08 March 2024

Celebrating women in education

A teacher and students in a classroom Recently, while chatting with colleagues about movies that stayed with us long past the closing credits, someone brought up the  Queen of Katwe . I watched it the same day and was struck by the heartwarming story of a young chess prodigy, Phiona, facing poverty, lack of networks, and gender stereotypes that…,   Female teachers and school leaders are role models and allies for girls, Beyond learning mathematics or science, teachers and school leaders help develop valuable  socio-emotional skills ,  raise students’ aspirations for themselves  and parents’ aspirations for their children, and serve as  mentors and role models . “My fourth-grade teacher was the first one I can remember to speak to me directly, and not just to my…,   Female representation also varies within countries, with more women in urban schools for unsurprising reasons , Even in countries with balanced numbers of female and male teachers, female teacher presence in districts and regions often differs. We find that in  Teachers for All: Zambia Zambia ,  Teachers for All: Madagascar Madagascar ,   Teachers for All: Côte d’Ivoire Côte d'Ivoire , Botswana, Lesotho, Niger, Senegal, Equatorial Guinea and Angola, female…, Women are underrepresented as school leaders , In many parts of the world teachers are promoted to become school leaders, so fewer female teachers mean fewer female school leaders. But there is more to the story. Even in countries where women are well represented as teachers, they face barriers to move into leadership roles (Figure 3). This trend is global, and is seen in  West and Central…, Women lead differently, and female led schools often outperform their male counterparts, Having more women in leadership can empower young girls and help improve student wellbeing and learning. Much of the recent research we read also shows that women practice more collaborative leadership, are better instructional leaders, and prioritize student wellbeing.   Our Time to Teach research showed that female leaders in West and Central…, Harnessing more local and contextual evidence can be a game-changer to support women in teaching and school leadership, The stark reality is, that there is a shortage of female teachers at higher education levels, particularly in rural and challenging areas. What's more, women are poorly represented as school leaders globally. Here, local, and contextual data is critical for identifying and tracking gender disparities – a first step towards addressing the issue.…