Teachers’ gender responsiveness in geography education in the Ugandan secondary schools : a case of Amolatar District

Abstract

This study examined the teachers’ gender responsiveness in Geography education in Ugandan Secondary Schools, by taking the case of Amolatar District. The study particularly sought to find out if Geography Teachers are Gender responsive in the organization and delivery of the content of Geography Education in Ugandan Secondary Schools. The study was conceived due to the fact that education is critical to “Gender and Development Approach”, envisioned in the World Bank’s 2004 annual report and Geography is one of the most important disciplines where Gender can be integrated in its study. The study was conducted through a cross- sectional survey, data being collected during July- August 2018, using questionnaires, document analysis, observation and focus group discussion from 329 respondents from the secondary schools and the district education department. Data was analyzed using thematic and content analysis techniques and presented in descriptive words, Tables and Figures. The study established that the Geography syllabi for secondary schools in Uganda was designed within the modernization paradigm which does not focus on people and their welfare, the Geography teachers are not gender responsive as well as the instructional materials used in subject content delivery. The study concludes that gender responsiveness has not been enrouted upon the Geography teachers, NCDC geography syllabi and instructional materials. The study recommends that the Geography educators, MOESST and NCDC in Uganda need to be aware of the diversity of paradigms in conceptualizing Geography as a field of teaching, study and research which should be freed from the methodological uncertainties of its parentage with a vision of the discipline not as restricted within a narrow national faculty or departmental confines, but as a dynamic intellectual activity of great practical importance to economic, political, cultural and social development in the modern world which embraces all genders. In essence, lack of gender knowledge in the Geography syllabi calls for syllabi review and reform, in-service training of Geography teachers as well as modernizing text books and instructional material to make them gender responsive.