Promoting Gender Equity in

Technology Teacher Education Project

The Promoting Gender Equity in Technology Teacher Education project is aimed at promoting gender equity in the Faculty of Education’s Technology Studies Education program and Technology Teacher Education in general. A gender imbalance, existing in the program since its beginning, is closely related to parallel problems in the teaching force and in classrooms. The low enrolment of females in Technology Studies Education follows an historical trend that has resulted in only 3.2%of BC’s 950-1000 technology educators being female. At the senior secondary level, only 10.3% of the girls elect to take technology courses. This situation has important implications for the economy and for the technological literacy required of all members of a democratic society to make the social, environmental and economic decisions we encounter. It will also severely affect industries that require an expanded and more diverse work force.

An important strategy in increasing the enrolment of females in school technology courses lies in improving opportunities for women to become technology teachers. One of the major objectives of the Promoting Gender Equity in Technology Teacher Education project is to actively promote the Technology Studies Education program to women throughout the province and to increase opportunities for women to enter into a career in Technology Teacher Education.

It is well documented that issues such as a lack of financial resources and childcare responsibilities make it difficult for many women (as compared with men) to enrol in post-secondary programs. This project also proposes to raise funds for the Women in Technology Teacher Education Program Scholarship. This scholarship will help to remove some of the barriers by providing assistance to women who are pursuing careers as technology teachers and who require financial assistance.

RATIONALE

British Columbia’s technology teaching force of about 950-1000 is 3.2% female; the International Technology Education Association’s representation is 13.5% women. In today’s society when the understanding and use of technology is tightly tied to economic success and democratic participation for all, it is vitally important that women be included as technology teachers and leaders for the next generation of young girls and boys.

The first female to complete the BCIT-UBC Industrial Education Teacher Education (INED) program, now the Technology Studies Education (TSED) program, was in the class of 1983-1984. The second was in the class of 1985-1986. There were 4 females who graduated from 1986 through 1989. From 1989 through 1999 there were 11 females out of a total of 239 graduates from the TSED program for middle and secondary school teachers (Table 1). Four of these females were in a class of 35 during 1998-1999. There are 2 females in this year’s 1999-2000 graduating class of 33 students. Scholastic records verify outstanding academic and technical achievement by the females completing the TSED program. Four have won major awards and scholarships, including doctoral fellowships.

Table 1.

Graduates from the BCIT-UBC TSED undergraduate program, 1990-2000[i]

Class year	Women	Men	Total
1989-1990	1	17	18
1990-1991	0	30	30
1991-1992	0	20	20
1992-1993	2	28	30
1993-1994	1	31	32
1994-1995	1	31	32
1995-1996	0	33	33
1996-1997	1	25	26
1997-1998	1	32	33
1998-1999	4	31	35
1999-2000	2	31	33
Total	13 (4%)	309 (96%)	322

A vast majority of TSED students enter UBC through the British Columbia Institute of Technology. It is, therefore, recognized that any initiative to address the gender equity problem must involve the TSED program as well as the larger community involved in Technology Teacher Education.

Technology Education represents a recent curricular transition from Industrial Education, traditionally known as Industrial Arts. Each name change has reflected a significant change within the field and therefore with the curriculum being taught. When Industrial Arts became Industrial Education new subjects like power mechanics, electronics, industrial power, and industrial science, were added to the traditional wood, metal, drafting and electricity courses. The change to Technology Education has had the most significant impact on course content and teaching styles. Along side the “traditional” direct teacher demonstration for hand and machine skills, the change to technology education has made it necessary to include a broader range of instructional strategies that encourage more innovative responses. Unlike, Industrial Education, Technology Education embodies a commitment to gender equity.

In British Columbia, “The aim of the Technology Education curriculum is to help students develop technological literacy and lifelong learning patterns that they need to live and work effectively in a changing technological society. To achieve this, the curriculum provides a framework for students to learn how to design and construct to real-world problems and opportunities to put into practice what they have learned.”

Current curriculum change from an industrial focus to open-ended design, integration with academics, and social and environmental constraints opens up possibilities for drawing from a different expertise and background. The climate for equity is particularly timely, with intervention strategies and proactive recruitment becoming more commonplace.

THE PROJECT

In December of 1996, a committee, struck under the authority of the B.C. College of Teachers, had representation from the College, U.B.C., B.C.I.T., practicing technology educators, the B.C. Technology Educators Association, and Women in Trades and Technology. The committee investigated ways of ensuring that the numbers of women who teach technology increase. From this committee the Promoting Equity Technology Teacher Education Project has emerged with the following objectives:

· To inform women about career opportunities as technology education teachers.

· To break down barriers and challenges that may prevent women from entering the TTE program.

· To revise the TSED and other TTE programs to account for the experiences and pedagogic preferences of women.