Wanda Hurren
University of Regina
Abstract
|
This article is a discussion of curricular practices and body counts related to gender and social studies. The author focuses on the discursive spaces of social studies, and the teacher education context in particular, to examine issues of gender imbalance. The expanding horizons curricular arrangement of social studies, and the gender of the people who "do" social studies are explored as areas of possibility for a more gender balanced construction of social studies education. |
***************
…the question is, how and why are we going to talk about gender issues in the classroom-our classroom right here on this campus, and your classrooms in schools?
|
no one answers silence total silence a few glares some fidgeting with pens some smirks at least I asked the question… *************** |
I want to locate my discussion of gender issues and social studies within the discursive spaces of the subject area; the spaces where we talk, teach, learn, write, and read about social studies education. These are the spaces wherein we "do" social studies, and where social studies as a subject area is constructed. I will be referring specifically to some of the discursive spaces of teacher education: elementary and secondary social studies curriculum courses, practicum classrooms in K-—12 schools, and textual locations, such as provincial curricular documents, curriculum textbooks, and teaching resources. While it is possible to make some overall statements, I am not able to generalize to all teacher education spaces. My discussion is based on my work as Chair of the social studies subject area within the Faculty of Education at the University of Regina, and on my experiences of teaching social studies curriculum courses in teacher education programs at four Western Canadian Universities. While I will not be presenting generalizing statistics, I do have some body counts and specific incidents and interruptions related to gender issues and social studies education that I would like to share.
In the discursive spaces given over to the construction of social studies education, a linear arrangement and presentation of ideas is the expectation and the norm. In the present discursive space on these journal pages, I intend that my discussion will interrupt notions of linear thought and will take on a format that performs or represents the interruptive nature of how I seem to make sense of things.
In my attempts to make sense of gender issues and social studies education, I often hear statements and read information that would indicate all is gender balanced in the subject area, yet I am confronted with a tacit awareness (or "gut" feeling) and with thoughts and experiences that interrupt this apparent state of balance. Bits and pieces interrupt here and there.
***************
…it's just a game…
…learn about grid by playing Battleships…5 battleships…4 destroyers…3
aircraft carriers…1 submarine…when a player "hits" one of your ships, tell the group
immediately and indicate which of your ships (e.g., battleship, submarine) has been hit…
(Grade 4 Saskatchewan Curriculum Guide, p. 106)
…would there be bodies on those ships?
***************
Gender balance and gender equity issues are raised in the discursive spaces of curriculum and instruction classrooms. In teacher education curriculum courses we examine teaching and learning resources and consider content and approach to ensure that the spaces given over to textbook images, the topics to be studied, and the approaches and perspectives through which these topics will be studied represent both
***************
***************
genders equally and equitably. On a broader scale, we consider how, historically, social studies as a subject area has been constructed by men. As a result, many of the traditional topics and teachings of the subject area-debate, parliamentary procedures, military feats and defeats, public as more noteworthy than private-are those associated, in general,
***************
…what is the attraction…
…the large number of retiring and former military personnel expressing interest
in second careers in education, and in particular, in the social studies will have an
impact on education …. The nature of the attraction of this population to this particular
field of social studies teaching was explored… (Jenne, 2000, p. 446-47)
***************
with men.
A recently published textbook, The Canadian Anthology of Social Studies (Case and Clark, 1997) includes two chapters (out of a total of 41 chapters) that specifically address gender balance, largely in the area of social studies resources and textbook content. While content is an important aspect regarding gender balance in social studies education, the overall structure of the subject area also needs to be examined. The expanding horizons structure of social studies requires that young children (most often taught by women) study self and family, and then as older children (more often taught by
***************
…student handout #1E: bomb shelter…
…you and your friends have decided that war is unavoidable, and plan to ensure
your own survival by building and stocking your own bomb shelter…
(Social Studies: A Curriculum Guide for the Middle Level, Grade Seven, 1999, p. 108)
***************
men) expand the study to world issues and international relations and conflicts. This overall structure of social studies education supports a hierarchical framework that privileges public over private, and implies that the study of issues traditionally associated with men require a more sophisticated, mature learner/body than the study of self, family, and community, issues traditionally associated with women.
I have found that addressing issues of gender balance in social studies curriculum courses can be frustrating. The frustration is often related to not knowing where to begin.
