Why does teacher gender matter?

•High school math and science teacher gender affects student interest and self-efficacy in STEM.•The effect of teacher gender becomes insignificant once teacher behaviors and attitudes are taken into account.•Teacher beliefs about male and female ability in math and science, as well as how teachers...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Economics of education review 2017-12, Vol.61 (December), p.9-18
Main Author: Sansone, Dario
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Beruf
Berufsinteresse
Berufsorientierung
Geschlechterrolle
Geschlechterverteilung
High school
Informatik
Junge
Lehrer
Lernumgebung
Mathematikunterricht
Mädchen
Naturwissenschaften
Naturwissenschaftliche Bildung
Role model
Rollenverständnis
Schulleistung
Sekundarbereich
Selbstbewusstsein
STEM
Teacher gender
Technik
USA
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Summary:•High school math and science teacher gender affects student interest and self-efficacy in STEM.•The effect of teacher gender becomes insignificant once teacher behaviors and attitudes are taken into account.•Teacher beliefs about male and female ability in math and science, as well as how teachers treat boys and girls in the classroom, matter more than teacher's own gender.•Creating a positive learning environment and making math and science interesting are pivotal in engaging students in STEM subjects. This paper shows that high school math and science teacher gender affects student interest and self-efficacy in STEM. However, such effects become insignificant once teacher behaviors and attitudes are taken into account, thus pointing towards an omitted variables bias. Teacher beliefs about male and female ability in math and science – as well as how teachers treat boys and girls in the classroom – matter more than teacher's own gender. The student fixed effects estimates also highlight that creating a positive learning environment and making math and science interesting are pivotal in engaging students in these subjects.
ISSN:0272-7757
1873-7382
DOI:10.1016/j.econedurev.2017.09.004