Teachers, teaching and gender equality

Supervisor: Professor Vanita Sundaram

A) Rationale for the project

From September 2020, Relationships and Sex Education will become a statutory subject in primary and secondary schools in England and Wales. The updated curriculum requires schools to cover issues relating to healthy relationships, including enabling children and young people to recognise unhealthy relationship behaviours and dynamics. In secondary school, teachers are required to specifically teach about particular forms of abuse including coercion, grooming, sexual and physical violence. However, teacher education in England and Wales does not include a statutory component on gender, gender-based harassment or violence. Relatively little is known about teachers’ experiences of teaching about or for gender equality in schools, and research-informed modules on issues relating to gender, including harassment and violence do not form a standard or statutory element of teacher training.

B) References that should be read

National Education Union and UK Feminista. (2017). ‘It’s just everywhere’: A study on sexism in schools - and how we tackle it.

Renold, E. 2019. Primary AGENDA: Supporting children in making positive relationships matter.. Cardiff: Cardiff University, Children’s Commissioner for Wales, NSPCC Cymru/Wales, and Welsh Women’s Aid.

Renold, E. and McGeeney, E. 2017. Informing the future of the Sex and Relationships Education Curriculum in Wales. Project Report. Cardiff: Cardiff University.

Ringrose, J. (2013). Postfeminist education?:Girls and the sexual politics of schooling. Routledge.

Sundaram, V. and Sauntson, H. (2015). Discursive silences: using critical linguistic and qualitative analysis to explore the continued absence of pleasure in sex and relationships education in England. Sex Education, DOI: 10.1080/14681811.2015.1058771

C) Research aims / questions

You will explore how teachers understand gender, gender equality and their views on and experiences of teaching about/for gender equality. You might explore this with trainee teachers, as well as/or in-service teachers. Key questions might include how teachers conceptualise gender, gender equality, their own professional responsibility in relation to teaching about gender, harassment and violence. You might look at existing models for teaching about gender and sexualities equality in an educational setting. You might choose an informal educational setting or a formal schooling context for this type of project.

D) Methods

You will determine your own methodology through reading and supervision. Most likely, this type of project will involve a combination of methods, including document analysis, interviews, evaluation methods, survey.