Effect of teacher gender on sex role classification of school-related objects

This study was designed to explore the relationship between the sex of the teacher and the way in which second, third, and fourth grade students label school-related objects. The subjects were 789 second, third, and fourth grade students enrolled in suburban Chicago schools. The children were equally divided between grades, between male and female teachers, and represented a cross-section of racial and ethnic groups in the area. All the students were given the school-related objects instrument in May of 1981. A three way analysis of variance model was used. From the analysis of the data the following conclusions were drawn: (1) Girls view school as more sex congruent than boys in grades three and four. (2) There is no relationship between the sex of the teacher and the way in which second, third, and fourth grade boys label school-related objects, but male teachers had a negative effect on girls. (3) The classification of school-related objects does differ by grade when investigated by the child's sex separately. This study found results similar to that of other research regarding students' labeling of school-related objects. In addition, this study found that male teachers had no significant effect on male students' labeling school-related objects.