In August 2025, the TeachingEnglish team in Sub-Saharan Africa launched a one-week awareness campaign within our regional Communities of Practice (CoPs) focused on Gender Responsive Pedagogy. This initiative aimed to move beyond simply acknowledging gender differences and instead actively equip teachers and teacher educators with the tools to foster inclusive and equitable learning environments.
What is Gender Responsive Pedagogy?
Gender Responsive Pedagogy is an approach to teaching and learning that explicitly recognises and addresses the specific learning needs of both female and male learners. It is not just about balance; it’s about adapting teaching methods, materials, and classroom interactions to ensure all learners have an equal opportunity to succeed.
By providing a series of practical tips and resources, the campaign encouraged community members to integrate these practices directly into their daily work. The insights we received from members who immediately adopted these methods demonstrate the positive impact gender responsive pedagogy can have, both in the classroom and in mentoring the next generation of teachers.
Insights from a teacher educator
Dr. Mohammed, a member of our regional TeachingEnglish Teacher Educator community, reflected on how adopting a gender responsive approach fundamentally changed the way she mentors pre-service teachers. Her experience shows that the first step to creating an equitable classroom is training educators to challenge their own biases and instructional habits.
Dr. Mohammed's key strategies for mentoring future teachers include:
- Inclusive pedagogy: encouraging the use of inclusive language and teaching strategies that explicitly cater to diverse student needs.
- Awareness of bias: helping pre-service teachers recognise and challenge their own biases to ensure they create a fair and equitable learning environment.
- Diverse perspectives: promoting the inclusion of diverse perspectives and experiences in lesson plans, fostering a more inclusive and representative curriculum.
When asked about the most significant benefits, Dr. Mohammed highlighted that integrating gender responsive pedagogy into teacher education programmes ultimately leads to enhancing student engagement, challenging stereotypes, and improving learning outcomes by fostering critical thinking and promoting inclusive classrooms.
Practical steps for teachers
The campaign also received compelling feedback from teachers actively implementing gender responsive pedagogy tips in their day-to-day lessons. Dr. Woreta, a member of our TeachingEnglish Teacher community of over 5,000 members, shared how he used several practical teaching tips:
"I used several gender-responsive teaching tips in my lessons, such as recognizing different learning styles, using inclusive methods, and creating a welcoming classroom environment. These efforts helped me see how a gender-responsive approach can improve student participation and make learning more fair and supportive for everyone."
Dr. Woreta focused on simple, actionable steps that require no extra resources:
- Group Roles: Giving students different roles in group work to ensure participation is varied and not dominated by a single gender.
- Turn-Taking: Actively encouraging turn-taking during class discussions to ensure all voices are heard and valued.
This reflection underscores that gender responsive pedagogy is not a massive overhaul but a series of small, intentional strategies that collectively lead to a more supportive and equitable learning atmosphere. As a recognition of his high engagement during the challenge, Dr. Woreta was consecutively recognised as the member of the month in August and September 2025 and was awarded a free place on the NILE professional development course Global Citizenship in Language Teaching.
The campaign demonstrated that our community members are eager to integrate gender responsive pedagogy. The goal now is to maintain this momentum by continuing to use the resources available on TeachingEnglish Africa to ensure that every female and male learner has the best possible chance to succeed in the English language classroom.