Gender Imbalance Derived from Teacher Allocation to Different Grades at Elementary Schools

The purpose of this paper is to examine how gender imbalance is constructed and what gender issues occur in teacher allocation at elementary schools. We conducted an interview survey to 10 male teachers in metropolitan areas to examine the actual conditions of male teacher allocation in elementary schools and analyze how gender imbalance occurs. Female teachers are prone to be allocated to lower grades and male teachers aren\u27t much even if they want to. This imbalance results from gender biased consideration for female teachers, who carry out responsibility for care of their family and young children. Work of upper grades is so tough and hard that female teachers tend to avoid taking charge of upper grades. And then male teachers are often taken their workplaces in upper grades and they do busy and hard work. Male teachers are also expected masculine and controlling role to student behavior. Additionally work of upper grades is in a spotlight or central parts at schools, on the other hands, work of lower grades is regarded as shadow work. This gender imbalance works as sexual discrimination in elementary schools. Some experiences of male teachers suggest possibilities to change gender imbalance in teacher allocation. Changing balance of disproportionate work between lower grades and upper grades and sharing hard work will improve institution and structure in schools

The characteristics of female teachers’ career-formation at elementary school

This paper aims to examine the characteristics of career-formation of female teachers in elementary schools. We conducted an interview survey to 12 female teachers in metropolitan areas to consider their experiences of teacher allocation every year, which works as a kind of device that forms teachers’ careers in various political and cultural school contexts. Main findings are as follows. 1) In teacher allocation, various factors are taken account; customs in their schools, teachers’ own requests, their school affairs including some troubles, and principal\u27s decisions. 2) Statistically, female teachers are prone to be allocated to lower grades, but actually, some of them are repeatedly allocated to upper grades like male teachers. There are 2 types of career among female teachers, which go through different experiences in various aspects. 3) Female teachers who are repeatedly allocated to lower grades often request to do that for various reasons. One major reason is their responsibility for care of their families and young children. In other words, they can continue working as teachers to take lower grade because they can have time to spare. They also request for their professional development, school improvement, their own character and release from hard work. 4) Meanwhile, most of female teachers who are often allocated to upper grades don\u27t take responsibility for care of their families. And they happened to teach in upper grades at the start of their careers and have some experiences to re-organize (solve) troubled classes. So, principals assess their successful class management and tend to allocate them to upper grade. However, work of upper grades is so tough and hard that teachers often get out of condition. We suggest that hard work and responsibility should be distributed to and shared with whole teachers

Listening closely to female teachers’ voices : Examining female elementary teachers life-history interviews

In this paper, we tried to listen carefully to female teachers\u27voices in order to value the women\u27s work and provide women\u27s voice with authenticity. First, .we developed a theoretical framework. In studies Teachers\u27voices, especially women\u27s voices and narratives have been silenced, however studies on teachers\u27voices and narratives are forming a part of category in the educational research. These studies provide authenticity for teachers\u27viewpoint and voice. Additionally, studies on female teachers\u27voices related to women\u27s ways of thinking and feminine values through the concepts of “ care” and “maternity.” We explored the lifehistory narratives of 12 female elementary school teachers and focused on their experience of “ keeping pace with other samegrade teachers. ” The earlier literatures negatively evaluated the school culture in which teachers cooperated with other teachers, because this was considered to prevent teachers from putting creative activities into practice. However, from the female teachers\u27narratives, we learned that female teachers do care for their students, students\u27guardians, and their own colleagues. We also learned how female teachers relate to their colleagues and their students\u27guardians: the teachers care for and educate all ‘ their children’, and they take collective responsibility for their students

Empagliflozin in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease

Background The effects of empagliflozin in patients with chronic kidney disease who are at risk for disease progression are not well understood. The EMPA-KIDNEY trial was designed to assess the effects of treatment with empagliflozin in a broad range of such patients. Methods We enrolled patients with chronic kidney disease who had an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) of at least 20 but less than 45 ml per minute per 1.73 m(2) of body-surface area, or who had an eGFR of at least 45 but less than 90 ml per minute per 1.73 m(2) with a urinary albumin-to-creatinine ratio (with albumin measured in milligrams and creatinine measured in grams) of at least 200. Patients were randomly assigned to receive empagliflozin (10 mg once daily) or matching placebo. The primary outcome was a composite of progression of kidney disease (defined as end-stage kidney disease, a sustained decrease in eGFR to < 10 ml per minute per 1.73 m(2), a sustained decrease in eGFR of & GE;40% from baseline, or death from renal causes) or death from cardiovascular causes. Results A total of 6609 patients underwent randomization. During a median of 2.0 years of follow-up, progression of kidney disease or death from cardiovascular causes occurred in 432 of 3304 patients (13.1%) in the empagliflozin group and in 558 of 3305 patients (16.9%) in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.72; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.64 to 0.82; P < 0.001). Results were consistent among patients with or without diabetes and across subgroups defined according to eGFR ranges. The rate of hospitalization from any cause was lower in the empagliflozin group than in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.78 to 0.95; P=0.003), but there were no significant between-group differences with respect to the composite outcome of hospitalization for heart failure or death from cardiovascular causes (which occurred in 4.0% in the empagliflozin group and 4.6% in the placebo group) or death from any cause (in 4.5% and 5.1%, respectively). The rates of serious adverse events were similar in the two groups. Conclusions Among a wide range of patients with chronic kidney disease who were at risk for disease progression, empagliflozin therapy led to a lower risk of progression of kidney disease or death from cardiovascular causes than placebo