History Teachers' Curricular Decisions About Gender-Related Social Issues: Using Shared Cultural Tools in South Korea

• In Event: Fairmont Roundtable Session Eighteen
  In Roundtable Session: Finding Our People: Mentoring, Sharing, and Connecting (Table 10)

Abstract

This study examines how history teachers can secure curricular space for gender-related social issues in a highly controlled educational setting using their lived experiences, teacher communities, and understanding of gender through a case in South Korea. I conducted semi-structured interviews with eight public secondary school teachers who regularly attended a voluntary women’s history study group. In interviews, the teachers demonstrated that they tactically used official curricular materials to invite their students to discuss gender-related social issues, that they became willing to address those issues because of gendered experiences in their personal and professional lives, and that they used support from teachers’ communities within and beyond school boundaries. The findings suggest curricular implications of teachers’ collective identity, agency, and efforts.

Author

• Hana Jun, Indiana University
  Presenting Author