Fischman, Gustavo E.
(2000). Imagining Teachers: Rethinking Gender Dynamics in
Teacher Education. Lanham, MD: Rowman and
Littlefield
pp. xiv + 213
$80 ISBN 0-8476-9181-0
(Cloth)
$26.95 ISBN 0-8476-9182-9 (Paper)
Reviewed by Karen
Monkman and Rachel Sutz
Florida State
University
October 18,
2001
How are
gender dynamics manifested in teacher education? In Imagining
Teachers: Rethinking Gender Dynamics in Teacher Education,
Gustavo E. Fischman examines how preservice teachers think about
teaching and teachers and how people who enter the teaching
profession understand the gender dynamics at work in teacher
education. This book is based on his study of teacher education
programs in Argentina with an emphasis on gender and processes of
professional identity formation.
Fischman's
study of teacher education programs in Argentina gives us much to
think about in terms of how we think about gender, and how we
engage in research on these topics. In this ambitious book,
based on the author's dissertation, Fischman examines both how
prospective teachers think about their chosen career, and how
teachers are portrayed historically and in educational policy.
Argentina's particular history and politico-economic realities
are linked to the ways in which teaching and teachers are
socially constructed in this context. Whether the reader is
interested in Argentina particularly, or other countries, s/he
will find much to stimulate thinking about teacher education and
gendered identity formation of new teachers.
In his
introduction, Fischman establishes how he wants readers to frame
their reading of the book. He asks that we begin by examining
the meaning we attach to certain words, such as teaching, and the
images that come to mind along with those words and meanings.
Fischman discusses the use of imagery in educational research and
how he uses images, portrayed in the artwork of teacher education
program (TEP) students, in this study. Fischman goes on to
explain the possible implications of his work in the broader
context of teacher education reform. Among these implications
are possible considerations of who enters teaching, who is
successful in the classroom, and how gender play a role in these
dynamics.
In Chapter
1, Fischman examines how issues of identity and gender
intersect. He discusses gender as a sociohistorical construction
and explains the tension between gender constructs and
stereotypes in Argentina in terms of machismo and femininity.
Fischman introduces the tango as an illustrative example to help
readers develop a better understanding of what it means to be
macho in Argentina. He deftly describes the relationship between
masculinity and machismo in Argentinean cultural identity. The
“tango” metaphor is also used later in the book as an
analytical tool for examining the multiple dimensions of the
imagining of teachers. (We will discuss this further later
on.)
In contrast
to the “hegemonic model of masculinity” represented
in tango, Fischman presents the “ideology of
motherhood” as an “emphasized form of
femininity” (p. 30). Fischman explains how the predominant
metaphors of “teacher as mother” and “teacher
as technician” have played out historically for women
teaching in Argentina. According to Fischman, “the ideology
of motherhood is of particular importance … because it has
been extremely influential in the development of the teaching
profession not only in Latin America but in most of the
West” (p. 31). He provides additional contextualization
for the reader by explaining the significance of an idealized
mother figure in the predominantly Catholic Argentine culture.
As in other countries, when women began to enter the ranks of the
teaching profession, teaching began to be equated with mothering
and women began to be seen as natural teachers because they are,
it is supposed, naturally maternal, caring beings.
It is
thisuneasy coexistence between the hegemonic model of
masculinity and the ideology of motherhood that Fischman examines
in his discussion of “schools as gender regimes” (p.
33). The gendered relationships of power, the division of labor,
emotions, and meanings are actively (re-)constructed within the
boundaries of broader cultural, political, and economic social
structures. In Fischman’s analysis, schools are
places where gender stereotypes are perpetuated. He
characterizes classrooms as gendered workplaces and teacher
education programs as “gendered spaces” (p. 34).
According to Fischman, women working in schools have been
perceived within traditional familiar roles, sometimes being
referred to as “aunt” or other similar familial
appellations. Men, in contrast, face different issues that are
inherent to a “machismo” construct, including
suspicion of their motives for working with children at all.
Heterosexual deviance (e.g., sexual harassment or abuse of girl
students by male teachers) and fear of homosexuality (of male
teachers influencing the sexuality of male students) are the two
primary suspicions active in cultural definitions of male
teachers. Men teachers are also, however, perceived to be better
at disciplining students than are women teachers.
Fischman is
careful to point out that the gendered nature of the teaching
profession has an effect on both men and women. Fischman argues
that, in order to address issues relating to teaching and gender,
it is crucial to develop an understanding of how context,
dialogue, and power are conceptualized.
After
developing a contextual entry point for the reader to join his
examination of gender dynamics in teaching in the first chapter,
Fischman uses the second chapter to outline the methodological
framework and methods for the study. This includes his use of
student-created representational images and group discussion
about them as an integral data source for the study. Pre-service
teachers are asked to draw “real” and
“ideal” images of teachers; these are the foci of
subsequent discussion in which students’ perceptions and
interpretations are explored.
Chapter 3
provides a history of elementary teacher education in Argentina
and includes an interesting examination of the metaphors and
representations used during three phases: “teachers as
mothers” during the development of normal schools, and
“teachers as technicians” during the inclusion of
teacher education in tertiary education, followed by a more
conflicted period (1984-1996) when teacher education was provided
by a myriad of institutions and a variety of challenges arose
(e.g., intensification of teaching, de-skilling, standardization,
reduced wages and necessity to work two shifts, decline of
educational quality, unmet need for teachers and larger classes
and schools, and increased public criticism of schools and
teachers). Fischman links these changing characteristics with
changes in the political and economic conditions in
Argentina.
In Chapter
4, Fischman includes most of the field-based data at the core of
this study. Data was collected from TEP records; interviews of
administrators, teacher educators, and TEP students; focus groups
with TEP students; observations at the TEPs; analysis of the news
and public documents; a questionnaire given to 178 TEP students;
and the production and discussion of images created by TEP
students for this study. The first part of this chapter
juxtaposes discussion of enrollment statistics from TEPs, which
show increasing numbers of male students and more students who
work, with perceptions and interpretations of these enrollment
trends by administrators and TEP teachers who see “poorer
students” who are less-well educated, and more male
students who are both welcomed and feared. Upon deeper
investigation, current students share similar SES characteristics
with past TEP students—they are not poorer—but the
effects of the recent economic conditions in Argentina have
increased economic demands on families, requiring students to
work while they study; middle-class families have been plunged
into more precarious economic conditions. The increase in male
students is welcomed because of the need for more male teachers
and beliefs that male teachers are better at instilling
discipline and control, but also feared due to recent incidents
of male teacher harassment of female students, and to
homophobia.
The second
part of chapter 4 is devoted to characterizing the current TEP
students as a social group on the basis of their questionnaires
and their discussions of the images produced. The final section
of this chapter focuses on the images Fischman asked students to
generate. Students were asked to draw images of real and ideal
teachers and teaching, which were then discussed in groups. The
discussions are especially revealing when the TEP students talk
about their future career, and how they struggle with the
tensions and complexities inherent in a career that is both
respected but criticized, and honorable but poorly paid. Of
particular interest is how gender is characterized and analyzed.
Teachers are expected to be, for the most part, asexual and
self-less, but several discussions and images challenge this
image in ways that reflect student concerns about self-identity
and the ways in which career choice constrains and influences
teachers' personal and professional gender identities.
Two cases
demonstrate the complexities involving sexuality and teaching,
and what teachers are expected to do. The first involves an
image drawn by a male student of an "ideal" teacher presented as
a well-endowed woman teacher dressed in a short, revealing dress,
in a suggestive posture, writing on the board. She is described
by the artist/student as fitting the sexualized imagery prevalent
in the media, and necessary for gaining children's attention:
"... if they keep selling us a culture of appearances and
discriminate against those who are not that well
“physically equipped,” this [his diagram] is the only
type of teacher that will attract the children's attention" (p.
137). The student also reveals that this teacher is
knowledgeable (which was a topic that was conspicuously all but
absent from other student images of teachers) and able to teach
effectively. The ensuing discussion reveals a lively challenge
to the thinking of this student and the others, while exploring
issues of sexuality of women teachers, the notion of caring as a
requirement of or as extraneous to teaching, teachers' knowledge
bases, the influence of the media in raising issues about
teachers and teaching, homosexuality, machismo. Fischman
suggests that this image is in part a defensive device to express
his masculinity, in light of homophobic suspicions about men
wanting to be teachers. The discomfort created by this image
enabled students to reflect on their own assumptions about
teaching and teachers, as well as reveal these conflicted images
for this study. Although the creation of images and subsequent
discussions were not intended to be learning activities, they
were, and were appreciated by the students.
The other
case study involves images depicting teachers as
donkeys--implying dumbness or ignorance--and as superteachers.
The superteacher image is not clearly male or female, is
supporting the entire world (represented by the globe), and is
happy (smiling). In part these images reflect the experience
this group of TEP students has with nonformal education (NFE),
which is unlike the other groups studied who were inexperienced
with NFE. Many of these students are former NFE teachers and tend
to more critically analyze the sociopolitical context of public
school teaching, and to identify teaching with helping students
to critically analyze their world and engage in social change
activities. The group discussion, therefore, focused on the
politics of education, the possibilities of transformative
actions, and the role of teachers and communities in changing or
maintaining the status quo.
The final
chapter attempts to link the various issues presented in previous
chapters, namely, gender, teaching, caring, resistance, and
agency. This is no easy task, considering the complexity of each
issue, independent of the relationships among them. The
author’s discussion complicates our thinking about who TEP
students are, how they are grappling with complex issues of
identity and teaching, and how changing political and economic
conditions influence construction of images and perceptions of
teaching and teachers by TEP students, teachers, administrators,
and the public.
Fischman's
use of metaphor is instructive in analyzing the ambiguities in
how teachers are imagined. Paramount among these is the image of
schooling as tango. Tango is understood as a male-driven
process, but it is often women's actions that have the greatest
impact. Teaching is analyzed as a similarly contradictory
activity involving autonomy and authority, tradition and change,
knowledge and process, technical expertise and caring, sexuality
and asexual images of mothering, and the like.
