INTEGRATION GENDER INTO CORE COURSES OF TEACHER EDUCATION IN PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES IN UGANDA. THEME: GENDER ISSUES IN TEACHER EDUCATION BETTY

Teacher education is so far the most important and known way of preparing change agent in the school setting. How they are prepared in terms of the courses they are exposed to, pertaining to the values, beliefs, attitudes and practices significantly influence how they will in turn prepare citizens who will be charged with various responsibilities of societal development. Therefore, teachers who have been well trained would in turn be effective in their teaching, guiding and providing role models to both boys and girls. This paper is a result of analysis of the course outline of the core courses of the 4 public universities namely Makerere University, Mbarara University, Gulu University and Kyambogo University, interviews and focus group discussion were held with staff teaching those courses and the students. The core courses analyzed included those of educational psychology, educational foundations and management and teaching, curriculum and media. The paper explored the extent to which academic staff in these universities prepare students to be gender sensitive teachers. In particular the study examined; a) Staff and students understanding of gender and whether it is important for students to be exposed to knowledge on gender issues b) Whether there were gender specific topics in the course outline of the core courses c) Whether the academic staff integrated gender issues when teaching topics where gender could be integrated. d) Challenges teaching staff encountered in integrating gender in their courses. The findings showed that both the students and staff confirmed the importance of acquainting students with gender issues. However analysis of the courses showed that only 30% of the courses in Makerere University, 28.6% in Mbarara and 10% in Kyambogo and none in Gulu University had gender specific topics. Nevertheless some of the staff pointed out during interviews that they integrate gender issues when teaching. There are several challenges that staff faced as they integrate gender in their teaching. These included inadequate knowledge and skills of integration, inadequate time, large class size and attitude of the students. INTRODUCTION Uganda, like other country places great importance on achieving equity and equality between men and women in all sectors. Since 1986 gender issues have continued to be the central focus of the Government of Uganda. This is evident in documents such as the Uganda Constitution (1995), White Paper on Education (1992). ESIP (1998 –2003), ESSP (2004 –2015) as well as other international policy pronouncements to which Uganda is signatory such as Millennium Development Goals and Education for All. In economic sector, a third of the ‘entandikwa’ credit scheme was put aside for women and youth. In politics, structures of governance were created that opened channels for women to voice their dissatisfaction and ideas. These include the local councils introduced from village to district level. It is mandatory according to the constitution that ‘one-third of the membership of any local government council shall be women. ” (Constitution of the Republic of Uganda, 1995). Gender policy was also formulated in 1997 in order to redress gender bias and imbalance in Uganda. There is even a woman representative in parliament for each district in Uganda. The process of appointing women to senior ministries, judges and policy makers was accelerated. As a result, over the decades there have been tremendous changes on the status of and role of women. In education sector, UPE policy provided opportunity for both boys and girls. In addition improvement of school environment was undertaken to ensure that it was conducive for girls. Article 30, for example provides that all Ugandans have access to education irrespective of sex, religion, and political or other differences. Furthermore, the National Strategy for girls’ Education was launched in June 2000. The strategy highlight 18 barriers referred to as the “wheel of misfortune” for the girl child. For example, socio cultural, patriarchal culture, lack of efficient sanitation and inhibition barring girls from male dominated science, poverty which influences parents choices on who should go to school, inadequate law enforcement of available laws and regulations which would protect the interest of the girl child. The strategy aims at changing the “wheel of misfortune into “wheel of fortune”. There has also been screening of textbooks for gender sensitivity All of these demonstrate commitment to achieve gender equity and equality between men and women. Whereas the above positive changes are highly recognized, they seemed not to have influenced activities and curriculum of teacher education institutions. Research shows that teachers do not come into the classroom as gender-neutral personalities (Weiner, 1999). Having been brought up in the wider society, teachers are likely to pick up the dominant ideology in society. Teachers, like others in society, internalize patriarchal gender ideology through socialization at home, in the community and informally from the religious institutions. Such cultural beliefs in turn are unconsciously or consciously exhibited in the teachers’ classroom practices. Furthermore, this foundation determines how they interpret the curriculum, what they expect from individual pupils and defines their interaction. This in turn is likely to affect the teaching – learning process of boys and girls differently. Negative perception towards girls’ education is a historical phenomenon that was introduced when formal education started. As Ssekamwa explained, Especially in the early years of school education in Africa, girls who studied tended to receive less attention from men teachers again due to the feeling of many men that after all the role of women was to get married even if they attended school. So it was rather not necessary to spend ones time laboring hard to see to it that those girls who come to school gained as much as boys (1971, p. 10). Unfortunately 100 years after introduction of formal education this has not changed. As late as 1992 Uganda Government White Paper on education pointed out girls’ education was being hindered more by school factors, in addition to cultural factors. Yet, teacher education is so far the most important and known way of preparing change agents. How teachers are prepared in terms of courses they are exposed to pertaining to values, beliefs, attitudes for practices significantly influence how they will in turn prepare citizens who will be charged with various aspects of societal development. As Delamont observed, Schools are important agents of socialization. those who wish to change society frequently suggest that education will be the vehicle (Delamont, 1980. p. 3). Globally teachers are expected to play several roles singly or collectively so that the investment in education can have desired effects. Teachers define who will be taught what will be taught how it will be taught and the standard of evaluating what has been taught. Success in educational reforms would depend on the teachers’ awareness of the new changes, their attitudes to it and incorporation of the reforms in the daily conversation, professional values and commitment and knowledge of content. Gender sensitive teacher would be cautious of the likely outcome of their actions and behaviors on the learners, both boys and girls. In 1980, Delmont asserted that many of the training institutions do not produce gender sensitive teachers (Delmont, 1980). Twenty years after, this still appears to be true of teacher training institutions in Uganda. This is evident by the continued outcry about gender problems in schools (MacMinn, 1997, Gender Alert, 1997). There are several activities of the teacher that impact differently on boys and girls, for example, the teaching styles, classroom interaction and management (Smith, 1991). Both women and men teachers pay less attention to girls compared to boys and that boys get more attention because they are aggressive and stubborn while girls are quiet (MacMinn, 1997; Gender Alert, 1997). In questioning technique, research shows that girls are asked open-ended questions requiring “Yes or No” answers, while boys are asked challenging questions (Gender Alert, 1997). Harshness of teachers has also been reported as reasons for drop out (Carasco, et al 1996). Teachers have also been found to label and predict certain learning and/or behavioral outcomes of their students. Teachers tend to behave in a manner that sometimes unconsciously encourages pupils to perform and /or behave in a way predicted initially. In a study conducted in Kenya, Wamahiu (1994) found a link between the initial assumption of the teachers about pupils’ potential and the actual performance in class. Thus Odaga & Henveld. (1995) asserts if teachers’ interpretation of the curriculum, interaction and delegation of duties are not shaped, these will constitute a hidden curriculum to push the girls out of the school. A study in Ethiopia by Tsige (1999) showed that where teachers have been supportive, girls performed well and many completed their studies. Good relationship between teachers and students encourages students to attend class regularly while poor relationship discourages them from attending. To what extent do teacher training institutions in Uganda prepare teachers who are sensitive to the needs of both girls and boys? METHODOLOGY This was mainly a qualitative study that relied on document analysis, interviews and focus group discussion. A random sample of 80 third year students (20 from each university) and 25 teaching staff was made. Among the staff 10 were selected from Makerere University and 5 from the other 3 universities. Variation in numbers of staff selected from each university was because Makerere University had more academic staff than the 3 universities. Third year students were selected because they had covered all