The importance of gender equality within learner content

Richard Cleeve
A diverse group of people standing together in a group

Gender equality in the publishing industry

The impact of any learning material goes far beyond its subject matter and pedagogical objectives. Everything included, from the choice of language, to the imagery, to the text and front covers, has the potential to reinforce stereotypes unintentionally. This can shape a learner’s sense of self and others around them and affect how they feel and behave in a social setting.

A wealth of evidence suggests that early gender bias influences future inequality. It can affect career aspirations, influence the choice of school subjects and ultimately contribute to gender disparity as children grow into adults.?This is a challenge for all sectors and industries across society. Guidelines have been developed for 蜜桃app to ensure that our materials are gender equal and showcase positive female role models.

The guidelines are broken down into three different areas surrounding gender equality:

1. The representation of people and characters in content

The guidelines help to ensure that women are represented equally to men in our learning and teaching materials. This includes ensuring that women's representation does not reinforce negative stereotypes. For example, content that shows women as single parents can also present them as single parents and workers. The idea is to .

Another common example is with regards to science materials.

Often, when students are asked to describe a famous scientist, they describe a character similar to Albert Einstein with white hair and a white coat. Female scientists are often overlooked in this respect, and historically, they have not been given as much attention as their male counterparts.

This type of unconscious bias is something the guidelines aim to help change. Our goal is to represent both women and men from various backgrounds across all subjects. For example, some content shows women in traditionally male roles, such as pilots, engineers and soldiers. The objective is to highlight that .

Another issue is the objectification of women. Often, women are presented as not having agency or purpose, and too much focus is placed on their appearance, rather than their intentions, behavior and aspirations. The new guidelines set out to change this.

2. The use of language

Our language is gendered and therefore steeped in stereotyping. We aim to promote the use of terminology that is non-gendered. For example, using ‘police officer’, ‘firefighter’ and ‘maintenance worker’ instead of ‘policeman’, ‘fireman’ and ‘handyman’. Although this is a small change, it contributes to removing the unconscious bias surrounding jobs and professions.

Adjectives can also play a role in perpetuating gender inequality. We often associate particular adjectives with genders. For example, words like ‘hysterical’, ‘shrill’, or ‘frumpy’ are typically used for women. Whereas men can be described as ‘assertive’, women are more likely to be seen as ‘bossy’.

Furthermore, parallel language is something that needs to be looked at. Words like ‘girls and boys’ can be replaced with ‘students’. In this way, the guidelines are here to ensure that there is no gendering within materials. This will influence gender equality among our users.

3. Referencing third-party content

Another key issue involved in the material is the referencing of third-party content. For example, stories based on classic fairy tales are often used to represent certain points, and these typically show the strong male hero saving the weak female damsel in distress.

Although these are stories that our society has grown up with, they could be more helpful in offering a gender-balanced view of society. 蜜桃app’s guidelines are in place to ensure that students see women and men as equals throughout the materials.

What can teachers do to help in the classroom?

To help fight against gender inequality, teachers can think about incorporating more female stories and role models into their lessons. For example, rather than simply focusing on Issac Newton or Albert Einstein in science class.

At a management level, schools can be more aware of what materials they are choosing to bring in, assessing whether the content is balanced, before accepting it. These simple actions can help our learners grow up with a more balanced view of gender.

Explore our courses to find the best teaching solutions for your classroom

More blogs from 蜜桃app

  • A child sat on a bed reading a book

    Motivating children to read English books with fun activities

    提交者 Nicola Schofield

    Why is reading important??

    Apart from being a?great hobby?and fun?activity, it can help children improve in many areas of their lives through developing?key transferrable skills. Reading in their native language and English can bring a whole range of benefits. To engage everyone, they must?understand the benefits themselves.? ?

    Ask your students why it's important and create a mind map of ideas. You may also?wish to use some of the points below to start the conversation. Having a common idea that everyone agrees on can help build motivation and engagement in the classroom.?

    Improves?language skills?

    Regular reading develops children’s linguistic skills – it helps them learn good?sentence structure, grammar, vocabulary and?improves?spelling in their own language and in the English language too. Reading aloud?also strengthens?knowledge of phonics and improves?pronunciation?and articulation.??

    Improves memory?

