the grade eight classroom, both teachers helped students identify where sexism exists, and provided activities in which students were encouraged to explore alternatives. Both teachers modelled and monitored their use of inclusionary language while guiding their students to use such language. They also selected materials that portrayed women and men, girls and boys, in positive ways. In terms of classroom interactions, a conscious effort was made to alternate activities between girls and boys, and all activities were deemed appropriate for all students. A common thread in both classrooms was laying of the groundwork for future gender equity and the prevention of intimidation and harassment based on gender.

In the end, the researchers concluded, "[I]f educational stakeholders are serious about addressing issues of sexism which result in inequitable opportunities and may lead to sexuall harassment and even violence in the schools, then implementing the Gender Equity Policy (1991) is the logical starting point."

Four recommendations were made on the basis of their research:

1. the stakeholders in education need to become involved in the long-overdue implementation of the gender equity policy in Saskatchewan schools;
2. teachers should be provided with in-service and on-going support to implement the policy, preferably given by other teachers who have successfully incorporated gender equity into their classrooms;
3. gender equity issues should be addressed in pre-service teacher education, with a mechanism put in place to hold teacher education programs responsible for doing so; and
4. more research should be done on gender equity at different grade levels and in different communities.

Themes Emerging from Classroom Research on Gender Equity

1. Grade One:
   • gender as a conscious, essential experience
   • children's literature as a springboard to learning about gender
   • a conscious, deliberate choice to use inclusionary language
   • laying the groundwork for future gender equity
   • sharing the consciousness and spreading the action

   Grade Eight:

   • inclusionary language and fairness in all activities
   • negotiation of the curriculum and inclusion of gender issues
   • situational humour: "feeling safe" and naming the issue
   • multiple perspectives - viewing their worlds
   • laying of the groundwork - deliberate, conscious action
   • championing of gender equity