Gender equality

Event
  • 19.10.2021

9th AFTRA Teaching and Learning Conference & 11th Rountable

Africa Federation of Teaching Regulatory Authorities (AFTRA) hereby announces its 9th International Conference & 11th Roundtable on Unpacking Teaching and Learning in Africa for Excellence.

AFTRA is the intergovernmental organisation of the Ministries of Education and National Agencies regulating Teaching in the 55 Member States of the African Union. Working with the Education Division of the African Union Commission, UNESCO-International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA) Education International Africa Region, UNESCO Regional Offices, Teacher Task Force, Education International, and other international organisations, AFTRA serves as the hub for articulation and implementation of key policies and initiatives driving Teaching and Learning in Africa. The International Conference and Roundtable, therefore, are annual continental landmarks that draw speakers, delegates and participants from Africa and other regions of the world.

SPECIAL GUEST OF HONOUR H.E. Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo President of the Republic of Ghana

CHIEF HOST Hon. Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, MP. Minister of Education, Ghana

HOSTS Ministry of Education, Ghana; National Teaching Council; National Inspectorate Board; Ghana Education Service; Ghana National Association of Teachers; Coalition of Concerned Teachers; National Association of Graduate Teachers; & others.

The conference will be online and physical.

For more information, please visit: http://www.africateaching-authorities.org/

Registration link

Photo: AFTRA Conference in 2019

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Event
  • 08.09.2021

Call for Materials - Resources for gender-responsive pedagogy for TVET

With the appropriate inspiration and guidance, teachers and trainers, leaders, administrators and managers and policymakers in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) can become agents of change for gender equity and equality.

Do you know of any materials that support this key personnel in ensuring gender equity and equality in the TVET space?

Relevant materials (incl. audio-visuals and multimedia) may include, but are not limited to, training materials, standards and guidelines for intervention and policymaking, tools for programming, planning and budgeting, resources for monitoring, evaluation and advocacy, case studies and best practices, technical or policy briefs, ... that have been published since 2000.

We would appreciate your support to this effort by FAWE, VVOB – education for development, and other partners to consolidate such materials into an open “GRP4TVET Resource”. The Resource will provide examples of good practice of gender-responsive pedagogy (GRP) from around the world and demonstrate how TVET can promote gender equity and equality in practical terms.

Until September 30, you can share materials below by providing a link, uploading them or giving us a reference here. The GRP4TVET Resource will be co-branded and all materials included will be properly referenced.

If you would like to receive more information on the development of the GRP4TVET resource, please contact maud.seghers@vvob.org or grace.mwaura@vvob.org.

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News
  • 12.05.2021

Female science and mathematics teachers: Better than they think?

This article was first published on April 22, 2021, on the UNESCO website.

On 22 April, on the occasion of International Girls in ICT Day, the importance of engaging girls and young women all around the world to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) has been highlighted.

More urgently than ever before, more girls and women are needed in STEM. In over two-thirds of education systems, less than 25% of students in engineering, manufacturing, construction, or information and communication technologies (ICT) are women. Yet STEM careers are growing in demand, and needed to solve the current challenges facing the world including COVID-19, climate change and food and water security.

Considering this urgency, UNESCO and the International Association of the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) investigated how teacher self-efficacy and gender are related in mathematics and science teaching in a special issue of the IEA Compass: Briefs in Education Series.

Using data from IEA’s Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) 2015, the brief explores the relationship between teachers’ gender and learners’ mathematics and science achievement and how female teachers’ self-efficacy relates to job satisfaction. The brief also discusses implications for teaching and suggests actions to address gender gaps.

Female teachers have been associated with improved educational experiences and enhanced learning outcomes for girls in some contexts. By acting as positive role models for girls, female teachers are found to effectively dispel myths about innate abilities among boys and improve girls’ perceptions, interest, and self-efficacy in STEM. Yet, the latest brief suggests that lower self-efficacy of female science and mathematics teachers may affect girls’ own self-efficacy in these subjects, and their pursuit of STEM careers.

