Abstract:

Achieving gender equality (GE) is among the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The Incheon Declaration for Education 2030 (UNESCO, 2016) SDG4 targets to “Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all”. More specifically, it aims at gender sensitive learning environments. Furthermore, SDG5 (UNESCO, 2017) targets to “Achieve GE and empower all women and girls”. As diverse policy frameworks propose, these SDGs can be achieved by educating people on gender-sensitive behaviour and living. Moreover, recent research reports also highlight the need to draw upon pedagogical frameworks to ensure equity and allow students to achieve high learning outcomes regardless of their background and characteristics such as gender (Osler, 2016; Aragonés-González et. al., 2020; Kukulska-Hulme, et. al., 2021).

The state-of-the-art is carried out by the research team of the project FeSTEM – Female Empowerment in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics in Higher Education (HE). It provides findings on gender-sensitive pedagogy, setting goals for gender-sensitive student learning, curriculum content, the order of learning experience and instructional methods in STEM (Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education. The article also provides useful recommendations for educators, and information on some of the good practices and examples of existing educational programmes in HE, including interactive elective and compulsory university courses. Finally, it shows key suggestions for educators interested in making their classrooms more gender-sensitive and welcoming to all students.

Acknowledgement:
This work has been funded by the European Union’s Erasmus Plus programme, grant agreement: 2019-1-CY01-KA203-058407 (Project: FeSTEM). This publication reflects the views only of the authors, and the European Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained there.

References:
[1] UNESCO (2016). Education 2030: Incheon Declaration and Framework for Action for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. ED-2016/WS/28
[2] UNESCO (2017). Education for Sustainable Development Goals: Learning objectives. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, 7, place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP, France. ISBN 978-92-3-100209-0
[3] Kukulska-Hulme, A., Bossu, C., Coughlan, T., Ferguson, R., FitzGerald, E., Gaved, M., Herodotou, C., Rienties, B., Sargent, J., Scanlon, E., Tang, J., Wang, Q., Whitelock, D., Zhang, S. (2021). Innovating Pedagogy 2021: Open University Innovation Report 9. Milton Keynes: The Open University
[4] Aragonés-González, M., Rosser-Limiñana, A., & Gil-González, D. (2020). Coeducation and gender equality in education systems: A scoping review. Children and Youth Services Review, 111, 104837
[5] Osler, A. (2016). Human rights and schooling: An ethical framework for teaching for social justice. Teachers College Press

Keywords:

Women, science, technology, engineering, mathematics, visibility, Erasmus, gender, STEM, gender-sensitive pedagogy, higher education.