Abstract
Most Sub-Saharan African countries have made great efforts towards promoting gender equality in gaining access to, and completing, education cycles. Regardless of such efforts, less attention has been paid to gender-biased classroom practices that affect students’ effective learning. This disparity calls for nuanced understanding of teachers’ classroom practices that perpetuate gender inequality with a view of devising mechanisms for improvement. This paper specifically analyses patterns of gender inequalities caused by teachers in the classroom through their knowledge, beliefs and behaviours. Data were obtained from a review of 55 empirical and theoretical publications on gender in education, of which 26 articles and research reports were scrutinised. The findings revealed that there were several patterns through which teachers promote gender inequalities during teaching, whereas making gender-biased attributions to students was found to be the most typical one. Other patterns were related to teacher-students interactions that favour one’s sex. It was also found that while some teachers promoted gender inequalities intentionally, others did it unconsciously. Thus, it would seem that classroom-based gender practices were mainly emanating from teachers’ preconceptions and limited knowledge in gender matters. Based on this review, recommendations are made to teachers, researchers, and policy makers in Tanzania to address gender inequalities through improved classroom pedagogical practices, and professional development for in-service and pre-service teachers.
Recommended Citation
J. Mwakabenga,, Rehema and Claudius Komba, Sotco
(2021)
"Gender Inequalities in Pedagogical Classroom Practice: What Influence Do Teachers Make?,"
Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences: Vol. 10
:
No.
3
, Article 5.
Available at: https://doi.org/10.56279/jhss.v10.i3.4
Included in
Educational Psychology Commons, Gender and Sexuality Commons, Other Teacher Education and Professional Development Commons