***************
…in denial…
…you've been telling us that most photos in newspapers are of men, and most
photos of women are not on the front page. Well, here is a woman on the front page…
…I never felt left out of history…
…there are women who fought in the wars. We just don't know about them…
***************
In a secondary social studies curriculum class (enrolment 19: 9 men, 10 women), we read a textbook chapter regarding gender and history (Turner and Clark, 1998). The chapter discussed the notion of history from a human rather than merely male perspective, and how we might begin to construct a human perspective by including more of women's experiences as historically significant. One student commented that she had never thought of women's experiences as "history."
We were discussing the same chapter in an elementary social studies curriculum course (enrolment: 26; 2 men, 24 women). Students first held small group discussions
***************
***************
and we were about to begin a whole class discussion, when one of the women in the class said, "First of all, I really want to hear what the men think about all of this." Why would she defer to the two men enrolled in the course for their perspectives?
In Saskatchewan, all provincial curriculum documents include a section that addresses issues of gender equity. These documents note that:
|
…expectations based primarily on gender limit students' abilities to develop to their fullest potential. While some stereotypical views and practices have disappeared, others remain….It is the responsibility of schools to create an educational environment free of gender bias…. Saskatchewan teachers are responsible for integrating into the program resources that reflect gender balance, and practices that provide equal opportunities for both girls and boys. (Social Studies: A Curriculum Guide and Activity Guide for the Elementary Level, 1995, p. 5) |
However, provincial social studies documents contain content that is gender biased. A unit of study on "Power" in Grade 7 discusses political power structures (monarchy, oligarchy, autocracy, democracy, etc.) but does not acknowledge the locations of power inherent in a patriarchal society, or how patriarchy is the underlying framework that allows for the various existing political power structures. While items such as decision making, resources, skills, talents, education, strength, qualifications, charisma, and beauty are highlighted as sources of individual power, gender is not acknowledged as a source of power. The student handout page dealing with "Principles of Democracy" uses only male examples in various situations. Teacher information pages include fables and stories with a male bias (kingship, czars, a Mark Twain narrative). I invite teacher education students to consider gender as a point of reference when they read through this particular social studies unit. The students identify an overwhelmingly male bias.
***************
…continuity and/or change…
…this was published in 1994. It's not like this anymore. Maybe in the past … but
things have changed…
***************
In a social studies curriculum course examining controversial issues, two students led a class discussion regarding the Sadkers' book, Failing at Fairness: How Schools Cheat Girls (1994). As the discussion progressed, there was a growing sense of general agreement that the book was exaggerating things. After their presentation, the two student leaders handed in a one-page summary of their questions for discussion. On the back of their presentation notes, they had tallied up responses to their class discussion questions according to gender. There were five responses from men, two from women. For some reason they chose not to discuss that part of their presentation with the class.
I do not believe that we would have gender balance in the subject area if we just had more women "doing" social studies-teaching it in classrooms and acting as faculty advisors to our interning students and as cooperating teachers welcoming interns
***************
…locating the spaces where social studies/history takes shape…
While we talk of "social studies" in curriculum and instruction classes, the
majority of teachers in secondary classrooms in Saskatchewan teach History. In
1999/2000, the combined student enrolment in History 10, 20, and 30 was 21,769. The
combined enrolment in Social Studies 10, 20, and 30 was 12,223. It would be interesting
to see the gender make-up of those enrolments. Is this where the privileging of topics and
approaches generally associated with men begins? In History classes? Or is it in teacher
education courses? In curriculum documents? All of the above?
***************
into their classrooms. I do believe, however, that in terms of how a subject area gets constructed, gendered bodies do count. Over the last five years, at the University of Regina, we have graduated 79 social studies majors in our secondary program. Of those 79 students, only four were supervised by female faculty advisors while 75 were supervised by male faculty advisors. Sixty-three of these social studies majors were placed in classrooms (48 urban, 15 rural) with male cooperating teachers. Only sixteen social studies majors were placed in classrooms (7 urban, 9 rural) with female teachers. Something gendered is going on in the construction of social studies, and in the way teacher education students are becoming social studies teachers.
A hierarchical split exists in the overall organization of teacher education programs in which I have been involved. In many cases, the elementary sections of student cohorts are much larger than the secondary cohorts. These larger elementary
***************
…program notes…
In most teacher education programs, all students enrolled in the elementary
program are required to take at least one social studies curriculum course. Students
enrolled in the secondary program must often choose two teachable areas (a major and a
minor). At the University of Regina, regarding secondary social studies, the two largest
combinations for majors/minors are Social Studies/English (the majority of these
students are women) and Social Studies/Physical Education (the majority of these
students are men).
