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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

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

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...
News
  • 29.05.2018

Female Teachers and Gender Equality in Education: the Teacher Task Force at EDD 18

The International Teachers Task Force on Education 2030 will host a Lab Debate at this year’s European Development Days. Titled “Female Teachers and Gender Equality in Education”, our debate will look into how we can support women to enter and remain in the teaching profession, as well as gender-responsive teaching methodologies for trainee teachers. This is in line with this year’s EDD theme “Women and Girls at the Forefront of Sustainable Development: protect, empower, invest.”

Although Sustainable Development Goal 4 and the Education 2030 Framework for Action provide clear guidelines to achieving universal and gender-sensitive education, girls still face more barriers in accessing education, and gender stereotypes are often reinforced in their educational experiences. Girls are still 1.5 times more likely than boys to be excluded from primary school, and half of out-of-school primary-aged girls are unlikely to ever enter school. Wealth disparities and the rural-urban divide further exacerbate barriers and vulnerabilities faced by girls, which increase as they get older.

Research suggests that female teachers have an important role in addressing access and quality issues in girls’ educational experiences – especially in places where women are discriminated against and under-represented in political, employment, and leadership positions.

This debate will explore policy, funding and civil society best practices in empowering women to enter and remain in the teaching profession and their role in providing a gender-responsive education to all children.

Our speakers include H.E. Paul Mavima, Minister of Primary and Secondary Education in Zimbabwe; H.E. Marie Odile Attanasso, Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Benin; Mrs Teopista Birungi Mayanja, Regional Coordinator for the Africa Network Campaign for Education for All (ANCEFA); and Mrs. Conceição da Glòria Sozinho, Director of ADPP Teacher Training College in Chimoio, Mozambique. They will share their experiences and lessons learned towards achieving gender parity in the teaching profession and gender-responsive teacher training.

The Debate will be held at in Room D1 on Wednesday 6 June at 09:00 am. For more information please go to https://eudevdays.eu/.