Being ‘nuff’ and ‘scudding class’: exploring girls’ and boys’ perceptions of popularity,gender and achievement in Antiguan secondary schools

This paper will report on the findings from classroom observations and focus group discussions conducted on the topic of popularity and fitting in at school with girls and boys from four government secondary schools in Antigua. The findings show that whilst boys did experience difficulties negotiating academic success and acceptable masculinities, the consensus was that popularity was associated with low achievement for both girls and boys. However, there was evidence that some girls were able to work hard and maintain better peer relations than other high achieving students, but that this ‘balancing’ required conformity to hetero‐feminine norms as well as the espousal of rigid views about what girls can and can't do. This suggests that real equality is far from being reached.     

'Spice Girls', 'Nice Girls', 'Girlies', and 'Tomboys': Gender discourses,girls' cultures and femininities in the primary classroom

The past decade has seen a growing political and academic concern with boys' underachievement. Drawing on the case study of a London primary classroom, this article argues that contemporary gendered power relations are more complicated and contradictory than the new orthodoxy that girls are doing better than boys suggests. The girls in this case study took up very varied positions in relation to traditional femininities. Yet, despite widely differentiated practices, all the girls at various times acted in ways which bolstered boys' power at the expense of their own. While peer group discourses constructed girls as harder working, more mature and more socially skilled, still the boys and a significant number of the girls adhered to the view that it is better being a boy. The article concludes that in this particular primary school, girls and boys still learned many of the old lessons of gender relations which work against gender equity.     

‘Ye've got to ‘ave balls to play this game sir!’ Boys,peers and fears: the negative influence of school‐based ‘cultural accomplices’ in constructing hegemonic masculinities

The ongoing moral panic surrounding adolescent boys continues to cause concern, proving pivotal in popular discourses centring on the ‘problem of youth’. Drawing on ethnographic data from a large co‐educational secondary school, this paper illustrates how school outcomes are adversely affected by working class boys' investments in peer regulated ‘hegemonic’ masculinity. Echoing traditional working class masculine identities formed in relation to the physical requirements of industrial labour, these performances reject associations with activities constructed as ‘feminine’, leading to disaffection with schoolwork. The paper argues that, in a school culture of pervasive homophobia, some teachers paradoxically acted as ‘cultural accomplices’, naturalizing compulsory heterosexuality in engaging alienated and disruptive young men. Moreover, evidence suggests that this is an emerging response to managerialist pressures to ‘continuously improve’ grades by adopting ‘boy friendly’ approaches. This renders questionable strategies predicated on naturalizing assumptions about boys and makes problematic calls for more ‘role models’ without investigating how gendered pedagogies affect schooling for girls and boys.     

The role of popular girls in bullying and intimidating boys and other popular girls in secondary school

Despite a large amount of research focusing on bullying and exclusion in secondary schools, there is far less research focusing on cross‐gender bullying and ‘popular’ students who experience bullying. This research provides an analysis of interactions between male and female students (aged 13–14) in a school in England. The data provides multiple examples, both in the form of observations and group interviews, of girls teasing, intimidating and bullying boys and other popular girls. The analysis also considers teachers’ reactions to this behaviour, highlighting that it is often unnoticed. This paper raises this as an area for concern and suggests that future research should explore this further, both gaining more in‐depth knowledge of female bullying and intimidation of boys and popular girls, and exploring ways of working with teachers and schools to support students.     

Issues in boys' education: a question of teacher threshold knowledges?

This paper exploresthe effects of specific teacher threshold knowledges about boys and gender on the implementation of a so‐called ‘boy friendly’ curriculum at one junior secondary high school in Australia. Through semi‐structured interviews with selected staff at the school, it examines the normalizing assumptionsand ‘truth claims’ about boys, as gendered subjects, which drive the pedagogical impetus for such a curriculum initiative. This research raises crucial questions about the need for the formulation of both school and governmental policy grounded in sound research‐based knowledge about the social construction of gender and its impact on the lives of both boys and girls and their experiences of schooling. This is crucial, we argue, in light of the recent parliamentary report on boys' education in Australia which rejects gender theorizing and given the failure of key staff in the research school to interrogate thebinary ways in which masculinity and femininity are socially constructed and institutionalized in schools through a particular ‘gender regime’. While some good things are happening in the research school, the failure to acknowledge the social construction of gender means that ultimately the school's programs cannot be successful.     

