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

eading and, more generally, literacy. This reflects the differential performance levelsidentified in national and school-level statistics.Attempts had been made to address gender-related performance and behavioural issuesthrough single gender classes, with mixed results. In boys-only classes, behaviourmanagement was frequently cited as problematic, confounding attempts to improveachievement and motivation and to raise aspirations. The use of girls in mixed classes to‘police’ the behaviour of the boys was seen by some as detrimental to girls’ performanceand aspirations.Where strategies with a gender dimension had been implemented, an important featurewas the extent to which the whole school was supportive of, and involved in, theinitiative, and how leadership was provided. In secondary schools it was not usually theheadteacher who had instigated the development, but rather a member of staff, usually ina post of some responsibility, who was interested in gender issues – a champion within adepartment or with specific responsibility in a related, cross-curricular area, e.g. learningand teaching. In primary schools, where good practice was observed, the headteacherwas often responsible for the original initiative. Longer term sustainability seems todepend, however, on the development of whole school approaches. Ideally, forcontinuity and progression, the involvement of all schools within a cluster, including pre-5 establishments, would be desirable.In one instance, the education service was working with other agencies such as socialwork and community education to develop a family-oriented approach to tacklingtraditional, stereotypical roles and improve children’s life chances. Given the relativelysmall proportion of a child’s day-to-day existence spent in school and the stronginfluence of the family and wider community in the socialisation process, including thedevelopment of gender identity, this would seem to offer a greater chance of success inthe long term, albeit more demanding of the agencies and resources. However,innovations, other than the most trivial kind, take time – and changing attitudes to genderis not a trivial matter.5.3 The views of school staff, pupils and parentsi. Awareness of gender as an issueThere was an almost universal view amongst those staff interviewed that gender was apertinent issue in the context of schooling. For most, gender was one dimension, albeit asignificant one, of a more complex cluster of factors including social background,ethnicity and culture – as in most of the available policy-related documentation received.School staff held diverse views on the importance of gender as an issue, from those whowere actively working to address gender-related issues to those who felt that it ‘had beendone’. It was, however, a very small number of teachers who expressed the view thatgender had been addressed in the 80s and 90s and that things had moved on – that genderwas no longer an issue.While gender was acknowledged as a factor affecting pupils’ educational experience,there was also evidence of uncertainty as to the best ways to address it. Broadlyspeaking, the primary and pre-5 sectors were more active than the secondary. Whereas,in previous years, gender inequalities had concerned secondary schools (e.g. genderedsubject profiles), it was those working with the pre-school and early primary years whowere the most active. They tended to see it as a whole person issue, rather than tacklingone aspect such as literacy or behaviour, and aimed to develop aspects of self-esteem andconfidence in all children, including those on the margins of what might be described asstereotypical views of being a boy or a girl.______________________________________________________________________________________Review of Strategies to 46 University of StrathclydeAddress Gender Inequalitiesand University of Glasgow