A Professor And Graduate Student From Texas A&M University Discovers That Teachers’ Gender Could Affect Students’ Learning
A study conducted by economic professor Jonathan Meer and graduate student Jaegeum Lim, a team from Texas A&M University, revealed that teachers' gender could affect the students' learning and performance inside the classroom.
The research, which included 12,000 South Korean students attending middle school, showed that female students performed well when taught by female teachers. However, this factor didn't have real effect on the learning process of male students.
"I think that it is just more evidence that shows that we all interact with people who have different attributes in different ways -- and we're not always conscious of it -- but here is an example of a place where it may be having real impact," Meer said.
Meer, a teacher of economics of education course at Texas A&M, said that their study was limited to Korean students, but "he believes the results hold a broader application," The Eagle noted last Sunday.
"We're looking at averages over groups of people, and there are immense amounts of variation within these groups. This isn't some kind of finger-pointing saying that every female teacher is better for every student or that every male teacher is bad for every female student -- far from it," Meer added.
Similarly, Education Week published an article in January 2013 that findings in a separate study conducted by Economics Professor Heather Antecol revealed that female students learned fast, specifically on Mathematics, if the subject was taught by female teachers. Meanwhile, male students' math scores were not affected whether the subject was taught by a female or male teacher.
"Children's perceptions of gender start emerging between the ages of 7 and 12," said I. Serkan Ozbeklik, co-author of the study. "Positive or negative, the primary school experiences may shape the academic course of students, leading to long-term consequences like choice of study, choice of major, and occupation."
On the other hand, College Station School District Deputy Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Greg McIntyre said they had not explored the idea on whether or not a teacher's gender could affect a student's performance in school. McIntyre said that they are focusing on "principles of learning that tend to apply universally."
"The body of work that we use has more to do with learning principles," he said. "Small learning increments, high-quality models, connecting the learning to previous knowledge, making sure that students are appropriately challenged, and making sure that it is not something that is too easy or too difficult."
