Teacher Autonomy and Nonsexist Curriculum: Case Studies from Two Rural Schools

ABSTRACT

Five female teachers in largely minority-populated schools in the rural Southwestern United States were among the participants in a project whose aim was to develop and implement nonsexist career education. Because the project saw teacher autonomy as an important component of curricular change, the teachers created unique programs that reflected their conceptualizations of their students' needs and of feminism. The Teachers' active involvement contributed to the development of curricula that were highly responsive to the needs of the children of these particular communities. Although teacher autonomy creates the risk of an unbalanced curriculum, this can perhaps best be handled not by restricting autonomy but by encouraging collaboration.