A Systematic Review of Gender and Academic Self-Concept in Secondary Education

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 3
  In Roundtable Session: (De)Constructing: An Exploration of Gender Issues in Education

Abstract

Research on general academic and domain-specific self-concept is robust, but often neglects to address how self-concept is formed through a students’ gender identity. The present study aims to synthesize the current literature and understand how gender has been situated in academic self-concept research over the last 20 years in secondary education settings. Through our systematic search procedures we reviewed, analyzed, and narratively synthesized 43 studies. Largely, we have discovered that the literature discusses gender in terms of binary sex rather than as a social construct and requires further understanding of the role that gender and social theories play in developing a students’ academic self-concept, both generally and in specific domains that are tied to traditional gender stereotypical beliefs.

Author

• Genna Kieper, Washington State University - Pullman