Fischman 2007

Fischman, Gustavo E. 2007. "Persistence and ruptures: The feminization of teaching and teacher education in Argentina." Gender and Education 19.3: 353-368.

 

 

 

• Apostles and second mothers
• normal schools, when they were set up, were dominated by women, both as teachers and students (353-354)
• paradigmatic images of teachers were mothers and/or lay missionaries devoting their lives to the (social and religious) reproduction of students (354-356)
• teachers were seen as similar to middle class ousewives (355)
• this idea of teachers as second mothers and the dominant position of normal schools persisted until the military dictatorship in the 1960s (356)
• reform under the dictatorship actually raised training for teachers, made the normal schools on level with tertiary education, but reinforced the feminization of teaching (356-8)
• male experst produced lessons, women taught them, men were always higher administrators (357)
• but lack of university degree meant teachers were still seen as semi-professionals, not professionals (358)
• democracy again
• schools and teachers were supposed to play an important role in the refoundation of democracy, but economic crisis pushed education spending and reform to the back burner (359)
• 1988: seven small strikes eventually become one 47 day strike for better wages and conditions (359)
• but print opinion turned against them, and they lost hte strike
• enrollment in teacher education programs nationwide dropped, and CABA saw an approx 40% drop (Braslavsky and Birgin 1995)
•  of course, open enrollment in universities and massive drop in teachers' salaries also happened at same time...
• Menem signed law that demanded all teachers have a university degree (360)
• "Yet it is fair to say that the old representation of teachers as enlightened and heroic figures was replaced by depictions of educators as bureaucratic and mediocre (361)
• teachers salaries still low, normal schools start complaining theat there students are increasingly coming from the poorer segments of society (362)
• strike in May 1997, government and media suggest teachers are betraying their students by not working (362)
• images of teachers as a second mother were invoked, part of expectations of (some of ) the public
• conclusion
• women are in positions of leadership in the ministry of education, unions, and research centers (363)
• calls women in education a zone of "equality' because women make up such an important part of the system (363)
• motherhood is still a strong image in edcuation, but Madres de Plaza de Mayo and Evita at least make this a complicated identity, one that can be politically strong (364)
• composite image is a person who teaches and serves out of a sense of altruism (365)
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