How can we make sure that girls do not simply have access to technology, but also feel that they belong, that their abilities are recognised and that they can continue developing their interest in ICT?
Today, the HER TECH Gender-Sensitive Engagement Framework was presented during the international conference for teachers “(To) Be a Pedagogical Inspiration”, organised by Forum Media.
The conference brings together teachers and other education professionals interested in creating learning environments that recognise children’s strengths, foster curiosity and creativity, and support their development. For HER TECH, this was therefore exactly the right audience for a conversation about how everyday educational experiences can influence girls’ relationship with technology.
The presentation introduced the HER TECH Framework and its four interconnected dimensions:
ACCESS – Can girls enter and explore technology in the first place?
BELONGING – Do they feel that ICT is a space for people like them?
RECOGNITION – Are their abilities, ideas and achievements noticed and valued?
PROGRESSION – Are they supported to continue, develop and move forward?
The discussion also went beyond the Framework itself.
Participants were invited to look at the small, everyday moments that can shape girls’ confidence and engagement: who gets the keyboard during a group task, who is encouraged to experiment, how mistakes are treated, which role models girls encounter, whose technical abilities are recognised and whether girls see technology as something they can actively create rather than simply use.
One of the key messages of the presentation was simple:
Girls do not suddenly decide that technology is “not for them”.
Their relationship with ICT develops gradually through experiences at home, at school, among peers and in the wider culture. This also means that educators have an important opportunity to influence that journey.
Gender-sensitive engagement does not require teachers to completely redesign their classrooms. It can begin with paying closer attention to participation, expectations, language, encouragement and the opportunities different students receive to try, fail, explore and lead.
Presenting the Framework directly to educators was an important step in moving HER TECH research from evidence into practice.
Because changing girls’ relationship with technology does not begin when they choose a university degree or a career.
It begins much earlier – in the environments where they first discover what they might be capable of.
Learn more about the International Conference for Teachers organised by Forum Media
Discover the HER TECH Gender-Sensitive Engagement Framework
