Course Overview

Course Title: Gender in Development and Education

Relevant SDGs: SDG5 – Gender Equality; SDG4 – Quality Education 

Credit(s): 2 credits (32h)

Course Description:

Achieving gender equality and empower all women and girls has been set as a key sustainable development goal by the United Nation (2015). Gender equality is not only a fundamental human right, but also a necessary foundation for a peaceful and sustainable world. Worldwide, progresses have been made: more girls have access to education, and more women move upwords into the leadership. However, challenges still remain: women continue to be underrepresented in many industries; in some countries, girls are deprived of the right to education and health care…

Education is deemed as a powerful approach to empower girls and women. In this course, we will expore the status of gender in the field of education and international development. There will be an opportunity to consider how education constructs and shapes the different understandings of gender. We will learn several approaches for women empowerment and reflect on these apporaches. We will examine the different ways to researching gender. Through this critical refelection, we will consider how inequitable gender relation combines with other forms of injustice to influence learning and teaching in schools, higher education and other education settings.

By the end of this course, students will have:

1. Been introduced to concepts and issues related to gender and education 
2. Developed knowledge and understanding of the ways that gender, education and development are linked
3. Reflected critically on some different approaches to researching gender 
4. Developed skills to apply their study and work to promote gender equality in a global context

What skills will students get?

1. An in-depth and comprehensive understanding of the SDG goal related to gender and education 

2. The critical thinking skill that can be used to reflect real-world issues related to gender inequity

3.  The skills of knowing how to promote gender equity and advocate for the SDG goals in daily life

4. The ability to work with peers in a multi-cultural context and build the culture sensitiveness  

5. The knowledge of conducting social science-related research and skills in proposal writing

Mode of Teaching

This course will be arranged in mixed-mode combing online and offline teaching. The following teaching methods will be used:

1. Project-based learning  
   

   Students will be introduced to a number of real-world women-empowerment projects that were launched by NGOs, based on which students will be invited to think and write a project proposal that addresses gender-related issues.

2. Collaborative learning 
   

    During the course, students will be divided into study groups to conduct collective reading, discussion, presentation and work on an assignment.

3. Flipped classroom
   

   The reading materials and teaching contents will be delivered to students prior to the course. The reading tasks will be sent to students to guide their self-learning. During the course, students are invited to share their reading reviews and reflections and engage in collective activities. 

Grading

students will be graded in the following ways:

1. Attendance: 20%;
2. Group presentation: 40%;
3. Final program summary: 40%

Course-specific Restrictions

This course is targeted to undergraduate students, no restriction for the majors and years of undergraduates. Students with different disciplinary background are particularly welcomed in this course.

Class Schedule

Instructors

Ziyin Xiong

Ziyin Xiong, works as an assistant Professor in the school of education at SJTU. She obtained her PhD degree at the University of Toulouse, France. Before this, she completed her Master's degree in international development and education at University College London and a Bachelor's degree at Beijing Normal University. From 2019 to 2021, she worked at the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) as an Education Policy Consultant for the Directorate of Education and Skills. Dr. Xiong has been involved in a number of international and country-level projects that focused on the comparative analysis of high-performing education systems, teachers’ professional development and pre-service teachers’ education.

Romuald Normand

Professor of Sociology at the University of Strasbourg, France. An invited expert appointed by the China’s Foreign Affairs Bureau. Special expert appointed by the international organization OECD. Romuald is Fulbright fellow and convener of the network “Sociologies of European Education” (ECER) as well as a member of the editorial board of the British Journal of Sociology of Education. His research interests are on Education, Leadership and Management. He is currently involved in European ERASMUS, ANR and Marie-Curie projects on Higher Education.

Sharnic Djaker

Ph.D. in Psychology at the New York University, currently works as a policy consultant in the department of human development at the World Bank. Sharnic has been involved in multiple international projects related to students and education development in low-income countries. For example, Sharnic is participating in a World Bank Project examining pandemic-included learning losses and channels that encourage specific behaviors from teachers and students to recover these losses. As he worked in the international development domain, Sharnic developed a particular interest for the SDG goals. He is an active advocator for promoting education and gender equity in his life. 

Xianshuang zhang

Xianshuang zhang currently works as a gender specialist consultant at Asian Development Bank (ADB). Her work focuses on gender mainstreaming in private sector operations for advancing gender equality in Asia and the Pacific. She has been involved in several regional initiatives to promote equality and empowerment of women and girls.

Before joining ADB, Xianshuang worked with various international organizations, including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Philippines, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Tanzania, and Save the Children China. She has been involved in research and project management in the fields of youth development, gender equality, and wildlife conservation. She has also served as a faculty member at Barwaaqo University, an all-women’s university in Somaliland, where she trained future female teachers and advocated for girls' education in the country.

Course Contact

Ziyin Xiong, Assistant Professor

Center for education leadership and policies, School of Education

Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Room 237, Chen Ruiqiu Building, 800 Dongchuan Road Minhang District, Shanghai China, 200240

Contact phone:（021）3420 4898

Contact email: ziyin.xiong@sjtu.edu.cn