“At my school, female teachers are well represented in STEM subjects, but I was unaware that they could experience lower self-efficacy than men”, says Tanja Neuschmidt, a mathematics and chemistry teacher at the Heinrich-Hertz-Schule in Hamburg, Germany, on her perceptions of gender in teaching.

“As a teacher, I see girls and boys demonstrating different attitudes in mathematics and chemistry subjects, with girls feeling less confident than boys in these subjects”, she said. “I did not expect that this could be linked to teachers' self-esteem.” Tanja is keen to discuss the findings of this brief with her peers to encourage more girls to build self-confidence and to value their success in STEM fields as they explore their future careers.

Read the brief for the full findings across different countries.

Photo: UNESCO/Maina WaGioko

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Event
  • 15.03.2021

Gender-responsive Education Toolkit for Teachers, Teacher Educators, School Managers and Curriculum Developers in Africa

  • Background

Gender biases and stereotypes are continuously impeding girls and women to unleash their full potentials in development processes for the befit of themselves and their community at large. In education, lack of quality and relevant curriculum including gender biased teaching and learning methods, together with absence of safe learning environments are among the critical factors hindering girls from thriving to self-reliance and empowerment through education. In most African countries, these challenges are outstanding requiring concerted efforts by all stakeholders. Though there are recent developments in education systems in terms of improved gender party particularly at primary level through policy actions, there is an un met need by education professionals, including teachers to improve knowledge and skills of gender mainstreaming in day today practices of education provision, with the aim of ensuring continued and sustainable improvements on education outcomes of girls.


In support of national efforts in Africa, the UNESCO International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA), has been providing targeted technical support for member states to improve institutional capacities on gender mainstreaming in education and teacher training. Recently, partnering with UNESCO-HNA project, IICBA has developed a publication entitled: Gender-responsive Education Toolkit for Teachers, Teacher Educators, School Managers and Curriculum Developers in Africa, to support efforts by education institutions in the continent.

This webinar introduces the toolkit to participants with presentations on content and main functions of the toolkit, including discussion on how end users are supposed to utilize the toolkit for intend education purposes. The toolkit addresses target SDG 4.5, aiming to eliminate gender disparities in education and ensure equal access to all levels of education and vocational training for the vulnerable. It also supports the implementation of the AU strategy on gender equality and women’s empowerment 2018 -2028, which sets forth a plan to realize Aspiration 6 of the African Union’s Agenda 2063: “An Africa where development is people driven, relying upon the potential offered by people, especially its women and youth and caring for children.”

  • Objectives of the webinar

The main objective of this webinar is to support promotion of gender equality in education systems through the use of gender mainstreaming tools. Specific objectives include:

  1. Introduce the content and usability of the toolkit
  2. Encourage participants to indulge in continuous learning and practices
  3. Get feedback on usability of the toolkit for education purposes in accordance with its intended objectives
  • Expected outcomes

The expected outcomes of the webinar are:

  1. Knowledge and skills on using the toolkit for teaching and learning, curriculum development and teacher training.
  2. Inventories on opportunities and potential challenges in using the toolkit in Africa
  • Target audience

The Webinar is open to all education stakeholders including school leaders, teachers, teacher educators, partners in education, and education authorities at diverse levels in Africa and beyond that are interested and engaged in girls’ education.

Join the webinar here.

  • Webinar program

programme

Photo credit: Doug Linstedt/Unsplash

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Blog
  • 09.10.2020

These 3 charts show there is still work to do to reach gender equality in the classroom

Education ministries are working to create inclusive and equitable classrooms in pursuit of Sustainable Development Goal 4 (SDG 4). A key part of this is gender equality (SDG 5). These three charts give an insight into the complex picture of gender in teaching.