    It can help to develop knowledge of phonics and vocabulary?recall and improve focus and concentration?– all necessary skills when learning a language.?

    Cultivates curiosity?

    Books help kids’ imaginations to grow?and?encourage them to be?more open-minded. They?help us to learn about other cultures and encourage us to think more creatively. Through subtle messages,?reading?builds?an?awareness of the world in which we live and?enables?children to form?their own?opinions?and ask questions.?

    Creates empathy?

    Stories help to develop children’s emotional intelligence?and?empathy towards?others. Exploring?topics and characters allows them to learn about?real-world situations?and think about how they would feel?in?somebody else’s shoes. It encourages?respect for others’ feelings?as well as?other?cultures.??

    Reduces stress?

    It is a great way to?calm the mind and help us relax and destress. Children can learn to use it as a helpful tool in their day-to-day lives.???

    Develops key life skills?

    Children develop their confidence, communication, resilience, patience, social skills and connect?with the wider world, culture?and communities.?

    So how do we motivate our young learners?(even our most reluctant readers)?to develop a passion for reading??

    It?must?be fun,?purposeful and relevant?

    Well-known adaptations?can remove barriers, support and encourage students’ imagination,?and?spark?a genuine interest. They?give purpose and relevance to the students as most students have watched a movie?at some point in their lives and most students have a?favorite movie?or character.??

    Let your young learners choose?

    There are plenty of English Readers to choose from?– if the students can choose their own readers, they will likely be more motivated and focused. Choice gives the students power and makes it more relevant to them. Ask your students to choose their?favorite movie?and?have a vote as a class. Get to know your students, find out what interests them, and base your?book choice around this.?

    Rewards??

    To motivate students, they?must know that they are?making progress. Reward students for their achievements – for example,?create?a vocabulary wall or?a class book chart and give rewards?like?a?sticker?or?a postcard?to take?home.?

  • children holding hands in a line with a parent outside

    11 Offline English learning ideas

    提交者 蜜桃app Languages

    In today's fast-paced digital era, online resources and language learning apps have become the popular means for mastering English. However, offline language learning has its own unique charm and benefits. Engaging our senses and connecting with the physical world around us can enhance our language skills in ways that no app can match. In today's language learning blog, we discuss offline language learning activities that can help you towards becoming a confident English speaker, even without an internet connection.

    ?

  • A teacher helping a student at a table

    The Global Scale of English and planning: A perfect partnership

    提交者

    As a teacher, I realized that planning had become an 'automatic pilot' routine from which I did not learn much. Like many others, I thought scales such as the Global Scale of English (GSE) or the Common European Framework of Reference are just that; references that are beyond the realities of their lessons.

    However, I've seen that the GSE is a very powerful resource to help us at the level of planning.?

    If you're using a coursebook you may have noticed that, after completing one of the books in the series, students move up one level, such as from elementary to pre-intermediate or from intermediate to upper-intermediate.

    We all understand what it means to be an elementary or intermediate student. These levels are usually defined in terms of structures – conditional sentences, passive voice, and tenses – Simple Past, Future Continuous, etc.

    But why do students want to learn English? Using it means being able to listen or read and understand, interact with others, and communicate in writing. Even if it is parents who enroll their children in language institutes, what they want is for them to use the language. We can see a mismatch between how levels are defined and students' aims to study English.

    Here's how the GSE can help English language teachers

    First, you need the right scale for your group – Pre-primary, Young Learners, Adults, Professionals or Academic, which can be downloaded at:

    /languages/why-pearson/the-global-scale-of-english/resources.html

    Focus on your students' level. There you will see all the learning objectives that students need to achieve to complete the level at which they are and move on in their learning journey.

    What are learning objectives??They are can-do statements that clearly describe what students are expected to achieve as the result of instruction. In other words, these objectives guide teachers in our planning to help students learn.

    When we plan our lessons, rather than working at lesson level only, we should reflect on how the activities proposed are referenced against the learning objectives of the level. We may see that some activities need some adapting in order to focus on the selected learning outcomes.

    At the level of planning as well, I also use the GSE to analyze the activities proposed in the materials I am using. Let me tell you what I do. Let's take listening, for instance. You may use the downloaded scales or the Teacher Toolkit that the GSE provides. Let's run through how this works.?

    ?