Impact of Teachers’ Gender Equity Awareness on Middle School Students’ Academic Performance

Abstract

The high school years are a critical period for students to build up their awareness of gender equity and refine their gender perspectives. During this period, teachers, as guides on the path of students’ development, often have an impact on their students in terms of their awareness of gender equity, which in turn affects their academic performance. Based on the analysis of questionnaires from 150 senior high school students from the first to the third year of high school in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, the impact of teachers’ awareness of gender equity on senior high school student’s academic performance and the specific mechanisms are explored. The analysis of the data shows that in the process of the change of student’s academic performance, some teachers’ sense of gender fairness will express some gender stereotypes in the classroom and teaching through some verbal and behavioral cues, such as boys are smart but lack effort, and girls are self-disciplined but lack adaptability. In turn, these teacher realizations are reflected in student achievement through students’ perceptions of teacher support with their sense of self-efficacy.