Numerous studies confirm the existence of hidden curriculum in elementary school praxis that transmits to pupils unplanned value attitudes and behavioral patterns through educational processes and the structure of the education system. Textbooks reflect the norms and values of a society and can be a political tool by highlighting, releasing or misrepresenting the particular textbook contents (Baranović, 2000; Grbić, 2007; Kožul, 2007; Stefanović, Glamoček, 2008).
The aim of this paper is to deconstruct the content and concept of literature textbooks for the eighth grade of elementary school for Serbian and Serbian as a second language, which are currently in use in Vojvodina, through the prism of gender sensitive analysis. I compare the findings with the previous one to determine whether the process of gender equality integration has revived in textbooks, in terms of non-discriminatory practices. The theoretical and methodological framework is based on the sociocognitive approach to CDA of Teun van Dijk (1993, 2009) and discourse analysis (Savić, 1993). Institutional power in the educational discourse is hierarchically organized, with clear structures and mechanisms of control and self-protection. Textbooks are linguistic corpus of planned persuasive socio-cultural interaction on micro and macro level between social ideology/policy, teachers and pupils. For gender sensitive content analysis I use research matrix and codebook composed for the needs of the regional project “Gender sensitive textbooks and classroom practice in the Balkan region“ (09.2005-09.2007). It is important to overcome the gender stereotypical portrayal of men and women in literature textbooxs as role models for pupils. We need changes in the national curriculum and textbooks, in the teacher training and classroom praxis to reach the goal of equal society.
Bašaragin, Margareta (2015). „Gender sensitive textbooks analysis for Serbian in eighth grade - the case of educational identity politics“. In Jerkov, Aleksandar (ed.) (2015). Book of Abstracts DiscourseNet 15, International conference: Discourses of Culture – Cultures of Discourse, University library „Svetozar Marković”, Belgrade, March 19-21, 28.
Ph. D. Margareta Bašaragin
