Gender as a theme and a concept in teacher students' Masters' theses

Abstract

In this study, Master’s theses from the field of teacher education have been analysed from the perspective of equality and gender aware research and education. Master’s theses from the field of teacher education reveal something about the world views constructed in teacher education. This study examines which kind of 1) selected topics and themes and their justifications, 2) conceptualisation of gender and 3) educational conclusions connected to gender topics do the Master's thesis contain. The material was selected from the thesis databases of two Finnish university teacher education units. All theses from the field of education completed in 2000-2007, with names or abstracts including words referring to the sex/gender, were selected. After the selection process, 53 theses (4 %) were chosen as research material. The research material was analysed by qualitative and quantitative content analysis. The knowledge of school world phenomena and theoretical handlings that open up gender, were rarely integrated in the theses of teacher education. Sex as a background variable was a clear and familiar arrangement from method literature and questionnaires of statistical methods. The arrangement usually produces a simplified confrontation between the sexes in which case the phenomena connected to gender were explained only with the concepts of the individual level. Educational conclusions related to sex/gender themes were presented in 34 theses, out of which, only ten dealt with strengthening the equality - and gender awareness of educators. Dealing with educational gender themes in teacher education requires theoretical equipment, surpassing everyday knowledge from both the student and the supervisor.