Abstract:

In addition to the quality of the work environment, the high level of feminisation of the school work environment has a direct impact on the level of financial and social valuation of school professions (Skelton, 2002; Miskolc, 2020). The consequences are obvious: a deepening decline in the attractiveness of school professions and a persistent demotivation of current school workers to remain in this work environment (Guerriero, 2017). But above all, we have seen a significant long-term decline in interest in studying school professions in Slovakia and in the motivation of bright young people to go to work in schools after graduation (Perignáthová, 2019). Slovakia is one of the countries with the highest rates of feminisation of education and gender segregation in the labour market in general (OECD, 2019) - and also one of the countries with the lowest rankings in the valuation and attractiveness of school professions compared to other OECD countries.
The text has the character of an overview study. The aim is to identify the essential factors of the issue, to compare the situation in Slovakia and in other countries, and to formulate arguments for a professional discussion on the need to pay attention to gender issues of education and their consequences in the reform of the Slovak education system. The text is part of the theoretical background to the implementation of other planned research tasks within the research grant project Multidisciplinary Aspects of the Feminisation of Education (2022 - 2025). In the following phases of the research, we will verify previously known facts through a quantitative methodology (questionnaire) and discover new facts through a qualitative methodology (school ethnography) in order to propose options within the school microsystem. In addition to theoretical sources, the study also processes through theoretical analysis the findings of previous research (Galiani et al., 2002; Watt and Richardson, 2008; Gillies, 2010; Sahlberg, 2011; Watt et al., 2012; Alger, 2014; Price, Weatherby, 2018; OECD, 2019) and, marginally, the findings of our own survey (questionnaire) among the student body of the Faculty of Arts, Comenius University.

Keywords:

Gender stereotypes, gender inequality, gender segregation in the labour market, motivation to study.