Women's and gender studies in the area of university teaching methods – particularly in degree courses where women are under-represented – have developed numerous approaches to correcting the gender bias in the teaching of subjects where there is gender segregation. These approaches are also relevant for other degree courses.
Gender-balanced teaching.
Students should be seen as individuals, with different interests, experiences, situations in life, learning strategies, strengths and weaknesses. Gender-balanced teaching takes these differences into account, both in the content of the teaching and in the teaching methods themselves. Of course, there are not just differences between female and male students, but also within one gender. Consequently, there are no hard and fast rules for how to make teaching gender-balanced in every situation and with all groups of students. The gender differences created by society mean that women and men typically have different areas of interest. For example, numerous studies have shown that women who study subjects typically associated with men (such as engineering) focus on different areas than their male counterparts.
The following guidelines apply to deciding what options to offer within degree courses, choosing examples and designing course materials:
- take into account the specific interests of female students
- avoid explicit or implicit hierarchical value judgements
- point out the significance of the subject matter for work, study and everyday life, and present the material from different perspectives, including gender
- offer interdisciplinary topics and projects that encourage students to see the connections between things
- use cooperative forms of teaching (e.g. "project degrees") rather than traditional classroom teaching
- offer students different forms of learning and different learning processes. This should include mono-educational (single sex) formats – not just for entire degree courses, but also as options within coeducational degree courses, especially in subjects that still have a high level of gender segregation
- introduce a new type of communication and interaction behaviour throughout, not just to avoid open or cover sexism, but also in a positive sense, so that both female and male students are treated with the same respect
- provide opportunities for identification, to help students complete their studies successfully and increase their belief in their own abilities.
The introduction of two-tier degree programmes is an opportunity for institutions of higher education to implement the wide range of measures aimed at promoting gender-balanced teaching. These measures have been tried and tested in pilot projects and are already in place in some areas; they should now be implemented on a comprehensive basis.
Supervision and course guidance.
If the goal of reducing the duration of study is to be achieved, supervising and guiding students will play an increasing role in future. For such supervision to be gender-balanced, everyone involved must receive intensive professional training. This applies to all lecturers involved in supervising students, as well as to individuals responsible for course guidance at university, discipline/faculty or degree level.
Equally important is setting up an effective evaluation and monitoring system to analyse degree completion and drop-out rates for students (male and female separately). This should include a formalised feedback system and a system for analysing relevant job markets from the point of view of gender, so that male and female students can be properly informed about their career chances in different branches of the profession.
Mentoring.
Mentoring programmes are already well-established in many institutions of higher education. They are one of the most effective tools for supporting young academics, especially women. Mentoring has long been regarded as a key factor in professional success. However, it has taken place on an informal level that to a large extent excluded "outsiders" (women, members of lower social classes, migrants). Creating a mentoring programme that is specially targeted at women (or men, if under-represented) is a way of trying to compensate for this. Female mentors are also valuable role models, so it is sometimes particularly usefule to have single-sex teams.
Mentoring programmes especially for women (undergraduates, graduates and doctoral students) are fairly widespread at German universities; increasingly, cross-university projects are being developed.
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