Exploring Gender stereotypical attitude towards using technology in teaching and learning: Perspectives of prospective secondary level school teachers

Abstract

Over the years, there has been a biased, stereotypical view concerning gender roles
and technology use. Despite rigorous policy reforms and implementation in society to
spread societal awareness of gender sensitivity and gender inclusion, women’s role in
STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) professions is a matter of
great concern. In this regard, teachers play a pivotal role in teaching their students
the skills to use technology for educational purposes, along with inculcating values to
eliminate gender stereotypical attitudes among them. So, it is much required to explore
the prospective teachers’ attitude, who are the future nation-builders, whether they
have a gender-stereotypical attitude towards using technology in teaching and learning
or not. The piece of research mainly explores the prospective teachers’ overall gender
sensitisation as well as their gender sensitisation regarding technology use in teaching
and learning. The study also provides a few suggestions that should be included in
the B.Ed. curriculum and adopted by prospective teachers to bridge the gender digital
divide that exists in people’s minds. The present study follows the descriptive survey
method for prospective B.Ed. teachers in Jharkhand, where 400 prospective teachers
pursuing B.Ed. courses were selected randomly from 10 teacher training institutions
as a sample. The data was collected through circulating questionnaires via Google
Forms. Data analysis and interpretation are made by calculating percentages and
diagrammatic representations. As a result, it is found that male prospective teachers
have a gender stereotypical attitude towards using technology, which is being nurtured
by patriarchal society. It is also revealed that the teacher education programme rarely
practices the elimination of the digital gender divide from the society which indicates
the strong requirement to promote gender sensitisation in society by organising gendersensitive
and gender-neutral technological skill development programmes into teacher
education courses.