The effect of gender on teaching dispositions: a Rasch measurement approach

The gender imbalance in the teaching profession occurs worldwide and declining male representation is a cause of concern. While some studies have looked into causes to explain disproportionate male representation, the notion that females may possess higher levels of teaching dispositional traits than males has not been empirically pursued in any depth. To address this, we investigated the effect of gender on 324 first year pre-service teachers’ dispositions toward teaching. Using the Teacher Disposition Scale (TDS) (West et al., 2018) to measure teaching dispositions, a Rasch analysis (Andrich, 1988) on the data indicated females were significantly more disposed toward being effective teachers than males on the core teacher dispositional traits of teacher efficacy, and interpersonal and communication skills. These findings provide initial evidence using a rigorous psychometric approach in the understanding of the significant effect of gender on teaching dispositions.