Measuring Student Teachers' Competence for Gender Equality Practice: A Scale Development Study

• In Event: New Insights in Education

Abstract

Gender equality (GE) is a matter of concern in today’s societies having become as a critical issue for its potential to reduce gender inequities and discrimination. In practice, however, teacher education (TE) has been characterized by a limited compromise in developing GE competencies. This paper describes the development of a self-report survey to measure pre-service teachers’ self-efficacy for GE practice (TEGEP). Based on a theory-driven framework, a 22-item scale was developed and validated on a sample of 601 preservice teachers selected from three TE programs. Confirmatory factor analyses revealed three factors that explained 57% of total variance suggesting that the TEGEP shows good construct validity and reliability. Results will be discussed in terms of identifying needs for GE competence development.

Authors

• Maria Cristina Cardona, University of Alicante

• Cristina Miralles-Cardona, University of Alicante

• Esther Chiner-Sanz, Universidad de Alicante

• Marcos Gómez-Puerta, University of Alicante