Modern Educational Trends and Gender Specific Issues 1

Modern Educational Trends and Gender Specific Issues Involved

Richmond Ilao (MAED Guidance & Counseling)

Course Number: ENGL 207 Modern Educational Trends

Instructor: Dr. Helen Edwards

January 23 2018

I certify that this assignment is my own work and is free from plagiarism. I understand

that the assignment may be checked for plagiarism by electronic or other means. The assignment

has not previously been submitted for assessment in any other course or institution. I have read

and understood Philippine Christian University academic integrity policy.

Signature: Date: January 23, 2018

Modern Educational Trends and Gender Specific Issues Involved 2

Modern Educational Trends and Gender Issues

What are modern educational trends? In my own perspective, modern educational trends

are methodologies, mindset and research developments in the field of education. Methodologies

are approaches in the teaching and learning that further improves the learning process. Mindset is

the way of thinking where the teacher and the learner can adapt new ways and what works best.

Research developments are used to further improve the educational system. As education evolves

and improves, research development is a means of keeping abreast of what is going on.

Eaton (2010) did a research on the trends of education in 21st century, although it is still in

progress, she had mentioned seven main trends that currently occurring in the field of education in

both developed and developing nations, at the primary, secondary and tertiary level as well as in

adult education regardless of whether the education is public or private, on every continent of the

world.

The first trend is technology use and integration which will not only enhance education but

will drive learning of all kinds. The second trend mentioned is the expansion of mobile technology

where opportunities for learning exist everywhere and all the time. Thirdly, the asset based

approaches to evaluation using portfolios at the classroom level, benchmarks for the regional and

national scale and the use of large scale framework on a multi-national or international level.

Fourth trend is increased creativity where knowledge will be created and cocreated not simply

imparted by teachers as students are not just merely receivers of facts but creates new knowledge.

The fifth trend has to do with global approaches to learning where shared interests, curiosity and

a hunger for learning are driving us to reach beyond our own borders. Sixth trend is about global

mobility where teachers and students are experiencing more of the world, more often, starting from
Modern Educational Trends and Gender Specific Issues Involved 3

a younger age. Lastly, borderless education where the barrier of geography is transcended by

technology, creativity and a desire and mindset to “go global”.

Are there any gender specific issues involved in modern educational trends? According to

Yanez (2002) gender specific issues do exist and rampant as there is a lot of resistance and

exclusion in the institutionalization of programs with regards to gender equity to be part in the

fiber of educational institutions. Not being able to meet the needs results in dropouts of all

ethnicities and genders. There are schools that are female-oriented thus boys needing more

attention.

OECD (2012), discovered that many developing countries are still less likely than boys to

enter secondary education, while in many OECD countries educational attainment of women is

now at least on par with that of men. Yet girls are still far less likely than boys to choose scientific

and technological fields of study.

It is found that young men are more likely than young women to be less engaged with

school and have low skills and poor academic achievement They are also more likely to leave

school early, often with no qualifications. Meanwhile, in higher education and beyond, young

women are under-represented in the field of mathematics, physical science and computing, but

dominate the fields of biology, medicine, agriculture and humanities (Osborne et al., 2003;

Charles and Grusky, 2004).

The question who is good at what in school? The keyfindings by OECD shows that at age

15, girls outperform boys in reading in every country and economy that participates in PISA. The

reading performance gender gap is equivalent, across OECD countries, to one year’s worth of

schooling in mathematics, boys outperform girls in most economies, though gaps are generally

narrower than in reading. In science, gender differences are slight and there is no consistent pattern
Modern Educational Trends and Gender Specific Issues Involved 4

across countries. Students’ attitudes play an important role in shaping the gender differences in

academic performances observed in mathematics and reading. Gender stereotypical attitudes

towards these subjects arise early on. Gender gaps are much more pronounced among low and

high-achieving students. In reading, there are many more boys lacking basic skills than girls, which

in mathematics it is boys who are more likely to be among the best performing students. (OECD,

2012)

As gender gaps are pervasive in all walks of life, I think the role of modern educational

trends is to serve as a bridge to close the gaps of gender disparity in our educational system

regardless of stereotypical attitudes, academic performances and other contributing factors.

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References

Eaton, S.E. (8 September, 2010). “Global Trends in Education in the Twenty-First Century”,

presented online at the Center for Interactive Learning and Collaboration (CILC).

Yanez, A. (2002). “Emerging Gender Issues in Education”. Retrieved from

http://www.idra.org/resource-center/emerging-gender-issues-in-education/

OECD (2012). “Gender equality in education”, in Closing the Gender Gap: Act Now, OECD

Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264179370-4-en

OECD (2015), The ABC of Gender Equality in Education: Aptitude, Behavior, Confidence,

PISA, OECD Publishing. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264229945-en

Charles, M. and D.B. Grusky (2004), Occupational Ghettos: The Worldwide Segregation of

Women and Men, Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA.