Gender, Policy and Educational Change: Shifting Agendas in the UK and Europe

by Riddell,Sheila; Riddell,Sheila

• ISBN13: 9780415194341
• ISBN10: 0415194342
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 1999-12-29
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This book is an edited collection of chapters that aims to look at the developments that have taken place in recent years in gender policies. So many reforms have been made, yet often greater exclusion has been a result of these. How have gender issues affected educational policy and what have we learned? The contreibutors hope to provide answers.

Table of Contents

List of figures	xii
List of tables	xiii
Notes on contributors	xv
Acknowledgements	xix
List of abbreviations	xx
Introduction: educational reforms and equal opportunities programmes	1	(1)
Sheila Riddell
Jane Salisbury
Introduction: the reform of education	1	(2)
Gender struggles within education: the historical context	3	(2)
Feminisms in education and the construction of `equality'	5	(2)
Educational reforms and equal opportunities: multiple policy agendas in action	7	(1)
Structure of the book	8	(6)
In conclusion	14	(1)
References	15	(2)
PART 1 Gender and educational reforms: the UK and European context	17	(96)
Gender equality and schooling, education policy-making and feminist research in England and Wales in the 1990s	19	(18)
Miriam David
Gaby Weiner
Madeleine Arnot
Introduction	19	(1)
Gender and policy-making	19	(3)
The EOC study: educational reforms and gender equality in schools	22	(1)
Evaluating and reflecting on the research	23	(1)
Research findings	24	(4)
Feminist research for educational change	28	(2)
Shifts in research context: taking a critical stance	30	(1)
Designing a feminist research project in a cold climate	30	(2)
Problems of explaining change	32	(2)
References	34	(3)
Equal opportunities and educational reform in Scotland: the limits of liberalism	37	(18)
Sheila Riddell
Introduction	37	(1)
Scottish education and gender equality	38	(1)
The development of national and regional equal opportunities policies in Scotland	39	(3)
The nature of educational reforms in Scotland	42	(3)
The impact of the reforms at school level	45	(6)
Discussion: the fate of equal opportunites strategies in the two schools	51	(1)
References	52	(3)
Beyond one border: educational reforms and gender equality in Welsh schools	55	(25)
Jane Salisbury
Introduction	55	(1)
A border makes a difference: the policy context in Wales	56	(2)
Institutional gaps: the reforms in Wales	58	(3)
Impact of educational reforms on gender equality in schools in Wales	61	(1)
Curriculum, assessment and monitoring reforms	62	(7)
Reforms concerning the administration and organisation of schools	69	(4)
Snapshots and mixed and partial pictures of equal opportunities and gender equality work	73	(2)
Concluding remarks	75	(1)
Notes	76	(1)
References	76	(4)
Gender, educational reform and equality in Northern Ireland	80	(19)
Anthony M. Gallagher
Robert J. Cormack
Robert D. Osborne
Introduction	80	(1)
Education in Northern Ireland	81	(2)
Gender and attainment	83	(5)
Attainment and religion	88	(3)
Current evidence on attainment	91	(1)
Equal opportunites in the universities	92
Equity policy	91	(3)
Equality, education and the future	94	(2)
References	96	(3)
Mainstreaming European `equal opportunities': marginalising UK training for women	99	(14)
Jacky Brine
Introduction	99	(2)
European equal opportunities policy	101	(1)
UK interpretation of European equal opportunities policy	102	(2)
Interpretation of UK policy by training managers and providers	104	(1)
Understandings of the training needs of women and equal opportunities	104	(5)
Future policy directions	109	(2)
Note	111	(1)
References	111	(2)
PART 2 Structures and processes in schools and classrooms	113	(76)
Gender and national curricula	115	(19)
Linda Croxford
Introduction	115	(1)
What are the purposes of a national curriculum?	116	(2)
National curricula in the UK: what are the differences?	118	(3)
Changes to the national curricula	121	(2)
Implications of national curricula for gender equality	123	(1)
Gender differences in subject choice	123	(2)
Choice within the national curriculum: some empirical evidence with respect to participation in science in Scotland	125	(3)
Gender differences in post-compulsory education	128	(2)
Conclusion	130	(1)
Acknowledgements	131	(1)
Notes	131	(1)
References	132	(2)
Equity, assessment and gender	134	(19)
Patricia Murphy
Introduction	134	(1)
Changes in assessment policy	135	(2)
Assessment and learning	137	(2)
Equity and bias	139	(1)
Impact of changes in assessment on girls' and boys' performance	140	(2)
Sources of invalidity	142	(2)
Performance in GCSE examinations	144	(1)
Formal examinations and sources of invalidity	145	(3)
Implications, priorities and future research	148	(2)
References	150	(3)
Gender in the classrooms of more and less `effective' schools	153	(16)
Jill Duffield
Introduction	153	(2)
Gender findings of a school effectiveness study	155	(7)
Pupil perceptions and gender	162	(2)
Conclusion	164	(2)
Note	166	(1)
References	167	(2)
All change, no change: gendered regimes in the post-sixteen setting	169	(20)
Sheila Macrae
Meg Maguire
Girls and attainment: behind the rhetoric	169	(1)
The study	170	(2)
Girls and boys and GCSE results	172	(1)
Attitudes and motivations	172	(4)
Good girls, wives and mothers: in-school relations	176	(2)
The more things change, the more they are the same	178	(1)
Sexual and gender relations	179	(5)
Conclusion	184	(1)
Acknowledgements	185	(1)
Notes	185	(1)
References	185	(4)
PART 3 Delegation and the new managerialism	189	(38)
Gendered governance: education reform and lay involvement in the local management of schools	191	(17)
Rosemary Deem
Introduction	191	(2)
Educational policy analysis and gendered perspectives	193	(1)
Why be a governor? Some gendered parameters	194	(2)
Gender and markets	196	(2)
Governors: chief executives or volunteers?	198	(4)
Gendered organisational cultures and `new managerialism'	202	(1)
Conclusion	203	(2)
Note	205	(1)
References	205	(3)
Women head teachers in Northern Ireland	208	(19)
Teresa Rees
Philip Heaton
Lyn McBriar
Introduction	208	(2)
School Principals in Northern Ireland: a political arithmetic	210	(3)
The study	213	(1)
The role of Principal	214	(3)
The role of governor	217	(4)
The gendering of discipline	221	(5)
Conclusion	226	(1)
Acknowledgements	227	(1)
Notes	227	(1)
References	227