Reinforcing the STEM Pipeline in Vocational-Technical Schools: Do Female Teachers Matters?

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Sixteen
  In Roundtable Session: Career and Technical Education SIG Roundtable: Faculty and Stakeholder Impact (Table 3)

Abstract

Situated in the Chilean context, this study is the first to examine the effect of being exposed to a female Vocational Technical Education (VTE) teacher on the persistence in the STEM pipeline between secondary and postsecondary levels. We found, that having at least one female teacher in applied STEM-VTE programs increases by 10% the probability that a female student enrolled in a STEM higher education program. At the same time, female teachers do not depress male chances of enrolling in these programs. We also found that female VTE teacher’s effect is more pronounced for female students whose VTE classroom is more male-dominated, thus supporting a possible role-model effect mainly in these settings.

Authors

• María Paola Sevilla, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile
  Presenting Author

• Paola Bordon
  Non-Presenting Author

• Fernanda Ramirez-Espinoza, Harvard University
  Non-Presenting Author