Shelley McInnis
Consultant to Social Policy Group
The author would like to acknowledge the assistance provided by
the Schools and Curriculum Division of the Department of
Employment, Education and Training in the production of this
paper.
Major Issues
Introduction
Development of a National Policy
Policy Implementation and Review,
1987-92
Recent Developments
Conclusions
Endnotes
Appendix A
Recommendations of the National Policy for the Education of Girls
in Australian Schools report, 1987
Appendix B
Gender Equity Taskforce Members
Appendix C
Recommendations of NSW Government Advisory Committee Report on Boys
Education, 1994
Public interest in the subject of boys' education has been
stimulated recently by various mass media reports of boys' supposed
educational disadvantage. In 1994 the NSW Government instigated an
inquiry resulting in a report, popularly known as the O'Doherty
Report, that appeared to validate concerns about boys' educational
performance. An interesting policy debate has emerged around the
question of the extent to which concern about boys ought to be
incorporated into policy initiatives which have, hitherto, been
devoted almost exclusively towards improving educational outcomes
for girls.
From the early 1930s until the mid-1970s, boys were more likely
than girls to participate in post-compulsory education. This was
especially noticeable in the tertiary sector, where in 1971 less
than a third of students were female. Australia's workplace was
also highly occupationally sex-segregated; a 1977 OECD report
described it as the most highly segregated by sex of any it had
studied. Prompted by concern about girls' educational participation
and apparent relationships between school subject choices and
career prospects, educators, bureaucrats and politicians in the
early 1970s began to argue the need for improving the quality of
girls' education.
In 1984, the Commonwealth Schools Commission recommended the
development of a national policy on the education of girls. In that
year a Working Party established by the Commission noted that girls
continued to be disadvantaged by an education system that limited
their options in and out of school. The Working Party argued that
existing education systems produced and reproduced undesirable,
gender-based divisions in society. Among other things it
recommended the development of a national policy on the education
of girls.
The National Policy for the Education of Girls in Australian
Schools was adopted in 1986, and thereafter government and
non-government educational sector schools have been committed to
implementing initiatives designed for the achievement of four
Policy objectives:
- raising awareness about the educational needs of girls,
- providing equal access to and participation in an 'appropriate
education',
- creating a supportive school environment, and
- ensuring equitable resource allocation.
Over the period 1988-91 a series of Department of Employment,
Education and Training (DEET) reports summarised Commonwealth and
State/Territory government sector and non-government sector
initiatives in relation to each of the four National Policy
objectives. Details from annual Girls in Schools reports
suggest initiatives undertaken during the first five years of
Policy implementation have resulted in modest levels of achievement
and minimal change. National Schooling Reports (released
each year since 1989 and which report on a range of schooling
matters in all States/Territories) reflect steady improvements in
girls' rates of educational participation over the period 1989-92.
However, subject choice selection remains strongly gendered at
secondary and tertiary educational levels and the Australian
workforce remains highly occupationally segregated by gender.
A review of the National Policy conducted in 1991-92 provided an
opportunity to address problems recognised and articulated by
academics, bureaucrats and teachers. The National Policy had been
criticised for not taking sufficient account of some factors
influencing educational outcomes, for offering naive and simplistic
prescriptions for change, and for neglecting to address boys'
education. Conceptual limitations were reflected in and compounded
by weak national implementation and monitoring systems.
Taking into account the review of the National Policy, a new
National Action Plan for the Education of Girls 1993-97
was endorsed by the Australian Education Council in September 1992.
The eight priorities identified in the National Action
Plan are : examining the construction of gender; eliminating
sex-based harassment; improving the educational outcome of girls
who benefit least from schooling; addressing the needs of girls at
risk; reforming the curriculum; improving teaching practice;
broadening vocational education and changing school organisation
and management practice.
A recent feature of the debate has been a focus on whether or
not boys are in fact being catered for in the schooling context.
For example, in 1994 the NSW Minister for Education, Training and
Youth Affairs set up an advisory committee (The Gender Equity
Taskforce) to investigate boys education in NSW, and to make
recommendations on the future focus of gender equity policies in
that State. The resultant O'Doherty Report outlined the 'nature of
the problem' and recommended the development of an inclusive gender
equity strategy. The recommendation of an inclusive strategy was
generally welcomed but some participants in the debate, such as the
federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner (Ms Sue Walpole), were keen
to point out the ongoing obstacles which faced girls/women, for
example that :
- Australia continues to have one of the most gender segregated
workforces in the industrialised world
- women are seriously underepresented in management positions,
and
- women continue to earn less than men.
Any attempt to evaluate the impact of the various strands of the
National Policy for Girls is difficult but on the evidence reviewed
in this paper it would appear that, at best, success to date could
be described as modest. Improvements in the educational outcomes of
girls began in the 1960s before the advent of the National Policy
but it could be argued that Policy-related initiatives have helped
facilitate, support and promote these improvements. In some
quarters there has been awareness-raising about the educational
needs of girls (and latterly, boys) and constructive attention has
been paid to reform of the school curriculum and practices,
including resource allocation, staff recruitment and development.
