Review of Strategies to Address Gender Inequalities in Scottish ...

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and authorities will have to take cognisance of this in their policies andprocedures.• It was rare to find schools with written policies on gender equality, even amongstthose schools recommended to the team as worthy of study in terms of goodpractice. Schools should discuss this situation and move towards development ofpolicies to address gender-sensitive matters.• The most successful initiatives observed by the research team were in pre-5 andprimary schools. This good practice could be more widely shared, and theimplications worked into primary practice in general.• Where development of a gender-related initiative was shared between schools,there was a greater chance of progression and continuity occurring. Primary andsecondary schools should be encouraged to cooperate in the development ofstrategies to address gender inequalities with, ideally, national and local authoritysupport through policy and staff development.• The most successful practice engaged all stakeholders, particularly parents.Schools should discuss with their communities how parents and otherstakeholders might be involved in the planning, development and implementationof strategies to address gender inequalities in Scottish schools.• Where staff development was most effective, it was in situations where the staffhad a degree of ownership and were supported by practical guidance and advice.Schools and authorities should encourage and facilitate staff developmentactivities related to gender issues, and providers of staff development, such asauthorities and universities, should be encouraged to enable this development tohappen.__________________________________________________________________________________Review of Strategies to vii University of StrathclydeAddress Gender Inequalitiesand University of Glasgow
CHAPTER ONE THE STUDYRecent research into gender inequalities in schools (see the Literature Review, pp13 ff.)has tended to focus on the underachievement of boys, particularly in the early years ofsecondary school. Prior to that, researchers were more concerned to understand girls’lack of involvement and underachievement in specific curricular areas, such as thesciences.In 1996, the Equal Opportunities Commission published Education Reform and GenderEquality in Schools (Arnot et al, 1996). This was followed by a series of studies aimed atgaining greater understanding of the issues, the identification of contributory factors andthe evaluation of strategies to address inequalities such as access, achievement andopportunities. The findings indicated that, amongst other things, the maleunderachievement phenomenon was not necessarily a class-related matter (Power et al,1998). Other commentators have argued that gender identities intersect with other formsof identity and, in particular, with ‘race’ and class identities; creating a complex situationwhere some social and ethnic groups are multiply disadvantaged in school settings(Archer and Yamashita, 2003; Jackson, 2002; Reay, 2002). The complex ways in whichthey interact make it difficult to identify strategies that will address inequalities, and todetermine which are effective in so doing.This report presents the findings of a study designed to review the research into genderrelatedinequalities in schools. It also determines the extent to which Scottish schoolshave adopted strategies to address these, and how effective they have been.The study was funded by the Scottish Executive Education Department (SEED) andinvolved researchers from both the Universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow. It wasdesigned in three overlapping phases. The first consisted of a substantial review of theliterature; the second involved a survey of the provision for tackling gender-related issuesin local authority policy; and the third consisted of a series of case studies of Scottishschools where gender-related strategies were in use. The first phase provided aframework against which strategies could be analysed, while the third provided evidenceof their impact.The specific aims of the study were to:• develop an understanding of the extent and causes of gender inequalities,particularly in attainment, school experiences and expectations in Scotlandcompared to elsewhere;• document the current practices used by Scottish educational authorities andschools (publicly-funded primary and secondary schools) to address genderinequalities;• identify the effect of these practices on gender attainment, self-esteem,perceptions of gender roles, subject choices, career aspirations, access tovocational training and so on, identifying ‘which girls’ and ‘which boys’ areaffected; and• highlight examples of good practice in addressing gender inequality issuesthrough case studies (including publicly-funded schools at primary andsecondary levels).The methods used involved the collection of both quantitative and qualitative data, aswell as exploring the existing knowledge base through the review of the literature. Theaim was to obtain both an overview of the national position and to get at the experiences,aspirations and perceptions of pupils, teachers and representatives of educational policy-______________________________________________________________________________________Review of Strategies to 1 University of StrathclydeAddress Gender Inequalitiesand University of Glasgow
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTSACKNOWLEDGEMENTSEXECUTIVE S
Page 5 and 6: EXECUTIVE SUMMARYIntroductionThe Re
Page 7 and 8: Staff and management in most school
Page 9: 6. Management and whole school pers
Page 13 and 14: CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF THE LITERATUR
Page 15 and 16: 2.3 Causes of gender inequalityA ra
Page 17 and 18: Archer and Yamashita (2003) argue t
Page 19 and 20: ii. Assessment practicesNational mo
Page 21 and 22: Further efforts to ensure ‘effect
Page 23 and 24: Skelton (2001) argues that the basi
Page 25 and 26: were still highly gendered. Further
Page 27 and 28: CHAPTER THREE SURVEY OF LOCAL AUTHO
Page 29 and 30: curriculum structures and lifelong
Page 31 and 32: ‘Getting the best out of Boys’
Page 33 and 34: 4.2 Early literacyLiteracy, or, mor
Page 35 and 36: that it was concerned, at least in
Page 37 and 38: 4.3 Self-concept and esteemA number
Page 39 and 40: to the boys, animal print designs a
Page 41 and 42: parents and what they wanted. Overa
Page 43 and 44: was a thrust in the policy towards
Page 45 and 46: School 1In the first school, non-de
Page 47 and 48: For pupils, there were some common
Page 49 and 50: Staff interviewed thought that a pa
Page 51 and 52: The initiative had not been evaluat
Page 53 and 54: indicated that he believed there wa
Page 55 and 56: CHAPTER FIVE DISCUSSIONThe review o
Page 57 and 58: Pupils were particularly aware of g
Page 59 and 60: differences in the ways that boys a
Page 61 and 62:
Burn, E (2001) Do boys need male pr
Page 63 and 64:
Lloyd, G (ed.) (2005) Problem Girls
Page 65 and 66:
Rowe, K, Nix, PJ and Tepper, G (199
Page 67 and 68:
APPENDIX 1 QUESTIONNAIRE FOR LOCAL
Page 69 and 70:
6. Would you expect any written pol
Page 71 and 72:
C. Strategies to address gender ine
Page 73 and 74:
Local authority161718Strategy/Area
Page 75 and 76:
Focus group schedule: pupilsThe the
Page 77 and 78:
4. ImpactHas the project made any d
Page 79 and 80:
Policy origin of the initiativeLoca
Page 81 and 82:
Relationship with other strategiesE
Page 83 and 84:
Section 4Focus Group - ParentsGener
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