Teacher gender, and expectation of reading achievement in New Zealand elementary school students: essentially a barrier?

ABSTRACT

Boys continue to demonstrate lower average achievement in reading than girls. The influence of teacher gender has been explored among the factors explaining this scenario but with mixed results. Further, although teacher expectations have affected student academic outcomes, and student gender-related stereotypical notions have shaped such expectations, the role of teacher gender within this scenario has been neglected. The current study was conducted with a sample of elementary schools, in New Zealand (a national setting where essentialist gender attitudes have existed and where policies to implement scholastic gender equity have been critiqued as unsuccessful). The influence of teacher gender and of a teacher-student gender match and mismatch on teacher’s expectations of their elementary student reading achievement, was tested via hierarchical linear modeling. Male teachers’ expectations were found to be lower for students of both genders in reading and negative implications for male teachers and their students’ reading achievement were revealed.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher gender
• teacher expectations
• reading

Acknowledgements

The current study was made possible by the awarding of a Marsden Fast Start Grant and a grant from the Cognition Institute, to the second author. The mentorship of Professors Frank Worrell and Patricia Alexander, and the statistical assistance of Drs Alexandra List, and Matthew Courtney, are gratefully acknowledged.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributor

Penelope W. St. J. Watson is a Lecturer at the University of Auckland's Faculty of Education and Social Work. Her research interests are gender, gender stereotypes and identity, gendered beliefs and expectations, and gender stereotype threat. She contributes as a researcher to several projects exploring, for example, the influence of gendered teacher expectations of academic achievement on male and female students, and the relationship of adolescent gender self-concept with school belonging, ethnic identity, and stress and coping at school.

Christine M. Rubie-Davies is a Professor of Education, Faculty of Education and Social Work, University of Auckland, New Zealand, Christine's primary research interests are teacher expectations and beliefs that moderate expectancy effects. She primarily focuses on teacher expectation effects for disadvantaged groups. Christine has published six books and numerous articles and chapters in prestigious presses, has won national and international awards for research, teaching and service, and is a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science.

Kane Meissel is a Lecturer in Educational Psychology within the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Auckland, specialising in quantitative research methodology. Kane is also interested in research that improves equitable outcomes for under-served students, as well as professional development, schooling improvement and evaluation, literacy and second language acquisition.

Elizabeth R. Peterson is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Psychology at the University of Auckland and currently teaches in the Developmental Programme. Most of her research is focused on trying to understand the factors, processes and pathways that optimise human learning and development and that promote happy, healthy, well-rounded and resilient young people. She is particularly interested in the how people's self-beliefs and expectations affect their well-being, learning and educational outcomes. Elizabeth is a researcher on Growing Up In New Zealand, a longitudinal study following approximately 7000 New Zealand children.

Annaline Flint is a lecturer and researcher in the School of Learning Development and Professional Practice at the University of Auckland's Faculty of Education and Social Work. Her current research is mainly focused on the relationships between various teacher beliefs and how these influence student achievement and link to teacher practices. Annaline also has interests in teacher expectations, the induction and mentoring of novice teachers, and teachers' perceptions of values education. Annaline has published articles in journals such as the British Journal of Educational Psychology and Professional Development in Education and has authored two book chapters.

Lynda Garrett is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Learning Development and Professional Practice at the University of Auckland's Faculty of Education and Social Work. Her research has focused on motivation, social-emotional aspects of giftedness, the talent development process for young gifted and talented students in the verbal-linguistic domain, and the influence of teacher expectations on young gifted and talented readers. Lynda has presented at national and international conferences on gifted and talented education, and is currently building a publishing profile within journals such as English Teaching: Practice and Critique, and The European Journal of Social and Behavioural Sciences.

Lyn McDonald is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Auckland. Her doctoral study extended her primary research interest of teacher education and the specific role of the visiting lecturer in student teacher learning on practicum. Her second area of research interest is in the field of teacher expectations. Her teaching interests relate to assessment, the professional teacher and learning theories. Her work has been published in journals such as British Journal of Educational Psychology and New Zealand Journal of Teachers' Work.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Royal Society of New Zealand: [Marsden Fast Start Grant] and the Cognition Institute.