MISSION: CREATING A GENDER-RESPONSIVE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

Aslı Çelik¹, asli.asli293@gmail.com

¹Ministry of Education, Türkiye, +905302366852

ABSTRACT

Teachers inspire and empower – they can also discourage and put limitations, regardless of whether they are making a conscious effort to do so. In a world, where millions of girls find themselves either on the sidelines of education or excluded entirely, the role of teachers in perpetuating or actively combating gender inequality is especially critical. Thus, this research is committed to tackling gender stereotyping among students and raising them to be active citizens with increased abilities. As we planned a gradual timeline starting from gender equality awareness and discussion activities to creating and implementing gender-responsive learning environment activities in the classroom settings, we let students explore their community and the world to express their solutions to provide gender equality in education. Included in the activities were stereotyping, language, classroom equality, gender, and technology. As a gender-responsive learning environment is a global issue, it requires a multidisciplinary approach. It was used as a multidisciplinary curriculum one in which the gender equality topic is studied from the feminist viewpoint of more than one discipline that students and teachers can bring to illustrate the issue. Teachers created tools for evaluations and guidelines that can help promote gender equity in the school and the classroom setting. The research was conducted in 4 secondary and 5 high schools in five European countries (Türkiye, Italy, Romania, Albania, and Spain). 10 teachers and 88 students participated in the research. The research was conducted for 9 months (from September 2020 to May 2021). This international research, of which the target audience was secondary school and high school students, was carried out to gain an egalitarian perspective on gender roles in the school and contribute in the way of creating a gender-responsive learning environment. The research analyzed the traditional and egalitarian opinions and attitudes of secondary and high school students on gender, gender roles, and gender equality. The study managed to maintain a culture where students are achieving, active, procreator, responsible, egalitarian, and included.

Keywords: Gender Equality, Gender Responsive Learning Environment, Gender Sensitive Educators