 

Chart 1: Two thirds of the world’s teaching workforce is female

Chart 1: Two thirds of the world’s teaching workforce is female

 

The proportion of women in teaching has grown in the past few decades, and today women make up about two-thirds of the world’s teaching workforce (64 per cent). However, to say that women are dominant in the profession would be an oversimplification; the proportion of female teachers varies with factors such as region, subject, seniority, and education level.

For instance, data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics show that globally women make up a decreasing proportion of the teaching workforce. While 94 percent of pre-primary educators globally are women, this falls to 66 per cent in primary education, 54 per cent in secondary education and 43 per cent in tertiary education. 

In high-income countries, teaching is a predominantly female profession with post-secondary education being the exception. In some parts of Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, this gender divide is extreme as women make up more than 90 per cent of primary and secondary school teachers.

While women are better represented in many regions, in sub-Saharan Africa, they are underrepresented in primary, secondary, and tertiary teaching standing at 45 per cent, 30 per cent and 24 per cent, respectively. The are the majority in pre-primary education at 80 per cent of all teachers.

 

Chart 2: In parts of Africa females in secondary education represent fewer than 30% of teachers

Chart 2: In parts of Africa females in secondary education represent fewer than 30% of teachers

 

Many low-income countries have the opposite imbalance. 

This map shows poor female representation in secondary education in Africa. Most countries with very low proportions of women in teaching are found in the Sub-Saharan African region. In Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Chad, Comoros, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, Eritrea, DR Congo, Liberia, Mali, Mauritania, Sierra Leone and South Sudan, for example, fewer than 30 per cent of secondary school teachers are women.

There has been a gradual movement towards gender parity in education systems in lower income regions. And efforts appear to be working. Since 2000, the proportion of women primary school teachers increased from 38 to 53 per cent in Southern Asia and from 42 per cent to 46 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa.

 

Chart 3: Male and female teachers are almost equal in terms of having achieved the minimum qualifications to teach at each level

Chart 3: Male and female teachers are almost equal in terms of having achieved the minimum qualifications to teach at each level

On a global scale, male and female teachers are near equal with regards to earning the necessary qualifications to teach at all levels. Yet there are significant gender disparities in a number of areas. 

For example, in Sub-Saharan Africa, where just 65 per cent of primary and 51 per cent of secondary school teachers have the minimum required qualifications to teach, men comprise a slightly larger proportion of primary school teachers with the minimum required qualifications.

In some countries in sub-Saharan Africa however, female primary school teachers are more likely to have earned their qualifications than their male colleagues. 

Yet despite being more likely to be qualified, women teachers still face inequality when entering the workforce. 

In some cases, this disparity is particularly significant. Around 73 per cent of female primary school teachers in Sierra Leone had the minimum required qualifications compared with 59 per cent of male teachers. 

The overrepresentation of men in teaching across sub-Saharan Africa may suggest that a lack of qualifications presents a greater barrier to women entering teaching than men with the same qualifications in some countries.

 

More support for women teachers needed

Teachers are role models, so it is vital for the teaching workforce to reflect the diversity of their students. Studies suggest that being taught by women may be correlated with improved academic performance and continued education among girls, while having no negative impact on boys. Working towards a teaching workforce in which women and men are equally empowered is key to ensuring inclusive education for all.

There is still some way to go before gender equality is reached in teaching. Efforts to reach gender equality should not be limited to encouraging more men to enter pre-primary and primary teaching, but should also include supporting women teaching at higher levels and in leadership positions.

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This blog is part of a series of stories addressing the importance of the work of, and the challenges faced by teachers in the lead up to the 2020 World Teachers’ Day celebrations.

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Consult the Gender in Teaching - A key dimension of inclusion infographic published by UNESCO and the International Task Force on Teachers for Education 2030.

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Cover photo credit: Sandra Calligaro

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Meeting document
  • pdf
  • 08.04.2020
  • FR

Report of the Twelfth Session of CEART

This report summarizes the analysis of major issues affecting the status of teaching personnel worldwide at all levels of education by the 12th Session of the Joint ILO–UNESCO Committee of Experts on...
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