Assessment in higher education

the gender influence in teacher training programme

Abstract

The origin of this exploratory study is the inverse trend between genders observed in the entry
marks on the Teacher Training Programme and the final marks. An analysis of possible reasons for
this inversion, based on trainee teachers’ accounts, is made concerning this curricular unit. The
study was conducted using a questionnaire with four groups of questions, applied to 106 trainee
teachers attending a Master’s in Physical Education Teacher Training.
A quantitative, descriptive statistical methodology treating closed questions was conciliated with a
qualitative methodology of content analysis of open and semi-open questions. A process of
categorization by semantic criterion was used, with previously defined dimensions but without
categories formed from the outset. A discussion procedure between peers served for the validation
of those categories and the codification of the respective segments used. The results do not support
nor justify the skew in the final marks for either gender nor do they justify the higher initial marks
of the males that triggered this study. Thus, the need to investigate issues related to the student's
gender versus the assessor’s gender in evaluation further, as well as the necessity of validating the
questionnaire, has become evident.