Learners and Learning

Dr George Oduro Commonwealth Education Trust

Foundations of Teaching for Learning

Course 3 Week 1: The lives of children Lecture 3: Boys and Girls

A Caribbean case
Boys at risk: unemployment, disengagement, violent crime, bad fathers
Behaviour: at risk, poor attitude, low interest levels, learned helplessness, de-motivation, disengagement Lower levels of academic achievement for boys; lower retention through secondary and tertiary education. Absence of male role models / male marginalisation / retreat into physicality

Challenges for girls

Gender specific factors that mostly affect girls Early marriages and pregnancies Arranged marriages Harassment and exploitation The impact of HIV/AIDS Parents expectations Parents low levels of educational attainment

Girls: Drop out rate

Under-valuing of education for girls Sexual Harassment Violence and threats of violence: parents, teachers, male community members Pregnancy Vulnerability on journey to school Lack of privacy and safety of toilet and bathing facilities, and sleeping arrangements

Vulnerability
Womens and girls acute vulnerability in disasters is due to a host of gendered factors, including cultural or religious restrictions on female mobility, as well as differences in the socialisation of girls which means they may not be equipped with the same survival skills as their brothers. Women in Bangladesh did not leave their houses during floods because it was regarded as culturally inappropriate, and that those who did were unable to swim

Role modelling
In poor households throughout the world, women go without food for the benefit of their children or male family members As food prices rise, poor households tend to experience a reduction in the quality or quantity of food they are able to purchase, with women most likely to make a sacrifice

Missing school
In Ethiopia as water sources are depleted by prolonged droughts, girls spend greater time collecting water for drinking, cooking and washing for the household. In the Lalibela district of Ethiopia the time girls spent fetching water increased substantially each day during drought periods. Fetching water could then take up to six hours a day, previously around two hours, making it increasingly difficult for girls to go to school, remain and succeed in school. Fetching water also puts their safety at risk.

Interaction in the classroom

Do teachers
Interact more with boys than girls? Have the same expectations of girls as boys? Respond to pupils behaviours in the same way? Have similar forms of sanction or reward? Use similar language and terminology for both genders?

Stereotypes
Boys are. Girls are

Noisy Active Competitive Assertive Strong

Quiet Passive Collaborative Compliant Gentle

Disruptive behaviour
Research from Antigua and Kenya primary and secondary schools found that girls can find boys a serious source of disruption in the classroom:

Like the boys mostly, they like, interrupt the class. They would disrespect the teacher very terribly. (Girl, Antiguan primary school)

Who gets the attention?

Boys get more negative attention and are more likely to be disciplined in Antigua and Kenya boys are more likely to receive corporal punishment. Girls can also be disruptive in class, yet girls bad behaviour is often taken less seriously or ignored I hate it when the teachers beat us mercilessly. When I
go home my parents encourage me to study hard, but when I come to school I am beaten for any small mistake. (Kenyan boy)

Learners and Learning

Dr George Oduro Commonwealth Education Trust