[senco-forum] Is there gender/culture bias in our education & examsystem? (Was) Inclusion and league tables (English GCSE)

Hi Lorraine

I've long held the view/opinion that coursework suits the learning style of
the majority of girls, and is not that of the majority of boys.  Girls
generally appear to respond well to gathering evidence, sorting it into
folders with poly pockets, meticulously going through it, investigating,
analysing and drawing conclusions over a period of time.  Most boys are less
inclined to invest the time and organisation of long term studies appearing
to respond to more short-term memory techniques, cram, revise, regergitate.

I also think that A* coursework favours the well off. Take art as an
example - better quality/range of materials, ability to travel to visit
galleries, access to art books beyond those in school.  Geography - parents
with the time/money/motivation will enable their children to build a better
folder of evidence than those from poorer famuilies.  All of which enable
some children to perform better with coursework.

Richard

-----Original Message-----
From: senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk
[mailto:senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk]On Behalf Of senco_rik
Sent: 16 December 2006 13:30
To: webmaster at aylesburyvale-sec.bucks.sch.uk; 'Amanda'; 'Bill Graham';
'senco-forum'
Subject: [senco-forum] Is there gender/culture bias in our education &
examsystem? (Was) Inclusion and league tables (English GCSE)

Mark - you have expressed eloquently something I have become more
and more concerned about.

What I am about to say will, I suspect, be taken as racist and
sexist by some. My intent, however, is simply to ask whether we
have an education system that correctly balances the competing
needs of different genders and cultures.

Not so many decades ago, I studied "Teaching Mathematics to Low
Attainers"

In those (pre-GCSE) days, Maths like several subjects was "white
male dominated", in the sense that there were rather more male
Maths teachers, and boys achieved significantly more highly than
girls in that subject (and indeed in several others). A "Big
Issue" for our course was "WHY ARE GIRLS SO MUCH WEAKER AT MATHS
THAN BOYS?" There were several % points of attainment difference
between the genders in favour of boys, and much subjective
evidence that girls were less motivated in Maths, Geography and
other subjects.

As a part of our course, we investigated various examinations for
possible "gender bias".
We found that marks for recall and fact, marks for application of
fact to (for example) an engineering problem, were given in
greater number than the marks for expressing touchy-feely
feelings, communicating emotions, empathy and so on.
We looked at research that suggested that boys are better at the
former, girls better at the latter.
We concluded that there was indeed "gender bias".
We also looked, much less thoroughly, at the emerging issue of
"cultural identity", and identified that the exam system was
similarly biased in favour of the white, British, middle class
culture.

Over the following decade as more people became aware of this,
the gender and culture pendulums swung, and have continued to
swing:

In came GCSE then National Curriculum, in came a curriculum that
was very much more "touchy-feely". This in turn appears to have
changed the gender balance of the education work-force, perhaps
as women now find the curriculum itself more "female friendly".
Looking at the education staff in secondary schools, let alone
primary schools, how many now have an approximate balance between
the genders, let alone cultures? My local primary schools have an
education staff that is over 95% female. If it were 95% male, we
might hear complaints of male domination and discrimination
against females. I wonder why there is no complaint aired that
such a gender imbalance is a form of discrimination against boys,
so deprived of male role models.

My own observation of exam papers and texts in recent years,
albeit very unscientific suggests that we now have an exam
culture that has at least as great a bias in the opposite
direction to that of the '60s and '70s. Surprise, surprise, we
find the gender gap in Maths (and other subjects, but I know less
about these) has reversed, the cultural issue has been met
head-on, leaving the white, working class boy disenfranchised and
alienated as you describe, Mark, so eloquently below.

Am I correct in having a sneeking suspicion that within our forum
there would appear to be a gender imbalance between male and
female SENCOs on this forum and in the wider education system?
Is there a similar bias in cultural background?

Is such imbalance or bias helpful, and if not what could or
should we all do about it?
Have any of these pendulums now swung too far away from the
biases that I found in the '60s and '70s?

With apologies to anyone reading archives, I have left the
previous postings below, as I think they were the true start of
this amended subject line.

Rik

-----Original Message-----
From: senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk
[mailto:senco-forum-bounces at lists.becta.org.uk] On Behalf Of
webmaster at aylesburyvale-sec.bucks.sch.uk
Sent: 15 December 2006 10:32
To: Amanda; Bill Graham; senco-forum
Subject: Re: [senco-forum] Inclusion and league tables (English
GCSE)

I teach English in a Secondary PRU. I can see exactly where you
are coming from.

I too agree that the coursework element is not the problem for
less able students. For example for our prose study we also do
'Of Mice and Men'. We take the kids off timetable for an 'Of Mice
and Men' day. During this day we look at photos from the
depression, read and discuss a couple of excerpts from the book,
watch the John Malkovich film (the scene with Curly's hand always
goes down well)and have a debate.

During the week afterwards we interview each student
(individually, not in class) asking lots of questions until we
get as good a mark as we think possible for that child.

I have BIG issues with the exam though. It is becoming more and
more 'boy unfriendly'. Let me give some examples.

Teaching the poetry element to kids permanently excluded is a
real challenge I can tell you. Simon Armitage used to be part of
the English exam (he now only features in Literature which we
don't teach). It was _great_ teaching Armitage.
Here was a white working class poet writing poetry all about the
world in which these kids live.

