Abstract

This thesis, as practitioner research, has been written in a style such that it can be easily
read, understood, and acted upon by staff in a school. It centres around two research
questions, the first being split into two parts:
• Do children have gender perceptions?
• how are they constructed, and do they conform to stereotype?
• To what extent can teacher intervention help to challenge children’s gender-stereotypical
perceptions?
The assumption is taken, that gender is not predetermined at birth but can be changed by many factors including societal expectations. Gender development theories and other relevant literature is explored to create an emerging theory as to whether a teacher can challenge children’s perceptions of gender. This theory is further expanded using Hamel (2021) as a framework, before juxtaposing this with the Department for Education current guidance to support children’s gender development.
Using a social constructionist epistemology, this thesis employs a mixed methods approach (three quantitative and two qualitative methods), to observe 6 teachers and to discover the gender perceptions of 280 children in relation to a list of jobs. It then details discussions with 48 children in 16 focus groups, and 7 teachers in interviews prior to, and following, interventions that they engage in, as the teachers endeavour to challenge gender perceptions, during an academic year.
This thesis concludes that children have gender perceptions which often conform to stereotype, constructed from experience and beliefs about societal expectations; and that these perceptions about gender can be challenged by the interventions of a teacher – again using Hamel’s (2021) framework to discuss this. The study also examines incidental findings as to whether gender stereotyping can cause damage to children’s wellbeing and/or limit their career aspirations – concluding that although the data from this study does not suggest either has occurred, the data gives examples which suggest how this could potentially happen.
The unique contribution of this work is in:
• highlighting that it is important for teachers to be educated about gender
• that it can be harmful if teachers allow gender stereotypes to persist; and
finally,
• to advocate for the use of ‘nudge theory’ (Park & Clemenson, 2020; Damgaard & Nielson, 2018; Thaler & Sunstein, 2008) as being a successful way for teachers to challenge gender stereotyping.