Motives for ‘Laddishness’ at School: Fear of failure and fear of the ‘feminine’

‘Laddish’ behaviours in school have been identified as impediments to the academic progress of some boys and girls. This article provides and discusses empirical evidence to support Jackson's proposal in an earlier article that ‘laddish’ behaviours may act to protect the self‐worth and/or social worth of many boys, and that ‘laddishness’ may be prompted by both a fear of academic failure and a fear of the ‘feminine’. Drawing upon data from interviews with 50 boys across two secondary schools, the article focuses upon a key characteristic of ‘laddishness’, namely, the overt rejection of academic work. It is suggested that overtly rejecting academic work serves a dual function for some boys. First, it enables them to act in ways currently consistent with hegemonic forms of masculinity in their schools. Secondly, it provides an excuse for failure and augments success.     

小学生社会性适应的性别差异研究

为了考察小学生社会性适应的性别差异,研究选取小学二至六年级的儿童作为被试。采用修订的班级戏剧问卷和同伴提名法对儿童的积极社会行为、攻击冒犯行为、敏感退缩行为、师生关系和同伴接纳程度进行评定。结果发现：在社会行为上,女生表现出更多的积极社会行为和敏感退缩行为,男生则表现出较多的攻击冒犯行为。在师生关系上,女生更容易与教师建立亲密的关系,男生更易与教师建立冲突和依赖的关系。在同伴接纳上,女生受欢迎程度更高、男生受拒绝程度更高。     

‘Due to all this fear,we’re getting less freedom’: young people’s understandings of gender and sexual violence in New Delhi,India

This paper explores young people’s understandings of gender and sexual violence in New Delhi, India, based on multi-method research conducted with young people (aged 15–17) in three co-educational secondary schools. Fieldwork took place shortly after the 2012 Delhi gang rape that sparked widespread debates about violence against women in India, and so sexual violence became an important frame for students’ discussions around gender and sexuality. Young people’s understandings are considered within gender narratives – of ‘can-do’ and ‘vulnerable’ girlhood, and of ‘hero’ and ‘good boy’ masculinities – which already shaped their day-to-day experiences of schooling. Findings suggest that tensions arising from these often contradictory narratives led to frustrations among girls, while the dominance of conversations about sexual violence led to confusions in both girls’ and boys’ understandings of sexuality. Reflections are offered on ways schools can better support young people as they learn about gender and sexuality from diverse and contradictory sources.     

儿童青少年的性别平等意识现状调查

本研究选取长春市8所学校的1 527名大、中、小学生为被试,通过自编问卷（性别观念调查问卷）对他们在学校领域、家庭领域、职业领域的性别平等意识进行了调查。结果表明：（1）在发展趋势上,小学生性别平等意识较低,中学阶段性别平等意识有所提高,但在大学阶段又重现下降趋势;（2）在性别差异方面,在各学段女生的性别平等意识显著高于男生,女生性别平等意识初中阶段最强,男生性别平等意识高中阶段最强;（3）在不同领域中,被试在职业领域的性别平等意识最低,家庭和学校领域的性别平等意识显著高于职业领域。根据研究结果,对性别平等教育提出了建议,指出小学和大学阶段是性别平等教育的重要时期,男生群体尤其需要性别平等意识的教育,职业领域的性别平等问题应成为教育重点。     

Gender‐related consequences of early school transfer at 11+ years

A unique early transfer scheme is described for one English secondary school and its eight feeder primary schools whereby all Year 6 children transfer to secondary school four weeks before the end of the summer term. The scheme has many implications. The main focus here comprises gender contrasts in children’s perceptions of school life and curriculum subjects. Questionnaires were administered to all children before and after the four‐week induction period, in 2004 and 2005. Prior to transfer, there were few gender differences in anxiety and in perceptions of curriculum subjects. Girls expressed higher levels of general anxiety and subject‐oriented worry than did boys at most stages, although the gender contrast diminished in 2005. PE alone generated a relative increase in anxiety among girls during the induction period, arising from a greater improvement among boys set against a modest improvement among girls. The induction period enhanced gender differences in perceptions of subject ‘usefulness’.     

