Gender context of the school and study culture,or how the presence of girls affects the achievement of boys

This paper builds on my previous research, explaining the differential achievement of boys and girls in secondary education by the fact that boys' culture is less study orientated than girls' culture. The central question of the present paper is whether the presence of girls at school affects the boys' study culture and, by consequence, boys' achievement. The research is based on data of 877 boys and 714 girls, attending the fifth year of a sample of 15 general secondary schools. It is shown that the gender context of the school does not affect the boys' study culture, but the presence of girls positively influences the general pupils' study culture. By means of multilevel analyses (HLM), it is demonstrated that the larger the proportion of girls at school, the higher the boys achieve, and this finding can be ascribed to the general pupils' study culture.     

Gender and school choice: factors influencing parents when choosing single‐sex or co‐educational independent schools for their children

This paper explores factors influencing parents' choices of single‐sex or co‐educational schools in the independent sector. In doing so, it explores two relatively under‐researched aspects of school choice by focusing upon gender and upon the middle classes. The paper draws upon research conducted in three independent schools—a boys' school, a girls' school and a co‐educational school. Data were generated via questionnaires (225 responses) and semi‐structured interviews (15 sets of parents). The findings suggest that the reputation and exam results of schools are key features guiding parents' school choices. However, whether a school is single‐sex or co‐educational is an important factor for many parents. Furthermore, the long‐held view that single‐sex education has advantages (especially academic) for girls, whilst co‐education has advantages (especially social) for boys, still prevails.     

Gender organization of schooling and television viewing among early adolescents: a test of two alternative hypotheses

In this analysis, single‐sex and mixed schools are compared in terms of pupils' television viewing habits, the latter factor being considered as an indicator of a pupil's sense of educational responsibilities. It was hypothesized that the presumably lower levels of television watching among girls attending single‐sex schools could be explained by school climate factors pertaining to adolescent subculture values and/or to the pedagogic approaches of a predominantly female staff. Use was made of data from 68 academic‐type secondary schools in Flanders (Belgium). Of these schools, 25 were mixed and 43 were single‐sex (21 girls', and 22 boys' schools). Respondents were third‐year pupils: 3370 girls and 3057 boys, aged 14 and 15 years. A multilevel analysis (HLM) was performed controlling for parental socio‐economic status, curriculum enrolment, school residency and school mean SES. The results mainly indicate that the differential effect of single‐sex and coeducational schools on girls' TV watching habits may be partially accounted for by factors associated with pedagogic approaches by the predominantly female staff in girls' schools, but not at all by norms related to the adolescent subculture.     

Sacrificial girls: a case study of the impact of streaming and setting on gender reform

This article reports on research funded by the Australian Research Council to investigate school responses to gender equity. It addresses the efforts of a disadvantaged school to tackle what they perceived to be gender inequalities, but in the process of constructing a top‐set and bottom‐set/stream class they are developing new forms of old inequalities and new forms of inequalities. This research indicates that despite popular assertions that girls' education has become the priority of schools and education systems, girls are being further disadvantaged through attempts to implement market strategies coupled with gender reform agendas grounded in liberal notions of equity and relying on unsophisticated notions of affirmative action. In addition, this study highlights the extent to which a media‐driven debate about boys' education has influenced the constitution of boys as the ‘new disadvantaged’ with the capacity to determine the nature of gender reform agendas and programmes in schools.     

Who Is a Good Student?

The junior middle school phase is one in which students first come into formal contact with science subjects and is a key period in the formation of their attitudes toward the sciences. Any setback in science studies in this period inevitably affects the students' studies in the senior middle school phase and even their future choice of specializations and the direction of their career development. Thus science education during the junior middle school phase is of the utmost importance for the students' growth. Studies by scholars abroad show that the great majority of girls have the same intelligence and ambitions as boys when they enter school, but by the time they graduate from junior and senior middle schools they have much less confidence in their abilities and their self-esteem has conspicuously declined. There is also a big difference between boys and girls in terms of their choice of advancement to higher schools, and a relatively small proportion of girls choose to take science courses in senior middle school. In terms of choice of vocations, most girls remain stuck in the narrow field of traditional occupations for females, such as nursing, health care, and secretarial work, and display a clear tendency toward job gender patternization. The rate of school dropouts and discontinued schooling is much higher among girls than boys.¹ Studies by scholars in China show that stereotyped gender impressions among teachers leads to incorrect conduct in education and teaching. For instance, teachers believe that boys are more clever. They make different dispositions for girls' and boys' learning activities, and lavish more attention on boys. Such different feedback to learning information [sic] from boys and girls widens the difference between students of different genders.²     

A reconstruction of the gender agenda: the contradictory gender dimensions in New Labour's educational and economic policy

