Teaching gender in the history classroom: what's at stake, what are the difficulties?
Feb 4, 2025 — 1 p.m. to 2 p.m.
Description
The conference will address the teaching of gender history, linking them to the aims of equality education and emancipation. Drawing on data from various Swiss-French research studies in secondary school history classes, it will address the didactic challenges of making women's agentivity visible in history, denaturalizing the categories of feminine and masculine, and bringing past and present inequalities to light. The potential dangers of reinforcing stereotypes, essentialization, teleology and depoliticization will also be discussed. It will also examine the dilemmas faced by educationalists and teachers working on sensitive issues. Finally, the contribution of this type of questioning to research in other didactics, and more broadly to the question of equality at school, will be discussed.
Valerie Operiol
Professor, University of Geneva
Val茅rie Op茅riol is a professor of history didactics at the University of Geneva. She is a trainer of primary and secondary school teachers.
After obtaining a master's degree in history in 1990, she taught the subject for 20 years at secondary level. In September 2018, she defended a thesis on The gender perspective in history teaching. Her research focuses on the gender approach, sensitive themes and memorial issues. Her publications include:
- Op茅riol, V., De Mestral, A. et Dotti, F. (Ed.) (2024). M茅moires dans la ville. Lausanne : Antipodes.
- Collet, I. et Op茅riol, V. (2023). Mettre en 艙uvre une p茅dagogie de l鈥櫭ゞalit茅 dans des le莽ons d鈥檋istoire. In J.-C. Buttier et A. Panagiotounakos (Ed.), Des savoirs pour agir sur le monde. Grenoble : PUG.
- Op茅riol, V. (2023). Les tontes de la Lib茅ration : d茅battre du genre en classe d鈥檋istoire. In I. Collet et I. Verscheure (Ed.), Genre: Didactique(s) et Pratiques d'enseignement. Perspectives francophones. Berne : Peter Lang.
- Brunet, M.-H. et Op茅riol, V. (2022). Affronter l鈥檃ndrocentrisme des savoirs scolaires. Enseigner l鈥檋istoire au prisme du genre. In S. Moisan, S. Hirsch, M.-A. 脡thier et D. Lefran莽ois (Ed.), Objets difficiles, th猫mes sensibles et enseignement des sciences humaines et sociales. Montr茅al : Fides Education.