GENDER ASPECT OF HIGHER EDUCATION
M.D. Shagyrbayeva
candidate of pedagogical sciences, performer of the duty of the
associate professor
M.Zh. Kengessova
Undergraduate of specialty pedagogics and
psychology, 1st year,
al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Republic of Kazakhstan
This
work is dedicated to the very important, but little investigated theme in the
history of pedagogics - gender aspects of higher education. Theoretical
importance of the investigation is thejustification of essence of the idea of
students gender upbringing, pedagogical principles and content, and also
necessity of inclusion of such notions as “gender education”, “gender
upbringing”, “gender attitude”, “gender
tuition” and etc. to categorical
apparatus of modern pedagogics; Aims and tasks of gender approach in higher
education were defined; gender approach, which includes into itselfsocio-cultural
characteristics of sexes is used. The ideas of gender education and their
continuity were revealed.This article considers the system of gender education
of Republic of Kazakhstan, reveals the structure and main stages of its
development, analyzes the problems and prospects of its development, and also systematizes
socio-economic and political conditions in Kazakhstan that affects this process.
Key words: gender, gender education, gender
upbringing, gender stereotypes, gender socialization.
Introduction
In
the context of democratization of Kazakh society the implementation of
humanization and individualization of
education requires new approaches, models, technologies of gender education and
upbringing of students. In this regard, the question of the culture of gender
relations becomes more urgent.
Today,
gender education has a vital importance for the university students, since this
is where the establishment and recognition of women’s and men’s personality
takes place, and valuable attitude to the opposite sex is formed.
The
message of the President of Kazakhstan N.A. Nazarbayev, which defines the
development strategy of the Republic of Kazakhstan until 2030, says that the
future of our sovereign state is in the hands of educated young people, brought
up on the basis of the best national values and traditions that have universal
significance. In this regards, the problem of gender education and upbringing
of students should be a priority in Kazakhstan’s education system, as it is not
only the study of a problem of psychological characteristics of boys and girls,
but also young people’s attitude to gender relations.
At
the present stage the study of the experience of educational work with the
students of higher educational institutions shows that the education of
students is often carried out at a not high enough level. The process of gender
education is not included in a holistic educational process, despite the
interest of the students, both boys and girls, in this problem and teacher’s
demand for professional information on gender education.
Body
Gender-focused
training and education of students have been the subject of comprehensive scientific
research in many countries of the world for a long time.For
example, for the first time his vision of age and gender education and upbringing of children, as we know, has defined the English
thinker and humanist Thomas More, who proclaimed the principle of universal
education, and demanded equal education
for men and women. He pointed out that on
the island "Utopia" all children, both boys and girls
are given equal public education and initial training; all
people receive a broad education.
Today
gender education excite a large number of researchers. Interest is caused by
the fact that the modern requirements of an individual approach to the
formation of identity cannot ignore the characteristics of boys and girls,
since they are bio-socio-cultural characteristics [2].The study of some aspects
of gender education of students has not only theoretical, but also of great
practical importance for such areas as the family and various educational
institutions. I.S. Con, A. Mudrik made
a significant contribution to the development of gender education.
An interdisciplinary approach to the study of gender and
sexuality was developed by I.S. Kohn, and approach to the issue of
socialization - was developed by A.V. Mudrik, which allows to consider the relationship and interaction
of social, cultural and psychological aspects of the development of a holistic
image of the individual as a representative of a particular sex in education of
students during the gender socialization on the basis of the analysis of recent
results of different sciences [3].
Analysis
of the pedagogical literature on the study led to the conclusion that the
educational process is an integral part of the university and at the same time
is a product of gender-role socialization of the individual student.
Socialization depends on many factors, but usually to the main ones refer family, parents, peers, school, teachers,
etc. Under the gender socialization both sides, the socio-pedagogical process
of creating the girls' and boys' perceptions of masculinity and femininity,
aimed at improving their personality and focused on the formation and
development of gender behavior, are understood .
Today
in Kazakhstan in conditions of market economy initiative people who know how to
work in a competitive environment,who rely on their own strength and not on the
state assistance ,while creating a decent standard of living for themselves and
their loved ones, are considered to be successful and popular. Changing requirements of the society to the individual,
determines the necessity of modernization of the Institute of gender education
[2].
