This article discusses improvements in education and modern teacher's gender training in terms of a competence-based approach as a basic strategy of general and vocational education development in Russia. The article substantiates the relevance of teachers' gender training and the necessity to use the gender approach in their professional activities. It also focuses on the basic idea of the gender approach, its goals, importance of the gender approach for successful gender socialization, self-actualization, and self-identity of students. The article presents the results of diagnosing the current state of "application of gender mainstreaming" in modern school practices and attitudes of teachers and students to this issue. The gender approach requires targeted training for teachers as well as the development of a gender competence seen as a prerequisite for improving the quality of modern teacher training. It is one of the main areas of modernization in teacher education.