Conference Agenda

In the German-speaking area, different debates can be observed in the past 15-20 years, which can be interpreted as a sign or indicator of the relevance of diversity in the field of school. The different debates are ambivalent and partly contrary to each other. For example, there is a systematic attempt to prohibit female teachers from wearing a hijab in school and thereby counteract diversity, while on the other hand, a demand for more male teachers has been heard for decades, which is apparently intended to contribute to the diversity of masculinities (May & Rose 2014). This demand for 'more men' was also supported by education policy, so that model projects were launched with the aim of attracting male professionals to the field of education.

The origin of the call for 'more men' for the field of education was the observation that boys showed poorer school achievments compared to girls. They had to repeat a class more often or left school more often without a diploma. In this context, it is therefore also mostly spoken of as ' boys crises' (Hurrelmann & Schulz 2012). The idea behind the education policies to increase the male quota was to create male role models for boys and thus to counteract the supposedly negative 'feminisation' of the education system (Fegter 2013). The representation of different embodiments of masculinities was supposed to lead the boys to also identify more with education. In addition, it was hoped that the boys would form alternative ideas of masculinity along the role models, which would contribute to a diversity of masculinity (Cremers & Krabel 2016) and thus show a reflective approach towards gender (Budde 2014).

Even though boys and their achievements symbolise the starting point for the demands for more men, little research has subsequently dealt with boys or young people in general and their ideas of masculinity. Rather, in the German-speaking area, the focus has been on professionals and their constructions of masculinity as well as ideas (Buschmeyer 2013, Breitenbach et al. 2015, Diewald 2018). It also remains unclear whether young people choose teachers as role models. There are contradictory findings and theoretical assumptions on this (Rose 2014). In addition, it is apparent that female, non-binary and non-heteronormative young people have so far been completely left out of this discussion. Therefore, there are no findings for the German-speaking countries that provide information on how masculinity is thought of or lived outside of the male understood body.

In an ongoing research project on 'Transformed masculinities in the mirror of education', I am trying to approach these gaps. I am focusing on young people's ideas and beliefs around masculinity and the extent to which these influence their everyday lives. In addition, the focus is on whether teachers serve as role models for the young people. So far, 11 adolescents have been interviewed using episodic interviews (Flick 2022). Gender diversity was taken into account in the sample of the young people. The interviews were analysed using the documentary method (Nohl 2017).

The analyse so far shows that the young people mostly do not choose role models from the educational context. Rather, the interviews indicate that the young people feel a kind of foreignness towards their teachers. Gender role models for masculinity or other gender concepts are mostly sought outside of school or other educational institutions. With regard to ideas of masculinity, the young people have a partly confused understanding - between modernisation and tradition. Within the lecture, 2 case studies will be presented, in which different approaches of young people to masculinity and role models will be presented.

In the beginning of the #Metoo-movement in 2017, a large number of girls and women from many countries, not least from Sweden (Swedish Gender Equality Agency, 2022) gave their experiences of being sexually harassed. These experiences of sexual harassment in an allegedly gender-equal country, underscores the importance of further studies. Within the Nordic education system, there is an overarching democratic assignment, which means that all students must be treated equally and where no one must be subjected to offensive discrimination, for example sexual harassment (Måwe, 2018). The Swedish Discrimination Act prescribes that all children have the right to be in school without risk of being exposed to violence or harassment (SFS, 2008:567). But, research shows that sexual harassment is part of everyday life for many young people and occurs at all levels in the educational system. The perpetrator is often a boy and the victims are frequently girls. Most often the harassment takes place outside the class time, for example in corridors, in school yards and in locker rooms (Gillander Gådin, 2012; 2019; Plan International, 2020; Eek-Karlsson, Berggren & Torpsten, 2022). In this study the focus is to problematize Swedish schools assignment to work for counteracting sexual harassment. The aim is to contribute with knowledge about students’ views upon teachers’ teaching regarding the work of counteracting sexual harassment. The research question guiding the study is:

• How can students descriptions regarding teachers assignment to counteract sexual harassment be understood from a didactical perspective?’

From a didactic perspective, the prevention and promotion work can include both the teaching that formally takes place during the lessons as well as informal meetings between lessons. In this study it also includes the quality of the relationships between teacher and student, as well as how activities are organized in order to create safe learning environments. Depending on underlying values that permeate the school organization and the teacher’s teaching, different affordances will fall out (Wahlström, 2019).

