Gender Sensitisation for School Teachers: Agents of Change in the Classroom

Abstract

This article focuses on the role that teachers play in the gender socialisation of children in schools and how a change in teachers through gender sensitisation training is imperative to bring about larger gender equality in society. Educational institutions are among the primary traditional agencies of socialisation. Teachers are important members of both the school and the community and play a major role in shaping the attitudes and ideologies of children—and through them, their parents. The school as an institution has been a major site where one learns to be patriarchal or show an attitude of male domination. Teachers have the advantage of being outside of the family and are often role models for children. As teachers themselves are the products of traditional gender stereotypes and hierarchies, they may form stereotypes that affect the ways in which children grow up. Girls and women may also hold gender stereotypes, so female teachers may not escape the danger of falling into such thinking. In doing so, they often do not realise what impact they can have on children. School teachers are the vehicles of change, and every generation has a different kind of bond with the teacher. The role of teachers in enabling change is immense and it is useful to take advantage of this situation to move ahead. Often, teachers are women—especially at the primary-school level—as teaching young children is considered an extension of childcare. Care occupations have been extremely gendered and underpaid and teaching school children is seen as an extension of care. This article draws from and reflects on the impact of teacher training workshops conducted among primary school teachers in a low-income area in Hyderabad. Many of the teachers and students in these schools are both socio-economically and culturally marginalised. This article thus focuses on bringing about transformation among marginalised communities.