The studies reported in this occasional paper were undertaken to add to our knowledge and understanding of the relationship between gender and school achievement within the context of developing countries. The Caribbean region was selected for the project because great efforts have been made to improve the quantity and quality of education in many of these countries. Also, preliminary studies concerning educational achievement in one of these developing countries showed that females were succeeding at much higher levels than males. This achievement by females contrasted sharply with results of studies undertaken in other developing countries.
The three countries selected for study were: Trinidad, Barbados and St Vincent. These countries were selected:
1. to expand the preliminary survey research previously undertaken in Trinidad by establishing qualitative insights into school processes that support success;2. to question the generalisability of findings to other countries (from Trinidad to Barbados and St Vincent) with similar and dissimilar patterns of enrolment in schools; and
3. to seek descriptive evidence concerning background and other factors of those succeeding and those likely to drop-out of the school system.
The methods chosen for the studies included: quantitative surveys to assess success and generalisability of results from one island to another; and qualitative case studies to provide insights into classroom process, interaction and structure in the promotion of success (or lack of it) at the level where it affects children.
Four research questions that underlie the studies are revisited. This chapter provides brief summaries of evidence and some implications from the range of studies presented in the earlier chapters.
1. What is the evidence for variance of school achievement scores between males and females, especially between pupils of equal ability? Evidence drawn upon includes within-class tests in curriculum subjects and national Common Entrance Examination (CEE) scores taken when children near the end of their primary schooling.
a.
In the Barbados survey, girls scored higher in each of the core curriculum subjects of English, mathematics and science as well as in social studies and on the Common Entrance Examination.
b. In the top year of primary schools in Barbados, boys were more likely to be found in the lower streams and girls in the higher streams within their schools.
c. In the classroom observations in Trinidad, teachers, schools and classrooms played a major role in the development of children's attainment. Selection to secondary school, based on CEE results, showed virtually no differences between the scores of males and females. Within-class attainment differences between boys and girls were highly significant: the success of girls is most likely to be attributed to the encounters of schooling and the attitudes that students develop towards schooling.
d. Additionally, the Trinidad observations showed that it is naive to assume that it is just boys who present learning and behaviour problems in the classroom. These observations showed that both boys and girls had low attainment levels and needed to be supported to improve their achievement in education.
e. In the St Vincent survey, girls generally performed at higher attainment levels in the core curriculum subjects and on the CEE although the differences between their attainments and male attainments were not as dramatic as those reported from the Barbados survey.
2. While girls are seen to achieve at higher levels than boys, do these differential levels of achievement remain over time (especially over the years of secondary schooling)? Are there differences in subject (option) choice between boys and girls? And, is this difference in performance related to earlier individual expression of ability or socialisation?
a.
The Barbados survey found that, within the core curriculum subjects, girls performed better than boys on average throughout the years of secondary schooling. After selection into secondary schools, some of the sex differences became less dramatic, especially in mathematics, chemistry and physics (subjects normally taken in the prestige schools). Boys performed better than girls in industrial arts, but girls performed better than boys in modem languages and business studies.
b. Occupations of mothers and fathers were significantly associated with school success, as well as whether the child lived with both parents and if father helped with homework. Matrilineal explanations that dominate some Caribbean explanations for school success were not found to be significant here. Each of the significant background or socialisation factors showed that children (male and female) performed better in schools if their parents worked in professional and managerial positions (which required advanced education). Occupation of parents provided a more significant explanation for school success than the sex of the child.
c. In Barbados, participation at various levels of the stratified school system also affected school success. Pre-school attendance and attendance of high status (prestige) secondary schools were significantly associated with enhanced school attainments, although both of these factors were significantly associated with parental occupation. If a boy or girl was able to achieve entry to a high status school, characteristic sex and social class differences in attainment were no longer found. Prestige schools encouraged a democratic performance among those who had achieved at the top levels of the CEE. A similar range of results characterised the St Vincent survey.
d. We wish to raise a concern that the father's lack of presence, poor education and lack of help with homework may be cyclical in the educational experience of boys. Over the years of secondary schooling in Barbados and St Vincent, boys participated less. Overall, there was a drop-off in participation rate in Barbados from 50% in the primary school to 36% at the sixth form and in St Vincent from 53% in the primary school to 38% in the fourth form. Drop-off among the boys was most dramatic among those from a working class background.
