Annotation
In contemporary societies, the educational system is the most powerful institutional agent of socialization after the family. Schools are spaces which strongly influence, impact, and police the construction of identity.
They are key locations for learning and doing gender. Despite the meritocratic ideals embedded in the institution of school, boys and girls often receive throughout their education different messages about who they are and what they can expect from themselves in the future.
In this way, schools can often solidify gender inequalities. The aim of the course is to introduce the main mechanisms contributing to this gender socialization that operate at different educational levels – from preschools to universities.
It will focus on gender aspects of the educational content and learning environment, negotiations of masculinity and femininity in peer interactions, homophobic bullying, teacher-student interactions, the educational transitions, as well as selected phenomena related to higher education (e.g. sexual harassment, gender aspects in academic career development). Using gender lenses, we will also concentrate on the history of school and university education and the teaching profession.
In addition, we will explore selected educational policies and initiatives aiming to eliminate gender stereotypes in education and their negative effects. Issues of gender will be presented as inherently tied to the intersectionality of identity across a variety of lines (including socioeconomic status, ethnicity, sexual orientation etc.).