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ii. Initial impetus and fundingThe strategy had been developed to respond to pupils – mostly boys – in the later stagesof primary school who had very challenging behaviour and who seemed unable tomanage their own responses to situations. One pupil, in particular, gave cause for concernbecause of his lack of self-awareness and self-control. The headteacher and thebehaviour support teacher (who was also a Primary 7 teacher) believed that there mightbe benefits in a more direct and sustained attempt to develop emotional literacy in somepupils. Accordingly, parents, pupils and staff were consulted. A high level of supportwas expressed and the initiative proceeded. No research was identified as contributing tothe development.Funding had been made available from the Scottish Executive as part of the nationalprogramme, Better Behaviour – Better Learning (BB-BL) 5 . This was used to providecover for the Behaviour Support Coordinator who worked with the extraction group onemorning each week.iii. The implementation of the strategyFor one morning a week, the Coordinator worked with a small group of pupils extractedfrom their ordinary lessons. The materials used to develop emotional literacy were takenfrom the nferNelson pack designed specifically for that purpose. Activities and tasksaimed, for example, to enable pupils to develop empathy by encouraging them toappreciate the impact of their actions from others’ point of view. The approach alsoaimed to draw parents into thinking more about their children’s responses and how thesemight be developed to improve relationships.The initiative was relatively small-scale, targeted and ad hoc in that it operated inresponse to the needs of particular pupils, as these emerged. At the time of the visit, theprocedure had been suspended for the remainder of the session as it was felt that the needdid not exist at that time. It would be revived if a need was identified.The specific initiative on emotional literacy was linked to other approaches used in theschool such as Circle Time. It was perceived that boys had particular difficulties inexpressing views and feelings and that the additional support provided in an extractiongroup for one morning per week would enable them to function more effectively in socialsituations. It was hoped that their improved behaviour would have positive implicationsfor other pupils in their class and in the school generally.iv. The impactThe approach here was not intended primarily to address boys’ under-attainment, nor wasit targeted specifically at boys. However, since the extraction group was composedsolely of boys, this school’s experience reflects a wider situation where there is asignificant gender imbalance in discipline referrals and in national exclusion statistics.Concern about boys’ performance in school relates to a number of outcomes and not justto attainment. Better Behaviour – Better Learning makes explicit links between learningand behaviour and advocates more integrated systems of pupil support. In that policycontext, the work here could be seen to address boys’ attainment by supporting theirwider development.For the headteacher, the continued use of this strategy will require funding to enable theBehaviour Support Coordinator, a Primary 7 teacher, to be released from her class. Thestrategy is very dependent on this one teacher and it does not seem to be embedded inpractice in ways that would allow it to function independently of that member of staff.5 www.scotland.gov.uk/library3/education/pbis-00.asp______________________________________________________________________________________Review of Strategies to 40 University of StrathclydeAddress Gender Inequalitiesand University of Glasgow
The initiative had not been evaluated in any formal way and its impact was difficult totrack as some of the pupils involved had left the school. There was a possibility that theinitiative would operate again should the need arise and the staffing flexibility beavailable.C. Theme: ‘Reach for the stars’This particular strategy, Reach for the Stars (RfS), had been in place for approximatelyten years at the time of the visit and so was well established within the school. Theschool had a policy which covered the initiative.i. Background of the schoolThe school, a denominational secondary, has a mixed catchment area and is situated in atown close to a major city. The school roll is under capacity and accommodationcomprises two main buildings with two huts, each containing two classrooms. Theschool is scheduled to have a completely new building financed under a public/privatepartnership arrangement. The new school will be built on the site of the currentestablishment and the school will move to temporary premises in 2006 when this work isdue to start.ii. Initial impetus and funding‘Reach for the Stars’ has been established for 10 years. It was originally developed as aresponse to Promoting Positive Behaviour developments and had a focus on pupils in thefirst two years of secondary school (S1 and S2). There was a desire amongst staff to shiftthe focus away from punishment and towards the positive reinforcement of desirablebehaviour. The strategy was designed to provide added motivation for all pupils, not justboys.As with most of these strategies investigated, attainment data had been instrumental ininitiating the change in practice. Both the headteacher and the depute head indicated thatattainment levels within the school were in line with national trends; girls generallytended to perform better than boys in 5-14 outcomes and in SQA awards.The main cost has been staff time and this was met through the creation of a post ofresponsibility – Principal Teacher (Ethos).iii. Implementation of the strategyThe initiative involved all teachers, first and second year pupils and their parents and wasmanaged by the coordinator and a team of teacher volunteers whose main role was toorganise and run the award ceremonies which form an integral part of the strategy.Approximately two years ago, the principal teacher (PT) post in developing the ethos ofthe school was established, providing the coordination for the initiative (the RfScoordinator). In addition, there was a very effective system of distributed leadershipwherein teacher volunteers cooperated to implement the various elements (the RfS team).All teachers in the school were involved, although their involvement was not consideredto be demanding of their time and the administrative systems were simple and userfriendly.Involvement in the RfS team was regarded as a form of staff development.The key aim of the strategy was to motivate pupils in S1 and S2 by providing aconsistent, school-wide system of incentives. All pupils started with a maximum numberof 48 points (i.e. 4 points for each of the twelve subjects on their timetable), but thesecould be deducted by teachers in any subject. Therefore, the challenge for pupils was tosafeguard those 48 points. Points could be regained or awarded in line with four criteria,i.e. pupils were required to be caring, prepared, positive and responsible.______________________________________________________________________________________Review of Strategies to 41 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 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: Staff interviewed thought that a pa
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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