Heg-enemy: Women Teachers Doing Themselves In (With Much Help)

• In Event: 26.079 - Roundtable Session 7
  In Roundtable Session: 26.079-13 - Lives of Teachers: Some Provocative Issues

Abstract

When paired with the 'feminization' of early years teaching in the US, alarmist discourses on male performance in educational contexts has led to assumptions that female teachers are to blame for failing schools and that recruiting male teachers to the profession will solve these and many other problems. Findings from a multi-site, qualitative study of early years teachers’ conceptualizations of gender and teaching suggest that both female and male teachers reinforce foundational assumptions driving the 'add men and stir' policies in play. Analyses of two focal participants’ narratives illustrate both male and female constructions of women as an Other, who has numerical dominance but little realized power, with implications for both male and female teachers' self-representation, effectiveness and professional advocacy.

Authors

• Christine Ann Mallozzi, University of Kentucky

• Sally Campbell Galman, University of Massachusetts - Amherst