***************
cohorts of students (the vast majority being women) are most often taught by female faculty members and the smaller secondary program sections of students (with often equal representation of men and women students) are generally taught by male faculty members. Having taught elementary, middle years and secondary courses in social studies curriculum, I do not see the need for this division according to programs, and the continuation of this hierarchy. We consider the exact same conceptual framework and curricular goals and rationales in all three programs. At the University of Regina, we are presently using the same required text in our elementary, middle years, and secondary cohorts.
***************
…overheard…
I just learn to keep my radar on all the time, and I can play the sweet little woman
whenever he comes to observe in my classroom…
***************
Addressing gender (im)balance in social studies education will require efforts in several areas. Possibilities could open up for a more gender balanced construction of social studies and a more gender balanced approach as to how we "do" social studies, if we considered possibilities related to curricular practices and body counts.
In terms of curricular practices, changes to the present expanding horizons organization could lead to possibilities for less hierarchy, and less stereotypical notions of which bodies should be responsible for teaching and learning about the personal, about families, and about communities. In teacher education programs, integrating elementary and secondary curricular courses could open up possibilities for challenging stereotypes regarding how secondary teachers and elementary teachers "do" social studies, and how they could "do" social studies. Approaches such as debate and teaching from a textbook (typically associated with secondary social studies) might be usurped by dialogue, discussion, and resource based learning approaches (typically associated with elementary social studies). I realize that it is not just elementary social studies courses that are encouraging the use of resource based learning and moving away from note taking and class sets of textbooks. Secondary social studies courses also promote these teaching approaches. The stereotypes seem to appear when students take part in classroom practicum experiences. In follow-up discussions around practicum experiences, teacher education students often identify that what we explore in curriculum courses is not happening in practicum classrooms. Integration of elementary and secondary programs in social studies would allow for teacher education students to gain experiences in both elementary and secondary practicum classrooms.
Encouraging more women to take on the roles of cooperating teachers and faculty advisors and encouraging more men to teach social studies at the elementary level could open up possibilities for gender balance in curricular approaches and perspectives. I am not suggesting here, that it is just the bodies that count. It is, rather, a case of paying attention to how those bodies "do" social studies. In my experiences in the subject area, I have not seen that men and women "do" social studies in gender neutral ways.
In a subject area that professes to be about people and their interactions with the physical and social environments, gender balance in terms of curricular practices and body counts is a desired, but not yet realized state of affairs. Some time ago, Nel Noddings (1992) had this to say about the discursive spaces of social studies education:
|
Suppose the "different voice" identified by Gilligan (1982) were to speak in social studies. What might we hear?… there might be much more emphasis on what we once called "private" life as contrasted with "public" life. As we know, the sharp separation between the two breaks down under analysis, but the tradition that sustains the separation is still dominant. Surely if we had started with private life, the school curriculum would be very different from the one actually developed." (p. 234) |
Noddings made these comments over ten years ago. Things have not
***************
***************
changed all that much.
References
Case, Roland and Penney Clark, eds. The Canadian Anthology of Social Studies: Issues and Strategies for Teachers. Burnaby, BC: Field Relations and Teacher In-service Education, Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, 1997.
Clark, Penney. "Between the Covers: Exposing images in Social Studies Textbooks." The Canadian Anthology of Social Studies: Issues and Strategies for Teachers. Eds. R. Case and P. Clark. Burnaby, BC: Field Relations and Teacher In-service Education, Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, 1997. 339-348.
Jenne, Joel. "Conserving the Status Quo in Social Studies Teaching: The Case of Second Career Military Teachers." Theory and Research in Social Education, 25.4 (2000): 446-469.
Noddings, Nel. "Social Studies and Feminism." Theory and Research in Social Education, 20.3 (1992): 230-241.
Sadker, Myra and David Sadker. Failing at Fairness: How Our Schools Cheat Girls. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1994.
Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan Education, Training and Employment. Social Studies: A Curriculum Guide for the Middle Level (Grade 7). Regina, SK. 1999.
Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan Education, Training and Employment. Social Studies: A Curriculum Guide and Activity Guide for the Elementary Level. Regina, SK. 1995.
Turner, Jane and Penney Clark. "Move Over Buster: Women and Social Studies." The
Canadian Anthology of Social Studies: Issues and Strategies for Teachers. Eds. R. Case and P. Clark. Burnaby, BC: Field Relations and Teacher In-Service Education, Faculty of Education, Simon Fraser University, 1997. 99-108.
Wanda Hurren is Associate Professor of Curriculum and Instruction in theFaculty of Education at the University of Regina, and she is chair of the social studies subject area. She teaches social studies curriculum courses to elementary, middle years, and secondary teacher education students.