Design, implementation and evaluation of gender education course curriculum for undergraduate programs of faculty of education

Education has an important impact on individuals' awareness of gender inequalities in society, social awareness on gender equality and maintaining this egalitarian structure in democratic societies. Educators and teacher candidates are expected to adopt the two fundamental principles of democracy, equality and freedom, both in their personal and professional lives. From this point of view, it is necessary to provide teacher candidates with an informational and egalitarian attitude about gender equality in their education process and they are expected to reflect this knowledge and attitudes on their lives. When the literature is examined, studies on gender equality in education show that this issue is gaining more importance day by day. Even though the curriculum development studies have been carried out in the Teacher Training Undergraduate Programs over the years, there is no course aimed at providing prospective teachers with the necessary knowledge, skills and attitudes regarding gender equality and they have not taken part in the programs in any term. The aim of this research is to design, implement and evaluate the "Gender Equality Lesson Curriculum" for the undergraduate programs of the Faculties of Education. Within the framework of this general objective, global-national screening was conducted, pilot applications and sample programs were examined and current situation and problems were identified. According to these results, Gender Equality Curriculum was designed, implemented and evaluated. The results were evaluated according to Stufflebeam's Context, Input, Process and Product (CIPP) model based on scientific data. In this research, one group pre-test and final test design was used. Quantitative and qualitative research methods are used together in the research, so the research is a mixed method research. In this study, which elaborates, enriches and supports the analysis results obtained from quantitative data with qualitative data, a descriptive sequential pattern which is one of the mixed method research designs is used.The criterion sampling technique was used to form the study groups. Accordingly, two different study groups were identified within the third sub-objective of the study. The first study group consisted of 50 students from the 3rd grade students of the Guidance and Psychological Counseling Department of Düzce University Faculty of Education, and the second study group consisted of 17 volunteers from the first study group. The data of the research was collected by Gender Role Attitude Scale (GRAS), Student Diaries and Student Interview Form regarding the Gender Equality Curriculum. Within the scope of the qualitative and quantitative dimension of the study, "Gender Equality Lesson Curriculum" (GELC) was applied for 14 weeks. Statistical package program was used for the analysis of the quantitative data. The quantitative data showed normal distribution and these data were analyzed by Independent Sample t test and Dependent Sample t test which are parametric tests. Descriptive analysis was used for the analysis of qualitative of the study. Within the scope of the first sub-objective of the research, GELC was designed according to Tyler's program development model. Two program development experts and an expert on gender studies were asked about GELC. Within the scope of the second sub-objective of the research, GELC is a 14 week implementation period. In the third sub-objective of the study, GELC was evaluated according to Stufflebeam's Context, Input, Process and Product (CIPP) model. In order to make a more realistic decision about the curriculum, four dimensions of the CIPP program evaluation model were included in the evaluation process. In the quantitative findings of the study, a significant difference was found with the GRAS applied between before and after GELC and the mean scores of the students in favor of the final test score. When the mean scores of the students from the pre-test and pofinal test were examined in all sub-dimensions of GRAS, a significant difference was found in favor of the final test score. Equality Gender Role, which is one of the sub-dimensions of GRAS, is the sub-dimension with the lowest mean scores of students from the pre-test, and the highest final test mean scores of the students after GLEC. A significant difference was found between the pre-test and final test scores obtained from GRAS in favor of female students by gender. When the pre-test and final test scores obtained from GRAS were examined according to gender, it was found that the average score of female students in the final test in the sub-dimensions of Male Gender Role, Female Gender Role, Marriage Gender Role, and Traditional Gender Role was higher than that of male students. In the Equality Gender Role sub-dimension, there was no significant difference in the mean scores of the students from the final test. However, in this sub-dimension, the mean scores of the male students from the pre-test were found to be higher than the mean scores of the female students. It was concluded that GLEC had more positive effects on the attitudes of female students in Equality Gender Role sub-dimension of GRAS. When the views of the students on gender equality after GLEC are examined, it was observed that they have knowledge about Gender Roles in Family Life, Mass Media and Gender, Violence Against Women, Gender Roles in Social Life, Gender in Business, Gender in Education and Gender in Religion. In addition, it was found that by making self-assessment about their lives, they became aware of their existing sexist attitudes and behaviors and their attitudes evolved more positively. In their qualitative findings regarding the third sub-objective of the research, they stated that GLEC provides an egalitarian view of gender roles, increases awareness, contributes to their individual development, facilitates their learning with active participation, provides a democratic and egalitarian environment. In addition, students stated that GLEC should be included in all higher education programs, especially in Teacher Training Undergraduate Programs. They even suggested that this program be included in the second year curriculum. As a result of these findings, it was found that GLEC makes teacher candidates to become aware of their current sexist attitudes and behaviors and affect gender roles and attitudes in an egalitarian way. In order to apply the research, it is suggested that gender related courses should be included in all teacher training undergraduate programs, that GLEC should be applied in all faculties, and that gender-related knowledge and attitudes should be gained in all educational levels, especially in pre-school. Suggestions for researchers include that a gender program can be developed and re-implemented, researches can be conducted by taking into consideration the opinions and suggestions of the students regarding GLEC, with GLEC it is possible to conduct a longitudinal study to determine their perceptions, views and attitudes towards gender equality.