TOWARDS GENDER RESPONSIVE ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING: INSIGHTS FROM INDONESIAN ELT PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS

Gender-responsive education is crucial in addressing gender disparities. It allows students to be treated equally during teaching and learning. Therefore, gender-responsive teachers are needed. Scholars working in the field of gender in education have been debating and discussing the extent to which teachers have been responsive enough to gender issues both within the classroom and in the broader context. In Indonesia, however, not much discussion has been directed at the extent to which preparing pre-service teachers (PSTs) is important to produce gender-responsive teachers of the future. Therefore, this descriptive qualitative research aimed to examine PSTs’ existing views on gender roles and the nuances of gender perspectives. For the sake of depth, four Indonesian ELT PSTs were interviewed through semi-structured interviews. The thematic analysis of the interview data found that PSTs viewed gender roles from traditional and egalitarian perspectives. These perspectives were gained from their: (1) varied understandings of gender concepts, (2) responses to acceptance or rejection of common gender stereotypes, such as beliefs about subject preferences or leadership roles based on gender; (3) interpretations of gender roles influenced by sources such as media, family, and educational environments, and (4) awareness of gender bias. The findings imply that formal training in gender-responsive education is essential to creating generations that are aware of and responsive to gender issues and uphold gender equality.