”We try to split up. We ladies like to bake. The males prefer IP, football and gymnastics” : A study of expectations of male teachers and gender-building in the early school years

With this thesis I wanted to find out how a teacher-team in Stockholm reason about and whether they have specific expectations of male teachers in the early school years. Interviews with five teachers from pre-school to grade 3 and in after-school have shown that specific expectations of male teachers is something obvious. Are male teachers expected to enter into the role of male role models to contribute with masculinity and a male perspective? However, the informants are not able to define how a male role model is or should act. Men and women are often defined as two separate, and often as opposite, groups. According to Lpo´94 the school has to counteract traditional gender patterns, making specific expectations of male teachers problematic, when these rather helps to underpin these patterns. The conclusion is, based on the perception of gender as a socially constructed phenomenon, that schools and teachers contribute to gender-building by setting, and constantly repeating and practicing the standards for what is considered male and female. As long as this continues, the school will remain an arena where these gender patterns are reinforced rather then counteracted