Boys, Girls and Achievement

1. Boys, Girls and Achievement

2. Your experience Putting ‘boys achievement’ into perspective Disrupting ‘commonsense’: some things we know don’t work but we still do Orienting practice: what research tells us can work… in some contexts Going forward Outline of the session

3. What provoked you to pick this session? How do you see the issues of gender and achievement? What strategies have you used to address these issues? Your experience

4. Putting ‘boys achievement’ into perspective

5. The last 40 years has seen: - changing patterns of working-class employment due to the decline of manufacturing industry. - changing roles of men and women due to the impact of feminism. Sharpe, S. (1976, 1994) Just Like A Girl, How girls learn to be women (London, Penguin) Willis, P. (1977) Learning to labour: how working class kids get working class jobs (London, Gower Publishing) A political and economic perspective

6. “There can scarce be a greater Defect in a Gentleman, than not to express himself well either in Writing or Speaking. But yet, I think, I may ask my Reader, whether he doth not know a great many, who live upon their Estate, and so, with the Name, should have the Qualities of Gentlemen, who cannot so much as tell a Story as they should; much less speak clearly and persuasively in any Business. This, I think not to be so much their Fault, as the Fault of their Education.” (John Locke, 1693) Girls outperformed boys in the11+ examination. In the 1970-80s more girls than boys got 5 A-C grades at O-level. Arnot, M., David, M. & Weiner, G. (1999) Closing the Gender Gap: Postwar Education and Social Change (Cambridge, Polity Press) Cohen, M. (1998) "A habit of healthy idleness": boys' underachievement in historical perspective. In: D. Epstein, J. Elwood, V. Hey and J. Maw (eds) Failing boys? Issues in gender and underachievement (Buckingham, Open University Press) An historical perspective

7. For example, England and France share similar patterns in terms of the differential attainment of boys and girls, but while in England the boys' underachievement debate is prominent in policy and media, in the latter it is non-existent. Moreau, M.-P. (2011) The Societal Construction of Boys’ Underachievement in Educational Policies: A cross-national comparison, Journal of Education Policy, 26 (2), 161-180 A geographical perspective

8. When we talk about boys’ achievement we are talking about attainment rather than other forms of achievement – this is a post-league tables focus. We need a wider notion of achievement: exclusions, subject choice, aspirations, employment. Boys results improve year on year and there is no consistent gender gap in maths and science. Arnot, M., David, M. & Weiner, G. (1999) Closing the Gender Gap: Postwar Education and Social Change (Cambridge, Polity Press) Osler, A. & Vincent, K. (2003) Girls and Exclusion: rethinking the agenda. (London, RoutledgeFalmer) The Fawcett Society and the Women’s Budget Group produce regular reports on the gender pay gap and other gendered economic inequalities Putting achievement into perspective

9. Underachievement is unclearly defined – is it relative to some inner potential, to some group reference point or to some prediction based on prior attainment? In the context of the A*-C economy, it can lead to the rationing of educational resources. Gillborn, D. & Youdell, D. (2000) Rationing education: policy, practice, reform, and equity (Buckingham, Open University Press) Putting underachievement into perspective

10. Not all boys are ‘underachieving’ and not all girls are achieving well. There are differences between boys and different ways of ‘doing boy’. Differences in attainment by ethnicity are larger than differences between girls and boys and differences by social class are even larger. Archer, L., Hollingworth, S. & Mendick, H. (2010) Urban youth and schooling (Maidenhead, Open University Press) Francis, B. (2000) Boys and girls and achievement: addressing the classroom issues (London, RoutledgeFalmer) Putting boys into perspective

11. There is a gender gap in literacy attainment in favour of girls running throughout primary and secondary schooling. There is an overall gender gap in those attaining 5 A*-C GCSEs in favour of girls. There is evidence that the most valorised ways of ‘doing boy’ are anti-school with school work linked to femininity and effortless achievement as the ideal. Younger, M. & Warrington, M. with McLellan, R. (2005) Raising boys’ achievement in secondary schools: issues, dilemmas and opportunities (Maidenhead, Open University Press) But there is an issue

