6th February 2015 10:00
By Blue Tutors
A new study has shown that girls are outperforming boys at school in many countries, even where there is relatively low gender equality. A study carried out by Glasgow and Missouri universities compared the results of boys and girls in the international pisa tests, and revealed that in 70% of these regions, girls outperformed boys in Reading, Literature, Maths and Science. In the UK, recent data analysis shows that the gender gap at universities is widening, with girls now a third more likely to attend university than boys. So what can we as tutors do to help address the gender gap with our male students?
The first thing to understand is that the gender gap in education isn’t as clear cut as it may seem. Boys are still vastly overrepresented in science, maths and technology subjects, and in many top universities, outperform women in final exams. What is clear is that in different ways, both boys and girls are not being offered the best education, with educational biases affecting both genders. Why is it that girls are now a third more likely to go to university in the first place than boys? In many schools, boys are seen as less hard working, and less likely to produce well thought out and researched homework and coursework. This can lead teachers to neglect them in favour of students they suspect will work harder.
There is also a stigma attached amongst boys to working hard, especially on writing and literature. Boys may also be less likely to ask for help, meaning that they can easily fall between the gaps. Meanwhile, whilst girls sail ahead with coursework, English and Humanities assignments, they may fall behind in Maths and Science, if teachers assume that boys will be better at these subjects. As tutors we must be sensitive to the possible bias that our students may experience at school, and attempt not to perpetuate gendered messages. This can be as simple as a female tutor teaching an arts subject reacting with interest rather than horror when a student mentions maths homework. Tutors teaching male students can help build their confidence in their abilities to produce excellent coursework, and challenge perceptions that literature, for example, is an inherently ‘female’ subject. Whether they are teaching boys or girls, tutors have the potential to tackle stereotypes before they lead to widening inequalities at university level.