Being and Becoming: teachers' perceptions of sex-roles and actions toward their male and female pupils

The article discusses the changes to sex-roles which teachers perceived to have occurred during the past decade or so, and how such perceptions affected themselves and their teaching of male and female pupils. The research took place in two primary schools in Victoria, Australia and comprised of interviews and observation methods. The results demonstrated that there were differences between male and female teachers’ perceptions of sex-role changes and also the age of teachers affected their interpretation of female pupils’ behaviour. Female teachers were found to have an ambiguity of self-concept in terms of their understanding of women’s roles as both mothers and teachers. Several examples of teachers’ comments and interactions with their pupils are discussed and interpreted within an interactionist framework.