Universal Journal of Educational Research 8(4): 1135-1148, 2020 http://www.hrpub.org DOI: 10.13189/ujer.2020.080403 Occupation and Gender Stereotypes in Primary School: The Case of the English Language Coursebooks in Greek Primary Schools Vassiliki Teliousi 1,* , Makrina Zafiri 2 , Vassiliki Pliogou 1 1 School of Education, Metropolitan College Thessaloniki, Greece 2 Foreign Language Office, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece Received November 26, 2019; Revised February 25, 2020; Accepted March, 12, 2020 Copyright©2020 by authors, all rights reserved. Authors agree that this article remains permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License Abstract This research refers to gender stereotypes, which exist in English language coursebooks in Greek primary schools and the possible influence these stereotypes may exert on the choice and development of an individual’s career. After conducting a content analysis on the Primary School’s English language coursebooks, the results prove the existence of gender stereotypes mainly in the 5 th and 6 th grade coursebooks. The references and pictures, which show male performing certain occupations obviously outnumber the ones depicting female occupations. Furthermore, in the coursebooks, there are stereotypical ideas such as: manual occupations which are ruled by men, while occupations which relate to education and care are performed by women. Moreover, an attempt was made to triangulate this research with semi-structured interviews, which were conducted to English language teachers. According to the English language teachers’ experiences, the existence of gender stereotypes on occupation is evident in the English language coursebooks of the 4 th ,5 th and 6 th grades, but is minimal in the textbook of the 3 rd grade. To sum up, most of the teachers, who were interviewed claim that later in life, career choice is influenced by the stereotypes which exist in the 4 th ,5 th and 6 th grade coursebooks, but only to a limited extent. According to the teachers who were interviewed, the teaching methods and approaches, which are applied by the teachers and which concern the teaching of the coursebooks and the social and family background of the students are the main factors, which influence the student and which exert a strong impact on the student’s career choice. Keywords Gender Stereotypes, English Language Coursebooks, EFL Teaching, Career Choice, Male Occupations, Female Occupations 1. Introduction Despite the progress of the Greek educational system through the past decades, gender stereotypes, which have affected all social walks of life for centuries, seem to be reproduced consciously or subconsciously, even today, in several facets of the Greek educational system [1]. Gender influences are instrumental in students’ career choice [2]. Everyday school routine, along with the role of the teacher, constitutes a significant part of the student’s social environment, and from as early as primary school the aforementioned seem to affect the school performance of students as well as the formation of their opinion on matters such as the choice of a job or an occupation. More particularly, school coursebooks contain gender stereotypes, which have a strong influence on the formation of their ideas and perceptions about the role of each gender in society and also lead students to specific choices and expectations [3]. Research shows that the gender gap which exists in the school environment has an impact on students’ studies, career choices and occupations later on in life. This can be avoided if methods and practices for integrating gender equality in schools are applied, at an early stage, by teachers [4]. An overview to studies which exist worldwide on gender representations in the primary school coursebooks proves that gender stereotypes still exist, at least in coursebooks, and consequently, if we take into account the teachers’ opinions, they are still evident in the daily school life of all students in Greece. Something which has not been researched, so far, is the possible influence of gender stereotypes on English primary school coursebooks in Greece which relate and influence the future occupation or career choice of Greek students. This constitutes the topic of this study. The main purpose of the present study is to probe into the gender stereotypes which relate to occupations and