Teacher Stereotypes in STEM: Results From a Vignette Study

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Abstract

A common explanation for the persisting female under-representation in STEM fields is culturally embedded perceptions and beliefs about female inferiority in math and related disciplines. These beliefs can hamper girls’ achievement and choices through stereotypical perceptions at the classroom level. This paper exploit quasi-experimental data from a vignette study with Danish teachers to investigate teachers’ gender stereotypes in STEM. Previous research show that teachers often rely on stereotypical perceptions when evaluating students. This is potentially problematic because teachers are important gatekeepers, and stereotypes affect their expectations and behavior in the classroom. Consequently, gender stereotypes in the natural sciences may discourage girls from pursuing STEM fields thus contributing to the differential STEM career pathways of male and female students. In addition, teacher’s own gender potentially also influence on their gender perceptions, thus producing same-sex teacher stereotypes. This paper shows that 1) there is a ten-percentage points difference between male and female students in the likelihood of being recommended for a STEM study program, but it is not statistically significant and 2) although both male and female teachers are more likely to recommend a STEM study program to boys than to girls, male teachers are even more likely than female teachers to recommend a STEM study program to boys and female teachers are even less likely to recommend one to girls. This finding suggests that we should pay explicit attention to same-sex gender stereotypes and their implications for students’ educational outcomes in general and gender inequality in STEM in particular.

Author

• Ida Gran Andersen, Aarhus University