TOWARDS A PROTOCOL OF GOOD PRACTICES FOR THE INTRODUCTION OF GENDER PERSPECTIVE IN UNIVERSITY TEACHING

This paper presents a project which seeks to propose a protocol of good practices for the introduction of the gender perspective in the curriculum of the Degree in Spanish Language and Literature and of the Master in Language Teaching: Spanish as a Foreign Language. This project is currently being developed at Universitat Rovira i Virgili.

To introduce the gender perspective in the university teaching means to subdue the different aspects that compose it to a reflexive analysis that identifies possible gender biases and eliminates them. From the point of view of the design of the subjects, it implies that elements that compose the course contemplate this perspective: the organization of the subjects, the development of the contents in the lesson plan, the type of examples, the language, the sources, etc. Summing up, the application of this perspective depends, to a large extent, on its concretion in the variety of tasks that are carried out in the teaching activity: from the selection of the examples to the models and theories that explain the phenomena; from the organization of the syllabus and the program of the subject to the forms of evaluation and their description; from the type of class session to the use of tutorials.

Since 2003, a legislative effort has been made to contemplate in different ways the introduction of equality and non-discrimination on the grounds of gender in the university context. However, having such legislation does not guarantee that teachers in all educational fields are trained in gender competences or that students work in a concrete and/or transversal gender content. This lack of training may be due to various difficulties that teachers may encounter and that may hinder the application of the law. Lack of concrete measures and specific actions to implement the current regulation complicates its application by teachers. On the other hand, although many teachers are determined to include gender in their subjects, they encounter many problems given the scarcity of referents and models to follow, the difficulty of finding experiences on the introduction of the gender perspective in higher education, the shortage of adequate didactic materials, etc.

Despite the significant increase in gender studies and although the legislation advocates both to include and to promote at all educational levels the gender perspective, university reality shows that there is not a teaching offer proportional to the amount of research developed and according to existing legal requirements. This is why we believe that projects such as the one we are developing are necessary. Our project intends to analyze the university studies in order to: determine the presence of the gender perspective in the different subjects that are part of the curriculum; detect deficiencies in this aspect; propose a protocol of good practices for the inclusion of the gender perspective in the teaching of language and literature.

Our project will help teachers to introduce the gender perspective in their subjects and this might have a direct impact on the academic results of students by providing new theoretical and methodological elements for the understanding of the social reality. We are convinced that training processes in which the gender perspective is included are necessary to have a critical mass that produces and transmits new knowledge.