Abstract:

Two gender phenomena widely exist in elementary education in China, one is the gender differences manifested in education and teaching, and the other is the gender imbalance in elementary school characterized by a predominance of female teachers. This study revealed the gender phenomena objectively existing in elementary education, moving beyond the perspectives of biological essence and social construction, to understand gender issues from the standpoint of education itself. Based on this, the study proposes for elementary school teachers, from the perspective of professional ethics, that they should possess a certain level of gender literacy, grounded in the “innate goodness” of elementary school students, the “exemplary role” of teachers, and the “developmental nature” of elementary education. Furthermore, elementary school teachers should adhere to three ethical principles during the process of teaching and educating, including “gender sensitivity”, “gender fairness”, and “gender friendliness”. The ethical principles and educational values of gender literacy for elementary school teachers can help teachers and students to build on and transcend their gender existence, and to continually move towards the ultimate good of education, which is to “cultivate a complete person” as the goal of education.

Key words: elementary school teachers, gender phenomenon, gender literacy