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Original Article

Teachers of tomorrow: How gender framings of the teaching profession affect students' intention to teach

Published Online:October 02, 2020https://doi.org/10.1024/1010-0652/a000287

Abstract

Abstract. The teaching profession faces a general shortage of teachers in most countries, but a lack of male teachers is particularly prevalent. Past research has demonstrated that students' career choices depend in part on a job's assumed gender fit, i.e. whether a profession is perceived as appropriate for one's own gender. This process may be particularly relevant for adolescent boys and clashes with the perception of the teaching profession as a predominantly feminine profession. Therefore, perceived gender fit of the teaching profession was expected to affect high school students' intention to teach, especially for male students. In the present experimental research, we investigated whether a variation of the (perceived) gender fit of the teaching profession has an impact on students' immediate intention to become a teacher. In two experiments (N = 126 and N = 342), we expected and found that a gender fit framing, which involved either simple reflection on male or female teachers, or on manipulated information about the gender ratio within the teaching profession, increased the intention of male students' to become teachers compared to non-gender fit or neutral framing. In contrast, female students were not affected by the gender fit manipulations. The implications for gender-bias free recruitment of future teachers are discussed.


Lehrkräfte von morgen: Wie die geschlechtsspezifische Darstellung des Lehrerberufs die Berufswahl von Schülerinnen und Schülern beeinflusst

Zusammenfassung. Weltweit ist ein Mangel an Lehrkräften zu beobachten, der sich besonders in einer geringen Anzahl männlicher Lehrkräfte äußert. Die bisherige Forschung hat gezeigt, dass die Berufswahl von Schülerinnen und Schülern zum Teil davon abhängt, ob ein potenzieller Beruf als passend für das eigene Geschlecht empfunden wird. Diese Assoziation könnte im Falle des Lehrerberufes und dessen Wahrnehmung als überwiegend weiblichem Beruf für männliche Schüler relevant sein. Es wurde daher erwartet, dass die vermeintliche Geschlechtspassung des Lehrerberufes (gender fit) die Berufswahlintention vor allem bei männlichen Schülern beeinflussen würde. In einem experimentellen Paradigma wurde untersucht, ob eine Variation der Passung des Lehrerberufs zum eigenen Geschlecht einen Einfluss auf die unmittelbare Absicht der Schülerinnen und Schüler hat, Lehrkraft zu werden. In zwei Experimenten (N = 126 und N = 342) zeigte sich, dass eine geschlechtsspezifische Passung des Lehrerberufes die Absicht männlicher Schüler, Lehrer zu werden, erhöhte, im Vergleich zu einer fehlenden Passung oder einer neutralen Bedingung. Diese Passung wurde entweder durch eine einfache Reflexion über männliche bzw. weibliche Lehrkräfte oder manipulierte Informationen über das Geschlechterverhältnis innerhalb des Lehrerberufs ausgelöst. Im Gegensatz dazu wurden weibliche Schülerinnen von den Manipulationen der Geschlechtspassung nicht beeinflusst. Die Implikationen für eine geschlechtsunabhängige Rekrutierung zukünftiger Lehrkräfte werden diskutiert.

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