Detecting the Gender Dimension of the Choice of the Teaching Profession Prior to the Economic Crisis and IMF (International Monetary Fund) Memorandum in Greece-A Case Study

The purpose of this research paper is the investigation of, and the sociological approach to, and interpretation of the attitudes of male and female students in the University Department of Primary Education (U.D.P.E.) at the University of Patras in Greece, before the enforcement of the IMF Memorandum, concerning the choice of the teaching profession and the corresponding scientific field of studies. In particular, we will be concerned with the following research questions: a) what are the attitudes of male and female students regarding the reasons for the choice of the particular scientific field and b) What is the influence of the gender of the male and female students of the U.D.P.E. at the University of Patras as far as the choice of studies in the particular scientific field is concerned. The most significant findings of the work reveal that in the particular University Department female students are overrepresented in percentage terms, a fact which demonstrates the "feminizing" of the Department in question. It also became apparent that the educational and professional choice of the female students in the particular University department is guided by their gender, which directs their practice. Finally, the prospect of immediate and certain professional employment which studies in the field of teaching in Greece promised, before the appearance of the economic crisis and the enforcement of the austerity measures, emerged as the most significant factor in the choice of the teaching profession by both sexes.