Ways of Knowing and Patterns of Reasoning: women and men in adult secondary education

Unlike most studies on gender and learning, which use general theoretical frameworks (and instruments) on student learning, this article investigates the Epistemological Reection Model which has been developed from a gender perspective. This cognitive development model includes four hierarchically ordered ways of knowing, and two patterns of reasoning within each of these ways of knowing. The patterns of reasoning are assumed to be gender-related and can be described, in general terms, by using the concepts of connectedness and autonomy/separation. To extend the model’s validity, the authors investigated this model by making use of interviews in one study and questionnaires in another. In the interview study, the patterns of reasoning turn out to be gender-related, especially with the patterns supposedly more often used by men. In the questionnaire study, on the other hand, the patterns of reasoning do not turn out to be gender-related. In the discussion section, these results are interpreted and the model is discussed in detail.