23rd July 2010 9:00
By Harriet Boulding
As a private tutor, gender and academic stereotypes are issues which you come across often. A while ago I took on a student in year 7 for English, and was told that whilst he was brilliant at Maths, his English skills were very poor. Now, I realise that students can excel at some subjects and not others, and that there is often an Arts/Sciences divide. However, it is also the case that many of the skills that make students good at one subject are transferable – even across the arts/science divide. It is not unusual for a student to achieve an A* in maths and a B in English, but I would not expect a student to achieve and A* in Maths and a D in English. This is where the stereotypes come in that an English or Maths tutor has to tackle.
We are all familiar with the stereotype of boys performing better in science and maths in school, whilst girls excel at English and History. What is interesting is how far their performances are due to their innate ability, and how far they are due to the expectations held by their teachers, parents, and society as a whole. Sociologists have demonstrated the powerful effects of teachers’ assumptions. English teachers might expect boys to find English classes to be less structured than maths, and thus more confusing, which may lead to expectations of poorer concentration and misbehaviour. If the student lives up to the expectation, teachers may simply punish this behaviour rather than addressing the underlying cause, leading the student to think that they are naturally bad at the subject. Students often respond to this by thinking there is little point in bothering to improve, as the teacher has labelled them ‘bad’. Further, they find gratification in other subjects for which they are rewarded, and naturally will enjoy those subjects more and work harder.
The real challenge for private tutors is how to undermine the negative stereotypes that girls aren’t good at sciences and boys aren’t good at arts. This isn’t something that can be achieved over-night, rather it is something that tutors can work on in a sustained way. What is sometimes necessary is to completely redefine the student’s relationship with the subject, allowing them to interact with the ideas and concepts at their own pace. This is where private tutoring comes into its own, because students can work at their own pace without fear of being labelled ‘failures’. Recognising even small achievements in tutorials can help build the confidence students need to change their attitudes and behaviour at school. Ideally, teachers will recognise this change and encourage the student from the school-side. As always, real achievement comes when student, tutor, parents and teacher all work together to ensure negative stereotypes do not take hold.