The Professional Development of Future Educators from a Gender Perspective in Higher Education

Abstract

In Spain, there is no real curricular integration of gender equality in Higher Education even though teaching proposals that pay attention to social and gender inequalities have increased. This mixed research sought to contribute to the professional development of students from a gender perspective through practices carried out in the History of Education subject of the Pedagogy degree at the University of Seville in the 2021/2022 internships, consisting of 46 of 50 students who decided to voluntarily participate in the study. To achieve this objective, a pre-test was conducted using an ad hoc questionnaire on students’ gender knowledge. After the final subject project using the service-learning methodology, a post-test was conducted using the same questionnaire and individual interviews to deepen the knowledge acquired. The results show significant changes before and after the final project in knowledge related to gender inequality (gender gap, glass ceiling, sticky floor, co-responsibility, horizontal and vertical segregation, imposter syndrome, wage gap, and mental burden) and in the situation of women in the educational, social and labour spheres from a historical perspective. It concludes with the importance of training professionals in general, especially those in the field of education, with a gender perspective in Higher Education, due to the impact they will have on future generations to foster social change and promote gender equality. Furthermore, this research fills a gap in the published scientific literature.