2025/26
On 6 May 2026, eleven female students from Schulzentrum HTL HAK Ungargasse visited the educational publisher ÖBV as part of a collaboration with the Vienna West Branch of the Austrian MINT network, headed by Sonja Macher. Our students took part in a workshop where they shared their thoughts on gender representation in science textbooks and on how educational materials can encourage girls to choose MINT subjects.
The Teacher’s Perspective
The students were accompanied by their teacher Elisabeth Schaludek-Paletschek, who is SZU’s gender and diversity coordinator. She saw this as a valuable opportunity to connect classroom experience with the world of educational publishing. The students gained insights into how textbooks are developed from two female science publishing experts working at ÖBV, Johanna Kramer-Gerstacker and Lisa Sami Golser, who shared their personal career paths in science and publishing.
In the workshop, the girls reflected critically on how textbooks can support female students in MINT. Their feedback was thoughtful and constructive: they recognised that ÖBV already does a great deal to make women visible and reduce gender stereotypes. At the same time, they suggested that images, layout and graphic design could be used even more consciously to appeal to girls.
Most importantly, the students reminded us that gender equality does not depend on textbooks alone. Teachers also play a key role by encouraging girls, reflecting on their own assumptions and creating a classroom culture in which all students feel equally seen and supported. ©SCPA
The Student’s Perspective
Together with Ms Schaludek-Paletschek, students from 4AHITN, 2AHWI and 3AHITN took part in the MINT workshop at ÖBV. They learned how science textbooks are created and discussed how girls and women are represented in learning materials.
During the group work, they collected ideas on how textbooks for their age group could portray more career opportunities for girls in MINT and make science subjects feel more accessible. They also shared personal experiences from school and talked about what influences girls’ confidence in technical and scientific subjects.
For many of them, the main issue was not only the textbook itself, but also the social environment in class. Class dynamics, expectations and everyday interactions can strongly influence whether girls feel motivated to participate and have confidence in their abilities.
“The workshop gave us the chance to express our own views and contribute ideas for future schoolbooks. It was an interesting and inspiring day that showed us how important representation, encouragement and open discussion are in MINT education.” ©Lara Gundendorfer/3AHITN
