European teachers’ learning strategies: gender and teaching levels

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. The lack of teaching professionals with continuous training affects the quality in educational systems and the quality of teaching. That is why we believe that teachers must increase or improve their professional competences once they have finished their initial training. In order to do so, learning strategies are needed, but they vary according to training aspirations and to gender. OECD (2007) and Quesada-Pallarès, Fernández-de-Álava and Rebollar-Sánchez (2015) show differences between men and women. METHOD. This article uses the last data collected with the PIAAC survey, administered in 2012. A total of 23 countries participated in the PIAAC survey, obtaining an overall of 157,000 responses. We opt for a quantitative methodology for determining if the use of learning strategies of European teachers varies according to gender, and level taught. RESULTS. The main results of this article show that men, compared to women, and University and Higher Education teachers, compared to those who teach in other teaching levels, make greater use of learning strategies. DISCUSSION. These outcomes help towards the building of a unified framework for continuous training and learning strategies; pointing out that learning strategies are determined by work demands, and activities carried out by teachers according to the level they teach. Likewise, the results pose some challenges related to the teacher profile, and the non-use of learning strategies by women for self-promotion.