Browsing by Subject "fokusryhmäkeskustelu"

Objectives. The aim of this study is to describe, what kind of understanding students have about gender and its diversity. I am interested in how student teachers talk about gender. In addition, I examine what student teachers think about how well student education has prepared them for facing gender diversity in school. Previous studies have shown that heteronormativity and gendered practices are common in school. This leads to discrimination of gender minorities. According to the research, the situation for gender minorities would improve if teachers had more information about gender diversity. However, teacher education hardly includes any gender issues in their curriculums. Methods. This study is a qualitative study with a dialogical approach. The data was collected mainly using focus groups. There were two groups and in total four student teachers. Both groups had an hour to discuss about gender issues. The data was transcribed and it was analyzed by content analysis and dialogical analysis of multivoicedness. Questionnaire was used as an additional data. It was sent to all student teachers in the University of Helsinki. 29 replies were received to the questionnaire. Results and conclusions. Three main understandings emerged from discussions: Gender is a complex phenomenon, school is a gendered environment in which gender roles and expectations are common, Finland is lagging behind in gender related issues. Gendered practices were recognized by students. In conceptions that emerged from the survey data, gender was seen also as two-parted. Most of the students felt like gender diversity is not being discussed enough in teacher education. Gender related content is discussed only in a few courses. Students also felt that dealing with gender related issues is up to the students themselves.