This article reviews current interpretations of Labour's education policy in relation to gender. Such interpretations see the marginalisation of gender equality in mainstream educational policy as a result of the discursive shift from egalitarianism to that of performativity. Performativity in the school context is shown to have contradictory elements ranging from an increased feminisation of teaching and the (re)masculinisation of schooling. Also, whilst underachievement is defined as ‘the problem of boys’, the production of hierarchical masculinities and ‘laddishness’ by marketised schools is ignored. The policy shift towards performativity also masks girls' exclusion and the disadvantages working‐class girls face within the education system. The rhetoric of gender equality, although stronger in the field of post‐16 training and employment, is no less contradictory. The effects of New Labour are found in the aggravation of social class divisions within gender categories and the spiralling differences between male and female paths. Gender equality ideals in education are therefore shown to have a far more complex relationship to New Labour politics than previously thought.     

A comparison between girls' and boys' experiences of unwanted sexual behaviour in secondary schools

Background

This study examines gender differences (and similarities) in the context, meaning and effects of unwanted sexual behaviour in secondary schools.

Purpose

First, the study's purpose is exploration of variables that discriminate between girls' and boys' experiences of unwanted sexual behaviour. Secondly, the aim is to find empirical grounding for diversity in schools' interventions and policies.

Sample

Respondents were 2808 adolescents (14 or 15 years of age) in secondary schools, randomly selected in two regions in The Netherlands. Of the 22 schools that participated in the project, 30% were Catholic, 25% Protestant, 11% interdenominational (several religions within one school) and 38% of the schools were public schools. School size varied. The majority of the students' parents were born in The Netherlands (86%), 14% were born in Morocco, Turkey and Surinam.

Design and methods

Survey questionnaires were to be completed during class time. Non-response rate: 2%. Analysis: discriminant function analysis.

Results

Girls more often experienced unwanted sexual behaviour by school personnel than boys. Their experiences were more often non-verbal in nature, physical or a combination of different sorts of behaviour. Girls experienced unwanted sexual behaviour as more upsetting than boys and they also experienced more psychosomatic health problems. The typical form of boys' experiences of unwanted sexual behaviour was verbal harassment by peers. The behaviour was less upsetting to boys and they experienced less psychosomatic health problems than girls.

Conclusions

This study was the first attempt to find out whether girls' and boys' scores on several variables form a different type of unwanted sexual behaviour. Two different types of unwanted sexual behaviour were found. Although the context (locations and the presence of others) was more or less the same for both sexes, the meaning and the effects of unwanted sexual behaviour were clearly different for girls and boys.     

Single‐sex schooling: is it simply a ‘class act’?

The current debate about boys education risks taking us back decades in terms of understanding the significance of gender in relation to education. Of particular concern here is the tendency within such debates to rely on dichotomous understandings of gender which reinscribe essentialist understandings of both ‘girls’ and ‘boys’. In this way, the so‐called gender wars construct a climate whereby difference between the categories obfuscates difference within each. Here this issue is explored most specifically in relation to access to higher education and the possible impact of single‐sex schooling. Current debates surrounding boys' experience of schooling have refreshed interest in the possible benefits of single‐sex education, particularly for boys. Schools are establishing single‐sex classes for boys and in some cases parallel education (the provision of single‐sex facilities for girls and boys at the same campus) is being promoted as a way forward. In this paper we examine data from Australia's largest and most diverse university in order to explore the relationship between single‐sex schooling and access to higher education in ways which account for difference based primarily on school sector and socio‐economic status. In these terms, if single‐sex schooling is beneficial for boys we need to consider which boys are benefiting and at whose expense.     

The media,marketing, and single sex schooling

The Australian media’s interest in education, as in many Anglophone countries, is frequently dominated by concerns about boys in schools. In 2002, in a country region of the Australian State of Queensland, this concern was evident in a debate on the merits of single sex schooling that took place in a small local newspaper. The debate was fuelled by the inclusion in this newspaper of an advertising brochure for an elite private girls’ school. The advertisement utilized the current concerns about boys in schools to advocate the benefits of girls’ only schools. Drawing on research that suggests that boys are a problem in school, and utilising a peculiar mix of liberal feminism alongside a neo‐liberal class politics, it implicitly denigrated the education provided by government co‐educational schools. The local government high and primary school principals, incensed at this advertisement, contacted the paper to refute many of its claims and assumptions and to assert the benefits, to both boys and girls, of their particular schools. A letters to the editor debate then followed an article representing these government school principals’ views. These letters were from two private school principals. This country newspaper thus became a medium through which various school principals engaged with the current boys’ debate, and research associated with it, in order to market their schools. This paper examines this particular newspaper debate and argues that, in the absence of nuanced, research based, and thoughtful policy responses to gender issues, many school policies on gender are being shaped through and by the media in ways that elide the complexities of the issues involved.     

Issues in boys' education: a question of teacher threshold knowledges?