There was a poem about his regret for heating up scissors in a
bunsen burner and passing them to a girl. 'Have you ever done
anything at school you've regretted?' I would ask.
There were poems about picking up and murdering a hitchhiker
because of being angry about something else. Poems about domestic
violence and the way people turn out to be different than you
expect.

This was a poet that British working class kids could really
identify with.

Now they only get to study poetry from 'other cultures'.
They find it difficult to identify with the woman who speaks two
languages and feels her native language growing in her throat
like a flower. They are not interested in the mother who is glad
the scorpion stung her and not her children, or the kids dancing
about in the heat of a foreign country just because the water
main has burst. I could go on. I find these poems difficult to
engage with, let alone the kids!

Then there are the non-fiction texts on exam papers. Cookery
Books! Adverts to become a teacher. Book catalogues. When they do
include a magazine ad' for a car it is one aimed at women and
discusses how great the Nissan Micra is for shopping!

I am really concerned that both English and the rest of the
curriculum is becoming so alien to working class boys. When I was
at school D.T. meant grabbing a hammer and anvil whacking the
hell out of a piece of metal straight from a forge. Nowadays D.T.
means 4 weeks of researching and designing a sandwich, one week
making it and two weeks evaluating it.

Sorry, I better end my rant now and go for a nice lie down!

Mark

----- Original Message -----
From: Amanda <amandavh at btinternet.com>
To: Bill Graham <williamgraham at blueyonder.co.uk>, senco-forum
<senco-forum at lists.becta.org.uk>
Subject: Re: [senco-forum] Inclusion and league tables (English
GCSE)
Date: 14-Dec-2006 18:19:03 GMT

> Hi Lorraine
>   As a secondary SENCO and English teacher, I am very
sympathetic to
> what you say.
>   However, I don't think that Shakespeare need be a problem for
pupils
> with learning difficulties and poor reading skills.  We only
have to
> do that as coursework so no need to revise it for an exam.  We
tend to
> use 'Romeo and Juliet', show the Baz Luhrmann version and then
look at
> one short scene using a cartoon book version.  I've got pupils
up as
> far as an E grade like this.  Same for the prose reading -
choose
> something short like 'Of Mice and Men', read it to them and get
them
> to respond to a question about relationships in the novel.
Plus you
> can assess reading for coursework through talk for one out of
the two
> assignments.
>   To me the issue is far more about the exam paper.  Yes it
tests
> reading so you can't read them the reading part of the paper.
> However, you can read them the writing part of the paper now
AND they
> can dictate responses, which is a major improvement which only
came in
> two years ago.
> Before that they were entirely on their own.
>   BUT anyone else tried teaching the poetry to pupils aiming at
grades
> F and G?  Or tried to explain that the exam paper names one
poem but
> you have to choose another one and it must be the right one?
Or made
> sure they know that you answer only one of the essay questions?
The
> paper itself is a nightmare.
>   AND I have been looking for an entry level certificate which
does
> not say that pupils can only attempt a piece of work once and
that the
> work must be time limited.  In the maths entry level done at my
school
> there are five versions of each test and if they fail they can
take a
> second version two weeks later.  In AQA Entry Level English, I
must
> make my pupils take time limited tests which they can't repeat
- and
> some have to be submitted as part of the portfolio.
>
>   Amanda
>   Secondary SENCO
>   Cornwall
>
>
> Bill Graham <williamgraham at blueyonder.co.uk> wrote:
>   I've just read the article mentioned in a recent posting. How
true
> it is!  I was upset yesterday because I really think that our
kids get
> a raw deal especially in secondary where KS4 courses are
concerned. It
> seems that it's not every child who matters but every school! I

> thought the spirit of inclusion was built around making kids
feel
> valued it seems not - they are forced into unsuitable/
inappropriate
> exam choices because the data counts - the numbers of GCSEs
they get
> is vital.
>
> I feel particularly aggrieved over English because they have to
do
> this and get a GCSE without the help of a reader. It's not only
the
> course content (shakespeare etc) which is bad enough but it's
being
> faced with an examination they just can't access. It must be
totally
> demoralising doing this and I don't see how a grade G does them
any
> good - except for the school. Yes we do entry level but they
still
> have to be entered for GCSE. What makes it worse is data
predictions -
> I have a kid who has great difficulties in reading and writing
and the
> data suggests he should be getting grade Es jiust because it's
based
> on KS2 levels in ma and science where he had a reader.
>
> I feel torn between the devil and the deep blue sea - I have
outside
> agencies saying these kids shouldn't be entered and the school
saying
> they have to be. When will government realise if they want
inclusion
> in mainstream schools then something has to give - otherwise
inclusion
> becomes exclusion.
>
> Incidentally - if there are any secondary sencos out there
> - what do your schools to do to overcome this problem (esp in
Eng) or
> are we all in the same boat? Suggestions welcome.
>
> Lorraine
>
>
>
> Amanda
> Secondary SENCO
> Cornwall
>
> ==========================================================
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--
Mark Norwood
www.avssc.org
"The e-mail of the species is more deadly than the mail"
Stephen Fry

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