Secondary school teachers' perception of gender on adolescent students: The case of Istanbul

This study analyses how gender perception of the students who are at the very beginning of their adolescence is shaped by their teachers. It examines how adolescents' perception of gender is reinforced through teachers at school, and the teachers become role models for their students with their voices, attitudes and behaviours in class. By this way, the effect and influence of the teachers on the formation of gender perception of the adolescents are put forward. In this context, initially, the concepts of sex and gender are defined with their historical development process, and the relationship between the ideology and education is explored and analysed to understand the formation of the subject in the classroom. Followingly, the education system and the structure of the secondary schools in Turkey are examined, and related studies conducted in Turkey are employed to scrutinize the ideology conveyed through the teachers. Finally, through the in-depth interviews conducted with the teachers teaching at different types of secondary schools in Istanbul, the approaches and orientations used in the formation of the subject in the classroom is researched. The pressure environments, the objections arising against interpellation, the expectations based on gender and the punishment of the students not performing their genders are discussed based on the information given by the interviewees.