The
subject of "gender" was
officially introduced in Kazakhstan, to
books on philosophy, political science, economics were added the relevant sections, the first study guides
were published. The main role in this process played and continues to play SRI
GIS KazStateFemPU.
KazStateFemPU
-is a unique institution with a huge experience in training women cadres of
teachers. Recently, our university has been conducting purposeful gender
education policy focused on the requirements expressed in the "Gender
Equality Strategy of Kazakhstan for 2006-2016" [4] and in the speeches of
the Message of President of Kazakhstan. One of the obstacles to achieving the
goal is a gender stereotype, which is prevalent in our society. Gender
stereotype – is a standardized representation of the proper behaviors of men
and women.
From
the 2001-2002 school year, in coordination with the Ministry of Education and
Science, the introduction of the program "Gender" [5] into the
curriculum for students of all faculties KazStateFemPU,is aimed to actualize
the problem of gender relations, to encourage students to a new vision of
social-cultural and historical realities, to shape gender identity, and try to
overcome gender stereotypes of patriarchal sense. The objective of the program
is twofold: firstly, to give a thorough theoretical unit, to introduce the history and theory of gender, to
introduce the key concepts, philosophy
and methodology of gender studies, and to illustrate the functioning of the
"gender display" in a social context. Secondly, to bear in mind that
gender - is primarily “micropolitics”, "scene" of interpersonal
relationships, the constant "doing gender" in specific situations.
With the help of this information we need to establish dialogue with students , paying
attention on their
experience, especially in the discussion of such pressing issues of gender research
as sexuality, reproductive function, motherhood, abortion, prostitution and
pornography.
The
study of such a topic of the training course as "Gender and professional
relationships" suggests to familiarize students with the basic problems which
our contemporary labor market faces and with the ways of resolving them. The
course is designed to facilitate the adaptation of future graduates in a
difficult competitive environment of the market economy, conditions of
unemployment, and to inform them about
possible solutions.
Expanding
the role of gender-role socialization as a factor of upbringing of the
individual student in educational process of high school, we came to the
following conclusions: the educational process of the university is a
collection of educational and self-educational processes that provides training
of specialists, who know how to combine the professionalism with high general
culture, the culture of communication and behavior in the performance of gender
rolesduring the implementation of the content of education. Thus, multi-level
system of education lays the foundation for more extensive socialization of the
individual of high school student, who has certain individual characteristics,
gender characteristics and qualitative differences in the theoretical approach
to solving not only educational and professional, but also family problems.
Conclusion
Youth
is an important subject of social relations, a great innovative strength. And
we should use that power wisely. However , we should not forget, that
representatives of different social groups and regions have unequal focus on
education and training, and differ from
each other by several levels of
cultural and educational training. But more often, they are declared the
same requirements. The young man is
formed as a person with the help of the development of his social qualities
that define him as a member of the concrete historical society. The
socialization of the younger generation should be advanced, taking into account
possible future changes.
The
country’s future largely depends on what kind of education will our youth receive today. Proper youth education policy
is the key to a stable society. The central task of education is to improve the
culture in gender relations , and also it is the formation of an adequate sex behaviors and the right understanding
of roles of men and women in society. And besides that, our task is to bring
uppsychologically and physically healthy individual, who is harmoniously
developed in the intellectual and personal level, who thinks creatively and outside the box,
who owns the required
amount of basic knowledge, skills, abilities, and striving for self-development
and self-actualization.
References:
1. "Strategy of
Kazakhstan" Kazakhstan-2030 "at the New Stage of Development
2. Gender pedagogy and
gender education in the post-Soviet countries: miscellany of Materials of the
International Summer School. - Ivanovo, 2002
3. Kon I.S. Masculinity
as history // Gender kaleidoscope. Lectures / Under ed. of M.M.Malysheva. -M.:
Akademia. 2001
4. "Strategy of
gender equality in the Republic of Kazakhstan for 2006-2016." Approved by
the Presidential Decree of November 29, 2005 ¹1677
5. The program of
special course "Gender" KazStateFemPU