More than a change in number: Gendering the historical development of primary school teaching in Hong Kong

More than a change in number: Gendering the historical development of primary school teaching in Hong Kong

• Chan, Kit Wa Anita The Hong Kong Institute of Education

2009

Conference and Exhibition on "Education and Heritage" (2009: The Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong, China)

• M Teachers & Education for Teachers
  • MA Professional Education for Teachers

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Primary Education

It is well recognized that primary school teaching in Hong Kong is a feminized, viz. female-dominant, occupation, yet the reasons and processes contributing to such a development have not received much academic attention. Similarly, as most people seem to know what a primary teacher is and does, the meanings of the category “primary teacher” have been taken as self-evident and is seldom subject to closer scrutiny. This paper attempts to fill these gaps by re-examining the historical development of primary school teaching via a gendering perspective. It will trace the historical changes of the teaching profession from the early colonial times to the recent context of educational restructuring, and illustrates how it has changed from “men’s work” to “women’s work” in responses to various colonial, economic, political and social factors. Moreover, the historical account attempts to also argue that the meanings of “primary teacher” are not fixed but gendered, i.e. we witness not only changes of number between male and female teachers but constant redefinitions of the role, status, and nature of women and primary school teachers. For instance, “women’s nature” has been associated with variable and malleable meanings and so does the “nature” of the occupation, which tends to promote and privilege a particular form of masculinity or/and femininity when circumstances required. At the end of the paper, some implications of a gendering historical perspective will be mentioned.

Paper presented at the Conference and Exhibition on "Education and Heritage"

• English

Conference Papers

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/bibs/f4b1d79d

2015-10-08