e. By the fourth form students chose course options. The Barbados survey showed there were significantly more girls than boys pursuing core curriculum studies, all three sciences, modem languages, business studies and fine arts; many of these options have not been described as typical of course choices made by females previously.
f. Part of the explanation for remaining in school and high attainment may be the 'culture' generated within particular schools. In the case study of a prestige school in Barbados, children were aware that high levels of attainment would be rewarded with high examination passes and scholarships. Within this culture of high attainment, all students appeared to be self-disciplined and participated fully in school and homework. In the female-only school in Barbados, girls attained at lower levels than expected. Teachers attributed low self-esteem as a primary factor in low school performance, but cultural aspects such as teacher paternalism and poor support for education at home may be equally strong explanations.
3. As higher levels of attainment were found among girls, do girls display any learning strategies which are distinct from boys (which may serve as models of successful approaches to attainment in schooling)? Also, were there any teaching and learning strategies characterised in schools and classrooms that either enhance or deny the learning potential of children (especially boys)?
Child-based strategies:
a.
Observations showed that the formal interaction between teacher and child, exemplified in question and answer sessions, placed a great burden on the child to 'get it right'. At the same time, some children were allowed to "hide' from participation. A competitive atmosphere generated within question and answer sessions and frequent quizzes encouraged the high attainers and discouraged the low attainers. Reliance on the individual child as the source of participation in the classroom can be augmented by paired work and peer tutoring. Paired preparation may relieve pupils of some of the threat generated in question and answer sessions. Boys, in particular, may benefit from paired work; when they were unable to answer questions in the didactic classroom they were provided with little support from their classmates. When girls needed help in question and answer sessions, they often received help from female classmates either verbally or non-verbally.
b. Children can and will participate in learning and generation of classroom rules if they are given the opportunity to participate. Teachers may consider how they can be more inclusive of children's ideas and contributions.
c. Lowest attaining children (mainly boys) displayed poor social skills. Social skills are at the centre of cooperative learning and social support, and it may be worthwhile developing these skills so that social and academic learning may be enhanced in the classroom (Slavin, 1990).
d. Boys have few examples of high attainment role models. The few high attaining boys in the observations tended to act and misbehave like their lower attaining male classmates. Learning efforts by these boys need to be better integrated into the classroom, possibly through acceptable (non-exaggerated) levels of reward and the opportunity to share their skills with others (Perret-Clermont, 1980).
e. Reading interests and habits showed a fundamental difference between attainment levels and boys and girls. Lowest attaining children displayed poor basic reading skills. When called upon to read in the classroom, they were often embarrassed and 'put down' when more competent readers (mainly girls) were called upon to continue the reading at an acceptable level. Additionally, more focus or encouragement should be given to those children who only select information books, such that they will also include books with story lines. Stories help children to understand sequences of events, allow them to explore for alternate answers and provide more complex answers to questions (Murphy and Elwood, 1996).
f. There were many differences observed in the behaviour of boys and girls and few opportunities for them to 'work' together. Yet, there were some classrooms observed where they worked together to their mutual benefit. When teachers 'allowed' children to sit with whom they chose, there was a strong tendency for sex segregation. Teachers frequently made boys sit next to girls to control misbehaviour. In the Barbados prestige school, though, boys and girls often chose to sit near each other. Male and female approaches to class work were often different (sometimes complementary), especially as girls presented longer, more meticulous answers and boys presented short, analytic answers (similar to descriptions of UK students identified by Murphy and Elwood, 1996). Girls, especially in the Trinidadian secondary schools, developed academic and social support groups among themselves. Boys did not take advantage of group support.
g. Homework was an important aspect of pupil learning and preparation for classwork. Many pupils, though, did not have people who can understand and help at home (this was particularly evident among boys). A strategy may be introduced which suggests how parents may help their children. Additionally, children could be assigned a homework-mate with responsibilities for communication and mutual resolution of homework problems.
School-based strategies:
a.
