School Subject Preferences: Age and gender differences revisited

As a follow-up to data collected in the early 1990s, rankings of school subject preferences were obtained from 144 girls and 218 boys aged 11-12 years, and 269 girls and 300 boys aged 15-16 years. The overall rankings showed evidence of the persistence of gender differences in preferences for a number of curricular areas. However, changes were also apparent. Practical subjects appeared further up the rankings than previously, particularly for the younger students. This finding may reflect a change in the status of such subjects relative to the more academic subjects. More inter-school variability between the subject preference orders was evident among the older than the younger students, suggesting a greater sensitivity to school-related factors among this age group.     

Still a gendered technology? Issues in teaching information and communication technologies at the UK Open University

Over the last 5 years the Faculty of Technology of the UK Open University has redesigned most of its courses in the information and communication technologies. This paper reviews some of the issues, the changes made and what has been achieved. The combination of changes to content, pedagogy and marketing appears to have made the new generation of courses significantly more attractive to women--although it is difficult to disentangle the effects of the various changes.     

Moving Away from a Culture of Blame to that of Support-Based Approaches to Bullying in Schools

This paper considers the value of a specific non-punitive approach to dealing with bullying. It is based upon an exploratory project undertaken in a Year 3 class in a primary school which has not been identified by name. The project involved working with pupils involved in bullying using the stages and principles of the Support Group Method (SGM) and collecting data for analysis through interviews, observations and field notes. The paper concludes with professional implications and an endorsement of support-based approaches to managing bullying.