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

In the schools visited, including the nursery, the literacy initiative was part of a wholeschoolpolicy to improve language skills for all pupils, although in each case theemphasis tended to be on the early years. The evidence indicates that differences inattainment between boys and girls are small in the early years but increase as theyprogress through the school, and the argument is that investing in the development ofpositive attitudes towards literacy in the early years can help to avoid laterunderachievement. The extent to which these books were intended to improveachievement levels amongst boys or were seen as simply ‘a good thing’ for all pupilsvaried. None of the schools experienced serious underachievement amongst boys and, inone primary, over 90% of boys achieved the reading targets for their (st)age. The schoolstended to be taking advantage of resources offered to improve the position for all pupils.In 2 schools, books were grouped according to which stage(s) they were intended for andpupils selected a book or story sack to take home, usually for 1-2 weeks at a time. Thesewere brought back and exchanged for new sacks. In a third school, a rota was establishedsuch that each child took only one ‘sack’ home per term, whereas in other schools it wasmore often, e.g. every 2-3 weeks. The older pupils normally had to write some form ofbook review once they had finished, providing a record of their engagement with books.In most schools, the reading initiative was linked to other literacy activities and/or waysof catering for differences in learning styles, some of which were perceived as related togender. For example, teachers in one school had attended a staff development course thathad emphasised gender differences in learning styles and preferences for activities. Theyhad experimented with, for example, subdued lighting (they had been told that boysprefer this) and Baroque music (which was reported to enhance concentration). Aparticular focus was on literacy, where boys, it was said, needed additional help. Whatbecame evident to the headteacher was the way in which these tactics worked for some,but not all, boys. Interviews with staff indicated that they were sensitive to genderinequalities and tried to treat all pupils as individuals, rather than as girls or boys:‘What works for some boys doesn’t work for others – you need to focuson the individual.’iv. The impactIn all of the schools involved, it was felt that the boys’ attitudes to books had changed,becoming more positive over time, although this was difficult to gauge in some cases asthe boys were already good and enthusiastic readers. In some instances boys wereperforming at slightly higher levels than previously, but that could not be traced directlyto the introduction of the strategy. Boys and girls expressed enthusiasm for the strategyand almost all were keen readers. They looked forward to their ‘turn’ with the storysacks and had suggestions for other books that could be added to the stocks available.The pupils were aware that this was a strategy to get them to read more but they wereunaware of any gender dimension. In 3 schools, they were aware that part of the strategywas to involve fathers to a greater extent.Children in all schools were aware of gender differences, however, and expressed someof the expected stereotypes during the interviews. For example, in one school thechildren thought that boys tended to be noisy and girls liked flowers. Sometimes, thegirls challenged the stereotypes: ‘girls can be firemen, they just need to be very strong’(nursery girl).In one of the small primary schools, all pupils across the stages were unanimous in theirview that it did not make any difference if you were a boy or a girl in the school: ‘itdoesn’t matter’; ‘everyone gets equal attention’; ‘you never feel left out’.A key feature was the involvement of parents. It was not possible to interview parents inall of the schools but where it was, they tended to be very positive in their commentsabout the school. Although aware of the literacy strategy, they were not always aware______________________________________________________________________________________Review of Strategies to 24 University of StrathclydeAddress Gender Inequalitiesand University of Glasgow