This paper exploresthe effects of specific teacher threshold knowledges about boys and gender on the implementation of a so‐called ‘boy friendly’ curriculum at one junior secondary high school in Australia. Through semi‐structured interviews with selected staff at the school, it examines the normalizing assumptionsand ‘truth claims’ about boys, as gendered subjects, which drive the pedagogical impetus for such a curriculum initiative. This research raises crucial questions about the need for the formulation of both school and governmental policy grounded in sound research‐based knowledge about the social construction of gender and its impact on the lives of both boys and girls and their experiences of schooling. This is crucial, we argue, in light of the recent parliamentary report on boys' education in Australia which rejects gender theorizing and given the failure of key staff in the research school to interrogate thebinary ways in which masculinity and femininity are socially constructed and institutionalized in schools through a particular ‘gender regime’. While some good things are happening in the research school, the failure to acknowledge the social construction of gender means that ultimately the school's programs cannot be successful.     

‘We Decided to Give it a Twirl’: single-sex teaching in English comprehensive schools

This article reports the recent experiences of single-sex teaching in 31 co-educational English comprehensive schools, often implemented because of the perceived need to raise boys' achievement. Since it was often undertaken on a short-term basis, its effectiveness is difficult to evaluate, although some positive aspects were noted in some schools in terms of raised achievement levels and increased confidence and participation in class. In other schools, however, single-sex teaching appeared to have little impact on achievement levels and led to increased problems of behaviour management in boys' classes, with male bonding between male teachers and male students reinforcing the qualities associated with hegemonic forms of masculinity. The authors conclude, therefore, by suggesting that single-sex classes can provide a positive and successful experience for girls and boys where there is strong commitment from staff, a willingness to evaluate and to diffuse good practice, but crucially where gender reform strategies are in place to challenge any practices and behaviours that reinforce stereotypical gendered roles.     

Sex Education - the issues when working with boys

Sex education is a contentious issue. Recently debates in the UK have tended to concentrate on the need to reduce teenage pregnancy rates and on the 'promotion of homosexuality'. This article examines the issues that need to be addressed if boys are to receive the sex education they require. These issues include the characteristics and gender of the teacher needed; methodologies to which boys will respond; the perception of boys as problems in school; the content of sex education programmes, the need for separate classes and the ongoing concern of boys' literacy standards. Added to these are issues such as homosexuality and pornography, areas which are avoided in many schools. The culture related to boys' attitudes to education in general and sex education in particular are examined. The author calls for a change in approach and attitude by government in order to achieve the desired lowering of teenage pregnancy rates and for the adoption of a more positive attitude to sex education by government, parents and teachers.     

Sharing the same world: boys' relations with girls during their last year of primary school

This paper explores the effect of cross gender relations on the construction of boys' masculine identities. The findings are based on data gathered from a year long empirical study of 10 to 11‐year‐old boys set in three UK junior schools. Although masculinity is defined against femininity and boys needed to mark out a set of distinctions from themselves and girls, I found that most boys categorized girls as different (they are not us) rather than oppositional, and the most common reaction was one of detachment and disinterest. Rather than maintaining that there are two separate worlds, I argue that there are two complementary gendered cultures, sharing the one overall school world, which are further nuanced by social class and race/ethnicity. Although there was a tendency of boys to dominate space and girls were often excluded from playground games, many girls refused to be dominated by boys, and some were able to deliberately exercise power over them.     

'Spice Girls', 'Nice Girls', 'Girlies', and 'Tomboys': Gender discourses,girls' cultures and femininities in the primary classroom

The past decade has seen a growing political and academic concern with boys' underachievement. Drawing on the case study of a London primary classroom, this article argues that contemporary gendered power relations are more complicated and contradictory than the new orthodoxy that girls are doing better than boys suggests. The girls in this case study took up very varied positions in relation to traditional femininities. Yet, despite widely differentiated practices, all the girls at various times acted in ways which bolstered boys' power at the expense of their own. While peer group discourses constructed girls as harder working, more mature and more socially skilled, still the boys and a significant number of the girls adhered to the view that it is better being a boy. The article concludes that in this particular primary school, girls and boys still learned many of the old lessons of gender relations which work against gender equity.     

Gender in the early years: Boys and girls in an African working class primary school

Understanding the ways in which young boys and girls give meaning to gender and sexuality is vital, and is especially significant in the light of South Africa's commitment to gender equality. Yet the, gendered cultures of young children in the early years of South African primary schools remains a, marginal concern in debate, research and interventions around gender equality in education. This, paper addresses this caveat through a small-scale qualitative study of boys and girls between the ages, of 7 and 8 years in an African working class primary school. It focuses on friendships, games, and violent gendered interactions to show how gender features in the cultural world of young children. Given that both boys and girls invest heavily in dominant gender norms, the paper argues that greater, understanding of gender identity processes in the early years of formal schooling are important in, devising strategies to end inequalities and gender violence.     