Poverty,
lack of discipline, and the need for caring are three themes
which are consistent in the data from this study. Poverty is
simultaneously understood as a consequence of the political and
economic conditions in Argentina, and as a reality for schools
which teachers must deal with. Discipline is closely aligned
with gendered teacher images.
The increase
of men in the teaching force is viewed optimistically as men are
(uncritically) assumed to be better able to instill discipline in
classrooms. Women teachers, on the other hand, are assumed to be
better at caring--also a requirement for today's students.
Although these issues repeatedly arose in the student discussions
and images and were the focus of critique and analysis, they also
continue to influence the students' expectations in their future
careers at teachers. Resolving the tensions between teaching as
dedication and caring vs. teaching as instilling order and
control is no easy challenge, and is common in teacher education
in many regions, including the U.S. We also need to think about
knowledge. The discourse of the TEP students rarely engaged with
issues subject matter content or teacher knowledge. But, their
discussions of teaching imply knowledge of a different
type—social “truths” about teaching as process,
preferred (and threatening) qualities of teachers, and, for some,
about social inequities and change. Fischman concludes:
“if we want to imagine, understand, and construct teacher
education as a dialogic instance involved in the production of
socially relevant knowledge and participating in the deepening of
democratic processes, we need to be committed to deconstruct all
discourses of truth” (p. 170).
The cover of
the paperback version of Fischman's book includes an original
painting by Marcella Harvey called "Planting Semillas" [seeds]
which was painted after her reading of an early draft of this
book and intense discussion with the author about a variety of
issues from his research. In the picture she depicts teachers'
faces on leaves of a plant, mingled with words such as vision,
discipline, identity. The central image is a person, half
female, half male. This painting, unlike the student images
discussed in the book, is both a part of the research
(Harvey’s imagery of teachers and the complexities of
identity), and a representation of the research itself (as it
emerged in response to her understandings of the research process
and findings through recurrent dialogues with the
author/researcher). As is evident in other dimensions of
Fischman's research, through the dialectical and dialogical use
of imagery in furthering our understanding of how people make
sense of their worlds, this painting reveals the main issues from
the book and invites further reflection and introspection of the
readers, as it did for the author.
Strengths of
this book include its hybrid methodology and development of the
particular strategy of using imagery as data that Dr. Fischman
has developed. The study draws on feminist studies, cultural
studies, and critical pedagogy in examining the tensions of how a
variety of issues are perpetuated as well as challenged. While
readers might be left with a feeling that more gender and class
oppression is perpetuated than actively challenged by these TEP
students, one can also see where further transformation of the
inequitable teacher education environments and public perceptions
of teachers and teaching in Argentina can occur. Even though this
study applies to Argentina, with its unique history, the issues
are pertinent to many countries' teacher education
programs.
This is an
ambitious study which juxtaposes visual, textual, and dialogical
data; includes TEP students' but also teacher educators' and
administrators' perceptions; and sets the resulting issues within
historical and policy contexts. This is an enormous task for one
book, and one that is difficult to accomplish. Readers may want
additional discussion in some parts of the book, such as in the
final chapter where the author "attempts to explore the
connections between images, representations, identities, and the
development of their geographical, historical, and cultural
contexts" (p. 157). Fischman’s detailed introduction
invites the reader to share in the dialogue he wants to create
and raises a variety of theoretical and conceptual concerns.
Readers might feel a greater sense of completion or, at the very
least, a sense of coming full circle, if Fischman were to revisit
more directly and in more detail the ideas he raises earlier in
the text. On the other hand, these “spaces” are
where questions arise in the reader's mind. It is these
questions that are likely to drive future research or thought in
other contexts, in the other arenas where gender is acted out and
acted upon in educational circles.
Readers will
also notice some technical imperfections in this book. While we
are not aware of the division of editorial labor between the
publisher and the author, this book is similar to others we have
recently seen in which the copy editing traditionally done by the
publisher seems to be lacking or incomplete. While cost cutting
is a necessity for many publishers, this final polishing of the
text is indispensable.
The issues
raised in this book are integral to teacher education, and
should, in our opinion, be more aggressively investigated by
potential and current teachers and administrators. The book will
be of particular interest to comparative educators and teacher
educators, and to those interested in gender, teacher education,
education in Latin America, and visual qualitative research
strategies.
About the
Reviewers
Karen
Monkman is an assistant professor in the
International-Intercultural Development Education program at
Florida State University. Her research interests are gender and
education, comparative and international education with
particular focus on Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa,
transnationalism and multiculturalism, and nonformal learning.
She teaches courses in gender, international development, and
education; social and cultural perspectives of education; and
qualitative research methods.
Rachel
Sutz is an adjunct professor in the Department of
Sociology and Criminal Justice at Florida A & M University
and a doctoral candidate in the Social Sciences and Education
Program at Florida State University. Her research interests are
teacher education, gender issues, multiculturalism, and
educational equity. She teaches courses in social foundations of
education, multicultural education, sociology, and gender.
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