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

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mentioned external staff development activities that were subsequently developed withinthe authority and/or school, e.g. ‘Key people have attended Geoff Hannan courses andtaken issues forward in own school’. Overall, a range of different agencies wereidentified in responses, including:• private consultancies, e.g. Learning Unlimited, the Learning Game and/orindividual educational consultants;• academics from the higher education sector; and• local authority advisers.The final question in this section asked respondents to identify what they considered to bethe two priorities in relation to gender (in)equality in education today. Twenty-two of the25 completed forms identified two priorities. The key themes were:i. attainment/achievement15 respondents referred to attainment/achievement, 6 specifying attainment ofboys and 1 referring to girls, eg‘difference in attainment by gender’‘continuing underachievement of boys up to S4/5’‘achievement of girls (especially in relation to SQA results)’.ii. learning and teaching strategies, including learning styles7 respondents referred to the need to develop effective teaching and learningstyles for both groups of pupils, eg‘to raise awareness of the impact of differing learning styles’‘different learning styles between boys/girls’.iii. career optionsa total of 5 respondents cited career-related issues, eg‘career stereotyping’‘ensuring career option choices are not gender stereotyped’.A number of other issues were identified by 1, or at the most 2, individual respondents,including: disaffected boys; exclusion; subject uptake; boys’ literacy; lack of male rolemodels; girls’ reluctance to take risks/be speculative; active schools; and substance abuse(and its impact on attainment, attendance, etc). Two respondents stressed the need tomaintain awareness of gender issues, while 1 asked for ‘clear understanding of, andevaluation of, strategies adopted to address inequality’.3.4 Strategies to address gender inequalitiesThe final section of the questionnaire asked schools to identify up to 3 examples ofstrategies adopted within the authority that might serve as examples for the project. Thequestionnaire specifically asked for examples across the sectors – pre-5, primary,secondary and special schools.A considerable range of examples was supplied by 18 authorities (Appendix 2).Achievement, particularly boys’ underachievement, accounted for 9 of the examplesgiven, while 8 examples relating to literacy were provided, 4 of which focused on boys.Learning and teaching strategies were mentioned 4 times, while single gender classes andthe involvement of fathers were each mentioned twice. The remaining strategies coveredspecific areas of the curriculum, e.g. science, or referred to general themes such as______________________________________________________________________________________Review of Strategies to 20 University of StrathclydeAddress Gender Inequalitiesand University of Glasgow
‘Getting the best out of Boys’ and the ‘Alternative curriculum’. Active learning,promoting health improvement and Handle techniques for addressing developmentaldisorders were also mentioned by individual authorities.The examples identified by authorities were supplemented by instances gathered fromother sources such the internet. The project team then identified a number of strategiesfor further investigation (see Table 1). Overall, the case studies were selected to providea range of strategies across a number of authorities.Table 1: Schools and strategies included in case studiesTheme No of schools involved Pupil emphasis*Early literacy5: 4 primary and 1 pre-5Boys – achievement andmotivationProgression and continuityGender inclusive strategiescluster of 3: 2 primary and1 secondary2: both pre-5Boys – achievement,motivation, attitudesBoys – self esteem, self image,role modelsSingle gender classes3: all secondaryBoys – achievement andbehaviourCurriculum flexibility 1 secondary Boys – raising attainmentDeveloping emotional literacy‘Reach for the stars’Streaming by ability1 primary1 secondary1 secondaryBoys – addressingchallenging behaviourBoth – motivation and selfesteemBoth – motivation and selfesteem for ‘able’ pupils* It should be noted that most strategies were intended to improve attainment for both boys and girls, but there tended tobe an emphasis, whether in the original plan or subsequently, on boys.Although interview schedules were developed, the strategies varied significantly, as didthe groups involved (parents, pupils, school and/or authority staff). Therefore scheduleswere developed which contained common themes but allowed the interviewer to adaptthe specific questions in line with the particular strategy being investigated (Appendix 3).______________________________________________________________________________________Review of Strategies to 21 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 and 10: 6. Management and whole school pers
Page 11 and 12: CHAPTER ONE THE STUDYRecent researc
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: curriculum structures and lifelong
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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