Gender on the agenda: Raising the issue in vocational teacher education

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to put gender on the agenda within vocational teacher education. As educators of teachers, we wanted to analyse gender and diversity perspectives in national and local curriculums for vocational teacher education, based on three Norwegian counties. The overall goal is to identify how vocational teachers can contribute to the development of an improved gender balance within vocational education.

Actual freedom of choice within vocational education and career options remains a challenge. There is still limited adaptation for youth as minorities in vocational training and working life. However, the #Metoo movement has led to an increased willingness to discuss the challenges of gender imbalance, also within the vocational education field.
The research question posed in this article is: How can gender as a minority be taken care of within vocational education and training?
To address these questions, we draw on qualitative data from a dialogue conference for skilled workers, teachers, and advisors in upper secondary education. We have also conducted a thematic analysis of national guidelines, institutional strategic documents, as well as programme and course descriptions in vocational teacher education programmes in four institutions of higher education in Norway.
Our findings show that in general the national policies and guidelines state that gender perspectives are important, but regardless they are rarely found in the curricular plans for practical education for vocational subjects (PPUy) and three-year vocational teacher education (YFL). The results of our analysis from the dialogue conference echoed this by concluding that gender perspectives are largely absent from vocational education and training (VET). This can result in limited development of awareness related to the challenges and how this can be dealt with by vocational teachers. The findings are further analysed in relation to relevant theory and contemporary gender research within the field.