Teaching in all of the classrooms observed was didactic, strongly controlled by the teacher. Some teachers, as found in the Barbados prestige school, showed their commitment to the school and students by their encouragement of all students. More often, though, teaching strategies involved simple dictation, question and answers, chalk and talk; these strategies emphasised a one-way flow of information which could not detect misunderstanding and alienation of students. Where student contributions were asked for, comments were directed towards the teacher or channelled through the teacher to the rest of the class. A few alternative teaching strategies were observed that involved paired and cooperative learning; these strategies enhanced children's involvement and respect for classmates. The application of these alternatives require planning and are not to be taken lightly (see Kutnick & Rogers, 1994;Jules, 1991).
b. Teachers will always be asked to attend to matters outside of their classrooms. In this 'teacher-less' time careful planning and directions for continued student work must be made. Without this planned use of student time, regressive and stereotypical behaviours are likely to occur among the children. Teachers in the prestige secondary schools were away from their classes less often than teachers in other schools, and there were correspondingly fewer incidents of misbehaviour in their classes.
c. Where school and classroom rules are ambiguously applied, it appeared that the boys are most likely to be criticised and punished (even if girls had presented the same behaviour). As all classrooms observed had boundaries for behaviour, it would be helpful for students if these boundaries could be made explicit, evident and applied equally for all students. Without clear boundaries, both expressed and perceived teacher preferences are likely to occur. Observed preference was strongly associated with the higher attainers in class (and these were, in the main, girls).
d. Strategies need to be developed to involve the full attainment range of children and ensure that the pace of the classroom does not leave some children behind. Praise need not be reserved for the first pupils to complete a learning assignment; slower pupils can be given an equal opportunity to be told of the good quality of their work (which occurred in one Trinidadian primary school and the prestige Barbados secondary school).
e. To involve students in their own learning may help to overcome the discrepancy between teachers' views that their students should be autonomous and mature and the students' perception that their leaming is teacher dependent. If students are to act as autonomous learners within their secondary schools, they must be offered and understand the opportunities for autonomy. One school that took some opportunities to promote autonomy and self-discipline among its students was the Barbados prestige school. Observations showed that all students were active participants; there was no evidence of teacher preference for particular students (by attainment or sex). Their school work and behaviour showed high levels of motivation - including full submission of homework and virtually no incidents of misbehaviour, bullying or teasing.
4. While the quantitative surveys and most of the case studies showed girls attaining at higher levels in the classroom, how generalisable are these results (from Trinidad to Barbados to St Vincent)? Generalisation should take into account the availability of school places within a country; types of schools, especially at secondary level; and the explanational value of sex differences in attainment.
a.
As stated, the quantitative surveys showed that the average within-class attainment and CEE scores attained by girls was consistently higher than boys across the three countries. Generalisation from Trinidad to Barbados was expected and confirmed in the first survey. Due to the limited number of secondary school places in St Vincent we questioned whether access to secondary school would be based on educational merit or other forms of preference. In the St. Vincent survey and national data, more secondary school places were allocated to girls than boys, allocation being based on CEE results. These findings are in contrast to research in other developing countries which have shown that economic and other considerations (Brock and Cammish, 1997) combine to allow privileged access to schooling to males.
b. The drop-off in male participation in schooling, especially during the transition to and during secondary schooling, was confirmed in Barbados and St Vincent. Educators should look to school placement and activities within the classroom as arenas that may be used to enhance male attainment, knowing that societal attitudes and parental behaviour will affect attainment as well.
c. To make the statement that females perform at higher levels than males would be an oversimplification of the research. Sex of the children was only one significant factor in the explanation of attainment in school. Factors such as occupation of parents, with whom the child lives, attendance of pre-school and the type of school attended each contributed more of the variance in attainment than the sex of the child.
d. Within schools, the case studies showed practices which allowed for the inclusion or exclusion of certain children (especially low attainers, a number of which are male). 'Cultures' of particular schools may help to overcome or magnify these distinctions in attainment (between the sexes and children of different parental occupations). The culture found in prestige schools overcame sex and social class differences among students in Barbados and St Vincent. Differentiation and division of attainment by sex and social class has characterised the other types of secondary school in these countries.