The theoretical framework is based on an educational perspective and directed towards teachers’ work against oppression and towards social justice. Basically, we use Kumashiro’s theory of anti-oppressive education. He has developed four different strategies, which all have both strengths and weaknesses. The strategies are called ‘Education for the Other’, Education about the Other, Education that is critical of privileging and othering, and ‘Education that changes’ (Kumashiro, 2002). More specifically it deals with the relationships between teacher and student, teacher and the knowledge content as well as the teaching process. The concept ‘teaching’ is understood in this study as ‘teaching acts’ that are carried out both in formal teaching situations within specific lessons as well as in informal teaching situations in between the lessons (Gardesten, 2021).

Teaching in school always takes place in a social context and it is in this context conditions for learning are created. Teachers’ basic educational/pedagogical view is the starting point for how the teachers plan and stages the education. All education has a content dimension, i.e. what is to be in focus, for example knowledge, skills and understanding. In teaching there is also a process dimension, which includes how the education is staged. Linked to Kumashiro’s four approaches, they all have relational, content-oriented and process-oriented didactic perspectives. Preventing and managing the occurrence of sexual harassment in school (and in its extension the work for social jusice) can be understood in different ways. In this study the focus is on students’ views on teachers’ education, i.e. the focus is not on what really happens in practice. Nor can anything be said about teachers' own intentions behind their teaching.

In various countries, including Iceland, there is a discussion about a shortage of teachers. In many cases, this discussion centeres around the specific shortage of male teachers in preschool and the younger grades of compulsory education (e.g. Hjalmarsson & Löfdahl, 2014; Jóhannesson et al., 2002b). Another kind of discussion is about the quality and the importance of the induction of novice teachers (e.g., Estola et al., 2012; Jóhannesson et al., 2002a; Steingrímsdóttir & Engilbertsson, 2018).

Since the research group had already studied this among novice male teachers (see below), we decided to address the situation of young female teachers in Icelandic compulsory schools.

There are two main types of literature that the research is based on: theories of gender, including research about female and male teachers and the femininization of teaching; and theories and research about novice teachers.

Masculinity and feminity are key concepts about gender. Connell (2006) suggests that these concepts refer to characteristics which society believes belong to men and women. Connell (1987) has also suggested that hegemonic masculinity is possible because of emphasized feminity which subordinates women to men. Schippers (2007) has suggested that women who take control can perform pariah femininity that troubles the power relationship involved in the pair of hegemonic masculinity and emphasized feminity. Women tend to be expected to show care and male teachers to perform disciplinary actions (e.g., Hjalmarsson & Löfdahl, 2014). This is enforced with the feminization in the number of teachers worldwide (e.g., Warin & Gannerud, 2014).

In the second type of literature, research findings suggest that novice teachers need a few years – three to five – to gain competence and more time to acquire expertise (Berliner, 1992; Hammerness et al., 2005). There are indications that if the novices are not much supervised during an induction time, then they may continue to teach without necessary competence – or quit the job after a short time (e.g., Hammerness o.fl., 2005; Steingrímsdóttir, 2007). Estola et al. (2012) found that most novices meet similar challenges, importantly those that relate to the balance between work load and job satisfaction. They also find it challenging to organize the time to talk with colleagues, staff, students, and parents. Desirable forms of supervision include that each novice is at least for the first year assigned to an experienced teacher for guidance. This has only been followed to a limited extent in Iceland (Jóhannesson et al., 2022a; Steingrímsdóttir & Engilbertsson, 2018).

The study follows up on a two-year study of novice Icelandic male teachers conducted by the principal investigator and one of the cooperating researchers in this study. The findings of the study, in short, indicate that support with novice teachers is not well organized (Jóhannesson et al., 2022a) and that there are gendered expectations to the male teachers, such as being capable of “keeping discipline” in the classroom on grounds of their gender (Jóhannesson et al., 2022b).

Our focus is twofold: First, on how our interviewees had experienced their induction and, second, on the ways which issues of gender mattered in the expectations that they experienced and how these expectations interacted with the professional demands of being a teacher.

Three main questions guided the research design:

• What is the experience of newly graduated female teachers in Icelandic compulsory schools?
• In what ways is the experience of newly graduated female teachers gendered?
• Are there expectations that the newly graduated female teachers perform emphasized femininity?