01 Understanding Beginning Teacher Socialization: A Study of Single-Gender and Mixed-Gender Staff Institution

Abstract

In the view of current educational reforms in Pakistan, professional socialization of beginning teachers is being discussed from various perspectives. This study focuses on the question if there is a difference between effective socialization of beginning teachers working in mixed-gender staff  institutions and those working in single-gender staff institutions, and if so, which group is socialized more effectively. For this purpose a detailed survey was conducted in which 295 beginning English teachers from 55 different institutions participated and communicated their self-perceptions. The result of independent samples t-test showed that teachers working in mixed-gender staff institutions scored less than teachers working in single-gender staff institutions with Mean difference = .17 and d = .53. The results of this investigation reveal an optimistic picture regarding the gender-mixing in teaching workforce in Pakistan. The conclusions from these results are helpful in understanding the gender perspectives in the socialization process of beginning teachers.