To Teach Or Not To Teach: A Teacher’s Journey In Adopting Gender Responsive Pedagogy

Abstract

Gender disparities and poor quality of teaching continue to pervade secondary schooling in Kenya necessitating a focus on what is actually happening within classrooms to alter gender inequalities in performance, retention, completion and transition. Since the teacher is key in the teaching and learning process, teaching reforms should aim to help teachers adopt gender responsive pedagogical approaches aimed at addressing individual learner needs resulting in improved learning outcomes for all learners. The paper discusses a study that sought to engage a teacher through action research in adopting a gender responsive pedagogy in a form two class of a secondary school in Kenya. Whilst the teacher did exhibit some knowledge of gender issues in the classroom, this was not translated into practice due to the teacher’s limited knowledge and skills on how to implement a gender responsive pedagogy. Findings from the study illustrate that the support of a coach can help a teacher adopt gender responsive teaching strategies; and, that a teacher’s dispositions as well as the impact of the pedagogy on the learners can also facilitate a teacher’s adoption of the gender responsive pedagogy. However constraints brought about by the school setting and a teacher’s social construction may hinder a teacher’s uptake of the pedagogy. Finally, the paper highlights the need for a much more enhanced exposure to gender issues in teacher development programmes.