Unravelling gender composition effects on rule-breaking at school: a focus on study attitudes

Previous research on consequences of schools' gender composition has mostly investigated students' socio-emotional well-being and achievement, while students' academic attitudes and behavioural outcomes – including school deviancy – have been studied less. Moreover, most studies compared single-sex and coeducational schools, and did not focus on the proportion of girls at school. Starting from reference group theory, we hypothesise that boys attending schools with a higher proportion of girls adopt the latter's positive study attitudes, rendering them less susceptible to disruptive behaviour. Conversely, girls in schools with more boys are expected to adopt the latter's negative study attitudes, consequently being more likely to misbehave. Multilevel analyses on data from the Flemish educational assessment, consisting of 5961 girls and 5638 boys in 81 schools, showed that both boys and girls valued studying more and were less likely to misbehave at school when proportionally more girls attended their school. Implications are discussed.     

Gender differences in the strength of association between motivation,competency beliefs and reading skill

Background:?There is concern in the education community regarding gender differences in reading, as girls regularly outperform boys. There is also concern about the consequences of low motivation for children's engagement in reading and learning. An important question is whether boys' motivation is more closely linked to their attainment compared with girls.

Purpose:?The aim of the study was to examine how closely children's reading skill correlates with their intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and competency beliefs. There was a particular focus on gender.

Sample:?There were 492 children (240 boys) aged 7–11 in this study from four primary schools in England, UK.

Design and methods:?Children completed a reading comprehension assessment and a questionnaire examining intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and competency beliefs relating to reading and schoolwork. For analysis, children were split into a younger (age 7–8) and older (age 9–11) age group.

Results:?In both the younger and older groups, the boys' competency beliefs in reading and intrinsic motivation for reading and schoolwork were significantly more closely associated with their level of reading skill, in comparison with the girls.

Conclusions:?The closer reciprocal relationship between boys' intrinsic motivation, competency beliefs and reading skill could be interpreted in at least two ways. Firstly, boys' motivation and beliefs in their ability may be more dependent on their success in reading. Alternatively, boys' motivation and competency beliefs may play a more significant role in the effort they put into reading.     

Boys do not benefit from male teachers in their reading and mathematics skills: empirical evidence from 21 European Union and OECD countries

The prevalence of women in the teaching profession has been claimed by various scholars to be responsible for the low school performance among boys. Based on this claim there have been widespread calls for increasing the share of male teachers as a means of improving boys' school performance. There is, however, very little empirical evidence supporting the claim that boys do in fact benefit from being taught by male teachers. Drawing on data from the 2007 Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study and the 2006 Progress in International Reading Literacy Study, this paper examines the relationship between teacher gender and boys' and girls' respective school performance in a sample of 146,315 elementary school students from 21 countries. It finds that boys do not benefit from being taught by male teachers, neither in mathematics nor in reading. In some countries, however, girls seem to profit from being taught by female teachers.     

Gender and Science in the Swedish Compulsory School

This study investigates how Swedish pupils meet chemistry, physics and technology in compulsory school. It explores girls' and boys' actions in and thoughts about these subjects during grades 7 to 9. The pupils come from different worlds determined by gender and social background. In the classroom girls are given, and take upon themselves, the role of keeping lessons together, while boys' attempts to dominate the public arena create disorder. Girls and boys prefer different subject areas. Boys have a practical while girls have a more theoretical approach to science. Girls seek ‘connected knowledge’, and even the successful girls question their understanding. Girls who take an interest in physics and chemistry often have supporting scientist fathers or at least parents with a higher education. Technology is rejected by all girls. The mutual construction and reconstruction of gender and of science/technology contribute to gendered choices of study programmes in upper secondary school.     

Gender Differences in Arithmetic Strategy Use: A Function of Skill and Preference

This study was designed to examine whether first-grade boys' use of retrieval and first-grade girls' use of manipulatives reflected gender differences in their abilities to use these strategies or gender differences in preferences for strategy use. Eighty-four first-grade students, 42 boys and 42 girls, from two suburban elementary schools participated in this study. The children solved basic arithmetic problems under two conditions: a free-choice condition in which they were allowed to solve the problems any way they preferred and a game condition in which the children's strategy use was constrained so that all children used the same strategies on the same arithmetic problems. Strategy use during the free-choice session replicated the findings of earlier research indicating that girls tend to use strategies utilizing manipulatives and boys tend to use retrieval. During the game condition, when we controlled the types of strategies children used on different problems we found that boys were as able as girls to calculate solutions using manipulatives. Girls, however, were not as capable as boys in their retrieval of answers to arithmetic problems from memory. No differences were found in error rates or speed of retrieval. Gender differences were found in the variability of correct retrieval, with boys being significantly more variable than girls.