A matter of attitude? Developing a profile of boys’ and girls’ responses to primary schooling

Much of the research investigating pupils’ attitudes towards school has been qualitatively‐oriented. This analysis explores the extent to which some of the differences between pupils can be rendered in quantitative terms. Drawing upon a survey of 1310 pupils in 21 primary schools, its main concern is to explore the extent to which there is a ‘gender gap’ in attitudes and responses to school. The question of whether schools participating in the research faced common or distinct challenges in terms of pupils’ attitudes was also of interest. Analysis confirms that, in line with previous research, primary girls were more favourably disposed towards school than primary boys. Factor analysis of pupil responses to an attitude questionnaire showed that girls were more positive in terms of engagement with school and pupil behaviour but that boys had higher academic self‐esteem. There were no differences between the two sexes in terms of relationships with peers. A cluster analysis identified the existence of five groups of pupils, some of whom have been highlighted in previous research using different approaches. These groups were: (1) the enthusiastic and confident; (2) the moderately interested but easily bored; (3) the committed but lacking self‐esteem; (4) the socially engaged but disaffected; and (5) the alienated. The gendered nature of some of these groupings was apparent: the first group was dominated by girls while the fourth and fifth were dominated by boys. However, analysis indicated that such gender‐based differences were, to some extent, matters of degree. Some 14% of primary boys, for example, were judged to be alienated, but so were 9% of primary girls. An analysis of the prevalence of each group within each of the participating schools showed that while many primary schools had similar overall pupil profiles, some faced specific challenges associated with having larger proportions of particular groups of children (for example the alienated, the socially engaged but disaffected or the committed but lacking self‐esteem). The implications of the findings for those concerned with interventions in relation to gender issues are briefly discussed.     

Cinderella in the Classroom. Children's Responses to Gender Roles in Fairy‐tales

The project described in this paper was designed to test the feminist hypothesis that the Cinderella‐style fairy‐tales promoted by Anglo‐American society harmfully reinforce restrictive images of girlhood and womanhood. The research was based on work with over 100 boys and girls aged 9‐11 in five Cornish primary schools. Responses came from the children through group discussion, drawing pictures and writing stories. Although the figure of the pretty princess predominated in the girls’ pictures, it was apparent through the children's discussion and stories that few girls identified with this image. The girls favoured ‘upside‐down’ fairy‐tale scenarios that gave their heroines independence, while the boys clung to the traditional image of the prince for the same reason. These results indicate that girls of this age are ‘resisting readers’, able to criticise and manipulate — as well as enjoy — the gender images presented to them in the dominant fairy‐tales of our culture.     

Gender Differences and High Attainment

Recent emphasis on raising attainment has focused attention onto the ‘gender gap’ in school attainment levels. Using data from the Scottish School Leavers Survey, the article examines factors related to high attainment and asks whether these differ for males and females. A strong relationship is established between social advantage and high attainment within each gender. There is no evidence of differential progression rates for males and females between the ages of 16 and 18. The only factor which offers any explanation for gender differences in attainment is the evidence that girls took school more seriously than boys. This supports theories that girls and boys experience different peer pressures which influence their school attainment. Other factors have also been shown to influence gender differences in performance in the research literature. Factors affecting gender differences were found equally in all schools, suggesting that wider cultural factors are also influential in creating gender differences.     

Listening to the boys again: an exploration of what boys want to learn in sex education classes and how they want to be taught

This article describes the preferences expressed by 16‐year‐old and 17‐year‐old boys when they were asked what they want to learn from sex and relationship education classes and how they want to be taught. Research was carried out in eight secondary schools with boys in year 12. Qualitative responses from questionnaires issued to 307 boys were analysed together with the results from three focus groups carried out in three of the schools. The research found that in most areas boys are not being taught what they want to know. The areas of feelings and emotions, sexuality, sexual techniques, sexually transmitted infections, pornography and the effects of the ‘boy culture’ are not being addressed sufficiently, or in some cases at all. Boys also called for smaller class groups, and for more active methods of teaching and some of them asked for time away from girls to express themselves without censure. They called for more education at an earlier age and that their desire for a safe, non‐critical environment should be met.     

Back to the future on gender and anti‐school boys: a response to Jeffrey Smith

This article examines recent claims by Jeffrey Smith that: (1) ‘hegemonic masculinity’ is an expression of working class counter‐school culture; (2) some teachers are ‘cultural accomplices’ in constructing ‘hegemonic masculinities’ of anti‐school working class boys, thereby contributing to their underachievement; and (3) these ‘cultural accomplices’ are an emerging response to recent moral panics and neo‐liberal managerialism concerned with ‘failing boys’ at school. It is suggested that ‘hegemonic masculinity’ is not necessarily associated with anti‐school values in working class culture. Many working class boys might subscribe to ‘hegemonic masculinity’ without rejecting learning. Contrary to Smith’s emphasis on how working class culture generates anti‐school ‘hegemonic masculinity’, there is the possibility that ‘hegemonic masculinity’ is fused with anti‐school values produced by organisational differentiation. The continuing commonalities between working class anti‐school boys and the ‘gender regime’ of some secondary schools for over 20 years implies something more enduring at work than recent moral panics.     

