History teaching materials from a gender perspective : Teachers working with gender and how man/ woman are produced in teaching materials in History Teaching

The aim of this study is to compare textbooks that are used in history teaching from different times through history. This study will focus on two older textbooks from the years 1957 and 1977, and two current teaching materials with class books for the pupils and teacher’s textbooks from the years 1994 and 2011. We conducted interviews with six teachers on how they perceive and work with gender with the current textbooks. Three questions will be the basic for the study: In what way is "men and masculinity" and "women and femininity" produced in some of history teaching, older and current teaching materials? Have there been any changes in how gender is produced in the older and current teaching aids? What view have the teachers about how gender is produced in the current teaching materials and how they work with gender in history teaching? This study is a qualitative study that uses textual analysis and interviews as a method. This study will make use of Hirdman's (1988) theory of the gender system, Connell's (2009) theory of production relations and symbolic relations and Josefson's (2005) description of what is considered masculine and feminine. The results of this study show that teaching materials have improved over time and that there is differing opinions and approaches on how gender is used in history teaching