Browsing by Author "Hämäläinen, Marjut"

Objectives. The aim of this study was to find out how the gender equality actualizes in home economics classroom and in the teaching which happens in there. The approach of the study was to consider the gender in diverse ways, not only as dichotomic to men and women. The objective of this study is to provide information and knowledge to home economics teachers on the work field and in the studies. The public debate about gender equality has been lively in Finland for the past decade. In comprehensive school it became mandatory for every school to provide their own equality-program from the beginning of the year 2017. Methods. The data was collected in one upper primary school in the capital area during the beginning of the year 2018. The method to collect the data was observation. The researcher participated physically the observed lessons, and made notes along them. No technical recording equipments were used. To focus the observations the researcher made observation tables to form different part of the lessons. The collected data was analyzed by using the narrative analyzing method. Results and conclusions. For the most part, it was observed that the participants were treated equally. The teacher’s and the pupils’ behavior was seen equal to each other. The classroom and the environment in there was perceived also equal. Although the teaching and learning in the home economics classroom was seen from the results to promote equality, it could also be observed that at times the impact of certain societal norms affected behaviour in the classroom . When the students were divided into groups or pairs, most of the time the groups formed consisted of people of the same gender.