Who's Got the Power? Rethinking gender equity strategies in early childhood

This article uses a case‐study of boys’ and girls’ block play in 10 Australian early childhood centres to critically appraise current approaches to gender equity in the early childhood curriculum. The case‐study describes how patriarchal gender relations were created and maintained between boys and girls in their block play, how teachers responded to these relationships and how children responded to teacher challenges to their gender relations. The article discusses the ‘failure’ of several strategies used by the teachers to produce changes in children's gender relations and how feminist post‐structuralist reconceptualisations of gender equity work have the potential to produce more effective strategies for teachers wishing to challenge patriarchal gender relations between young children     

Gender‐role identity and perceived peer group acceptance among early adolescents in Belgian mixed and single‐sex schools

Drawing on survey data, this paper explores the association between early adolescents’ gender‐role identity and sense of peer group acceptance, and how this association may vary as a function of the gender context of the school. Two indicators of gender‐role identity were included in the analysis: in one measure the items reflect features of masculine and feminine stereotypes, while the other measures assertiveness in classroom situations. Support for the context framework was provided for boys only and then solely with regard to the first indicator; that is, boys highly endorsing feminine‐typed behaviours were found to experience lower levels of acceptance from peers in single‐sex schools but not in coeducational schools. As for assertiveness, it was found that highly assertive girls as well as boys report higher levels of peer acceptance, regardless of the gender context of the school.     

Does the gender of the teacher really matter? Seven‐ to eight‐year‐olds’ accounts of their interactions with their teachers

In recent years, policy‐makers in England, Australia and other countries have called for measures to increase male recruitment to the teaching profession, particularly to the primary sector. This policy of targeted recruitment is predicated upon a number of unexamined assumptions about the benefits of matching teachers and pupils by gender. For example, it is held that the dearth of male ‘role models’ in schools continues to have an adverse effect on boys’ academic motivation and engagement. Utilizing data from interviews with more than 300 7‐ to 8‐year‐olds attending primary schools in the north‐east and south‐east of England, the paper sets out to scrutinize these claims. The findings revealed that the gender of teachers had little apparent effect on the academic motivation and engagement of either boys or girls. For the majority of the children, the gender of the teacher was largely immaterial. They valued teachers, whether men or women, who were consistent and even‐handed and supportive of them as learners.     

‘It’s just because we’re girls’: How female students experience and negotiate masculinist school sport

This article focuses on the inequalities experienced particularly by girls who attend co-educational secondary schools where specific male sports dominate school life. The research was undertaken in the Republic of Ireland in three schools known for the participation and success of boys’ teams in Gaelic football, hurling and rugby. Through a Bourdieusian account of ‘masculine domination’, this article examines how girls (and some boys) attending these schools have experienced inequalities in obtaining recognition in sport, and discrimination in accessing male-orientated sports, as well as unequal opportunities, resources and support. School management, teachers and students (both male and female) will be shown to often protect this male preserve by strategies that maintain the exclusion of girls through the normalisation of gender binaries. The article will also show how girls reflect upon their experiences and attempt to mobilise change.     

The media,marketing, and single sex schooling

The Australian media’s interest in education, as in many Anglophone countries, is frequently dominated by concerns about boys in schools. In 2002, in a country region of the Australian State of Queensland, this concern was evident in a debate on the merits of single sex schooling that took place in a small local newspaper. The debate was fuelled by the inclusion in this newspaper of an advertising brochure for an elite private girls’ school. The advertisement utilized the current concerns about boys in schools to advocate the benefits of girls’ only schools. Drawing on research that suggests that boys are a problem in school, and utilising a peculiar mix of liberal feminism alongside a neo‐liberal class politics, it implicitly denigrated the education provided by government co‐educational schools. The local government high and primary school principals, incensed at this advertisement, contacted the paper to refute many of its claims and assumptions and to assert the benefits, to both boys and girls, of their particular schools. A letters to the editor debate then followed an article representing these government school principals’ views. These letters were from two private school principals. This country newspaper thus became a medium through which various school principals engaged with the current boys’ debate, and research associated with it, in order to market their schools. This paper examines this particular newspaper debate and argues that, in the absence of nuanced, research based, and thoughtful policy responses to gender issues, many school policies on gender are being shaped through and by the media in ways that elide the complexities of the issues involved.