Few empirical studies investigate the impact of pre-service teachers' background and ICT profile in combination with the support they receive from their teacher training institution on their ICT competencies. Moreover, research focusing on preparing future teachers for ICT integration is generally limited to the impact of one single strategy. Therefore, the aim of this study was to test a model to explain pre-service teachers' perceived ICT competencies that integrates pre-service teachers' background characteristics (age and gender), their ICT profile (e.g., attitudes towards ICT) and the multiple strategies pre-service teachers experience in their teacher training institution: 1) using teacher educators as role models, 2) reflecting on the role of technology in education, 3) learning how to use technology by design, 4) collaboration with peers, 5) scaffolding authentic technology experiences, and 6) continuous feedback. Based on a survey among 931 final-year pre-service teachers in Flanders (Belgium), the multilevel analyses indicated a positive association between the strategies and pre-service teachers' ICT competencies. The more pre-service teachers perceive the occurrences of the strategies during their teacher education, the higher their perceived competence to use ICT for learning processes and to strengthen their instructional practice.Gender and age did not affect pre-service teachers' ICT competence for educational practice. Furthermore, the results revealed a positive impact of pre-service teachers' attitudes towards ICT (in education) and ease of use, on their ICT competence for educational practice. These results can provide guidance for the preparation of pre-service teachers for the 21st century learning environments with new technologies.

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Because of the importance of gender role attitudes (GRA) for both academic and social outcomes, it is crucial to understand how GRA is constructed and changes over time. A systematic literature review was conducted to look into the relationship between youngsters' GRA and individual, home, and school characteristics. Thirty-five international studies were identified through searches in different databases. The review reveals that the studies mostly apply a deterministic view to studying the construction of GRA, focusing predominantly on parent-child transmission. Effects of the school environment and individuals' own life experiences are under-studied. Also, data are mostly cross-sectional and leave little room for investigating evolutions of GRA over time. Suggestions for future research are formulated focusing on (a) a life-course approach that considers GRA as situated, experience-related, and therefore changing over time and (b) an intersectionality-informed approach investigating GRA at the intersects of multiple diversity dimensions.

There have been numerous studies investigating the extent to which teacher-student classroom interactions differ between boys and girls and the results of these studies suggest that teacher negative feedback is higher for boys, which in turn leads to lower levels of on-task behaviour. The article describes the results of a quasi-experimental study, involving 30 teachers and a selection of 129 of their students, aimed at improving teacher feedback patterns, student behavioural responses and student perception of equity in the classroom environment. Fifteen teachers took part in a fivesession professional development programme in which they investigated their own teaching practice by means of collaborative appreciative inquiry. The pre-test and post-test data in the control group illustrate that girls who receive very high levels of positive feedback at the beginning of the year succeed in maintaining and even strengthening their position as favoured students while at the same time lowering their level of raising hands and increasing their level of calling out to the teacher. By contrast, the data in the intervention group show a drop of very high levels of positive feedback and we see the levels of misbehaviour in boys and girls rise. Students' sense of equity increases for all conditions to some extent. The paper considers two alternative explanations for the results: some students actively resist changes in teacher treatment and various confounding factors might have been omitted. Implications and suggestions for further research and the design of professional development programmes on gendered classroom interactions are discussed.

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