Gender Discourse in the Perceptions of Educational Relations Participants in the St. Petersburg Schools

Abstract

This research paper presents results of the two years study aimed at eliciting gender segregation among the teaching school personnel in the schools of St. Petersburg. The topic is being elaborated through the lens of the education relationships stakeholders (teachers, parents, learners, school management) own views on the problem. Paper shows that the views of the respondents depend on their age, gender and position in school. The most gender-dependent respondents are pedagogues older than 40 and administration staff. Male teachers are more prone to emphasize gender differences than their female colleagues, whereas high school students’ involvement in the subject learning and their perceptions of the teaching style are not anyhow connected with the gender of the teacher. However, high school students' parents prefer to hire men as private tutors, just as the primary scholars' parents opt for female teachers against their male colleagues.The authors conclude that teachers in St. Petersburg schools don’t identify gender segregation as an apparent problem, as well as the whole system doesn’t struggle with the gender imbalance and gender roles differences.

Keywords

• discourse
• gender
• gender segregation
• gender stereotypes
• gender imbalance
• general education
• teacher