12. Disrupting ‘commonsense’Some Things We Know Don’t Work But We Still Do

13. Boys don’t prefer non-fiction, the most successful schools promote a range of resources to all... “What is clearly evident from our research over the past decade is that, when asked what makes a good lesson, there is a broad consensus across the sexes.” Approaches to teaching oriented to boys are based on assumptions about the typical boy… Moss, G. (2007) Literacy and Gender: researching texts, contexts and readers (Abingdon, Routledge) Younger, M. & Warrington, M. with McLellan, R. (2005) Raising boys’ achievement in secondary schools: issues, dilemmas and opportunities (Maidenhead, Open University Press) There’s no such thing as boy-friendly pedagogy, resources and curriculum

14. Competitive practices create winners and losers and lead to defensive strategies by boys (and girls) to protect their self-image whereby they withdraw from competition rather than risk failure. Jackson, C. (2006) Lads and ladettes in school: gender and a fear of failure (Maidenhead, Open University Press) In particular…Competitive activities disengage many girls and boys

15. Different measurement instruments produce different learning style profiles. Research shows no consistent differences in learning styles between boys and girls. There are further problems with learning styles in that these are difficult to define and are not fixed for any student but change in response to experience. Younger, M. & Warrington, M. with McLellan, R. (2005) Raising boys’ achievement in secondary schools: issues, dilemmas and opportunities (Maidenhead, Open University Press) Boys and girls don’t have different learning styles

16. “Our study indicates that simplistic and unsupported claims about the benefits of gender matching should have no place in driving either education policy or practice. The voices of the children in our study are clear: it is the teacher’s pedagogic and interpersonal skills that are vital in engaging them as learners, regardless of their gender.” Carrington, B., Francis, B., Hutchings, M., Skelton, C., Read, B. & Hall, I. (2007) Does the gender of the teacher really matter? Seven- to eight-year-olds' accounts of their interactions with the teachers, Educational Studies, 33(4), 397-413 Boys don’t work better with male teachers

17. Girls results were on an upward trajectory before the move to increased coursework in 1988 and continued after the reduction in GCSE and A level coursework. Modern foreign languages results have some of the largest gender differences. These subjects have always had some of the least coursework components. Elwood, J. (2005) Gender and Achievement: what have exams got to do with it, Oxford Review of Education Policy, 31 (3), 373-393 Girls do well in coursework and terminal exams

18. Orienting practiceWhat Research Tells Us Can Work… In Some Contexts

19. Needs to be based in high but realistic expectations where students and staff understand the data used to set targets. Needs reciprocity: so mentors can advocate for students and mediate between them and their teachers, and mentees are offered and can take responsibility. Needs to happen “in a context where boys (in particular) can be offered an escape from the needs to conform to a laddish, macho image” Younger, M. & Warrington, M. with McLellan, R. (2005) Raising boys’ achievement in secondary schools: issues, dilemmas and opportunities (Maidenhead, Open University Press) Mentoring and target-setting

20. Can make students feel more comfortable in class and less pressurised to ‘showboat’. Can make students feel freer to question/explore/discuss particularly for boys in English and girls in maths/science. Needs coherent and vibrant pedagogy for girls and boys and to not homogenise boys (and girls). Younger, M. & Warrington, M. with McLellan, R. (2005) Raising boys’ achievement in secondary schools: issues, dilemmas and opportunities (Maidenhead, Open University Press) Carolyn Jackson reviews the issues: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/edres/videos/jackson_single-Sex_Classes.htm Single-sex classes

21. The key thing is to give students and teachers a vocabulary for understanding learning so that: - students can become more aware and autonomous and feel respected/ valued. - teachers can become more creative in their teaching, planning and assessment. These initiatives need to be embedded across the school and sustained. Younger, M. & Warrington, M. with McLellan, R. (2005) Raising boys’ achievement in secondary schools: issues, dilemmas and opportunities (Maidenhead, Open University Press) Hall, E. (2004) Researching learning styles, Teaching Thinking, Spring: 28-35 A focus on learning and teaching

22. Whole-school ethos: schools as learning organisations: proactivity, pedagogy, support. Within this, using key leaders and key befrienders can work. Generally, it’s important to challenge the patterns of gender in school, particularly those associating school work with femininity and idealising effortless achievement. Younger, M. & Warrington, M. with McLellan, R. (2005) Raising boys’ achievement in secondary schools: issues, dilemmas and opportunities (Maidenhead, Open University Press) Davies, B. (1993) Shards of glass: children reading and writing beyond gendered identities (Sydney, Allen and Unwin) Socio-cultural approaches

23. Did anything surprise you? Do you want to do anything… – in your classroom? -in your subject area? -at a whole school level? Heather Mendick: heathermendick@yahoo.co.uk www.genderandeducation.com Going forward