Abstract
Statement of Problem: Gender bias exists in education in many ways despite the 1972 passing of federal Title IX, which claims to protect students and education employees against sex-based discrimination. One element of this bias is in curriculum. Studies show existing gender bias in the curriculum choices of K-12 teachers. Textbooks and literature choices assigned as part of curriculum are influenced by the information received by prospective teachers in their teacher preparation programs, which can include courses on children’s and young adult literature. While numerous studies have been conducted examining gender bias in the books taught in K-12 classrooms, few, if any, studies examined college-level children’s and young adult literature courses that are taught in teacher preparation programs, effectively creating a gap in the research. This thesis seeks to initiate a closure of that gap.
Sources of Data: This study included children’s and young adult (YA) literature assigned in college-level courses taught in the English and education departments at colleges in the California State University System (CSU). The CSU system has 23 campuses, and at the time of this study all but two had an English and/or education department. Additionally, of the 21 campuses that have English and/or education departments, only nine had classes, at the time of this study, dealing with children’s and/or YA literature. The researcher obtained some syllabi via an Internet search and others by contacting the professors of the courses and requesting the syllabi. In total, the researcher was able to obtain syllabi for 18 classes, which yielded 107 books. Of these 107 books, 95 were examined for this study. The specific data collected and analyzed were the sexes, genders, sexual orientations, races and/or ethnicities, and other notable intersections/identities of both the authors and the primary characters of the books.
Conclusions Reached: While various intersections and identities are represented by the authors and primary characters in the books examined in this study, the rate of inclusion is low and most authors and primary characters are still reflective of the dominant identities of heterosexual, cisgender, white, and male. To this end, teachers cannot be expected to provide their students with equitable and diverse literature if they themselves are not provided equitable and diverse literature while in their teacher preparation programs.