But overall, progress has been uneven and some have observed that
activity has been most concentrated in areas most removed from
practical application, for example, in bureaucratic and academic
establishments.
The authors of the Girls, Schools and Society report in
1975 noted with concern that girls were less likely than boys to
remain in school beyond compulsory age, or to be engaged in
post-school education of any kind. While this is no longer the case
some of the patterns observed in Girls, Schools and
Society twenty years ago remain largely unchanged: subject
choices are still strongly 'gendered', and Australia's labour force
remains highly segregated by sex with women over-represented in
lower status occupations, and earning, on average, less than
men.
Critics of the National Policy have argued that it has relied
too much on sex as a determining and unifying factor , and too
little on other vital factors, such as race and poverty. Conceptual
naivete may have resulted in practical failure because what was on
offer was not sufficiently meaningful, relevant, or helpful where
it mattered, at the 'chalkface'.
The implementation of National Policy initiatives was also
hindered by the practical difficulties of coordinating and
monitoring policy across government and non-government educational
sectors in the nine jurisdictions that Australian federalism
presents. Jurisdictions exercised great latitude in determining
their activities within a loosely defined framework and
synthesising and analysing vast amounts of essentially qualitative
information, which without the benefit of agreed minimal data sets
or performance indicators would have been a difficult task. As a
result it is possible that actual levels of achievement as well as
certain kinds of achievement were under-reported.
It appears that measures are now being taken within the context
of the new National Action Plan for the Education of Girls
1993-97 and the accompanying Gender Equity Taskforce to
address some of problems identified with the earlier National
Policy initiatives. Priorities are now more thoughtfully targeted
and less gender-specific; inattention to boys' needs has begun to
be corrected and the development of a truly inclusive gender equity
strategy is being contemplated. Reporting requirements are more
realistic, and system-level performance indicators have been
identified. It is important to acknowledge, however, that there are
limits to just what can be achieved through strategies such as the
National Action Plan. It is obvious that there are limits
as to the amount of social change that can or should be effected
through schools and educational systems.
In the past few years, there have been numerous reports of girls
outperforming boys in schools, outnumbering boys in tertiary
institutions, and outperforming them in these establishments too.
In 1994 the NSW Government instigated an inquiry into the subject,
and in 1995 its Education Department announced the intention to
hire 400 extra literacy teachers, in part to help deal with boys'
poor literacy skills (1). 'Boys are in big trouble', warned the
cover story of a 1995 edition of the Bulletin(2),which
cited a Monash University publication questioning whether women
should continue to be regarded as a 'disadvantaged' group(3).
Evidence of a healthy level of public interest in this subject
suggests the desirability of a review of gender equity policy
developments.
The first section of this paper traces policy developments from
1975, when the landmark study Girls, Schools, and Society
was published, to 1986, when the National Policy for the Education
of Girls in Australian Schools was adopted.
Part two synthesises information on the National Policy
implementation and review from 1987 to 1992. Information relating
to implementation is organised around National Policy objectives
and based on government data gleaned from annual Girls in
Schools reports and National Reports on Schooling in
Australia. Review information is based on Commonwealth reports
as well as the results of commissioned review consultancies. The
work of several key academic experts on gender equity policy is
integrated throughout to provide additional critical perspective,
and insight into some recurring, problematic themes.
Part three canvasses recent developments, presenting information
about the National Action Plan for the Education of Girls
1993-97, and elaborating on the debate about boys' education.
This latter discussion is conducted principally in the context of
the findings of the O'Doherty Report and references made to it at a
conference on gender equity held in Canberra in 1995.
The last section of the paper proffers an evaluation of impacts
and outcomes of National Policy initiatives. Impacts are assessed
in terms of attainment of objectives, and outcomes with reference
to evidence of long-term change. Conceptual limitations and
implementation weaknesses are proposed as reasons for
short-comings. The paper concludes on a hopeful note, but arguing
for more modest expectations of schools as agents of social
change.
Research into sex differences in educational processes and
outcomes in Australia was carried out in the late 1960s and early
1970s, in the context of the so-called sexual revolution. This
research identified and questioned certain characteristics of
Australian education, including girls' lower school retention
rates, narrower choice of school subjects, and receipt of fewer
Commonwealth Scholarhip awards. It also drew attention to the lower
qualifications of teachers in girls' schools, and to the fact that
women were, in general, considerably less educationally qualified
than men(4).
A 1973 Report of the Interim Committee for the Commonwealth
Schools Commission drew attention to the shorter schooling of girls
and recommended an investigation into whether influences in schools
contributed to this outcome(5). In 1974, the fledgling Commonwealth
Schools Commission sponsored an inquiry into the educational needs
of girls and women that resulted in the publication in 1975 of the
seminal report Girls, School and Society(6). This detailed
sex differences in rates of educational participation, explored
schools' role in gender role socialisation, and concluded that:
- girls are less likely than boys to remain in school beyond
compulsory age;
- girls' subject choices limit subsequent educational and
employment opportunities;
- females aged 16 to 20 are less likely than males of comparable
background to be in full-time education;
- less than one-third of students studying for qualifications at
post-school level are female;
- there is a great disparity between the sexes in industrial and
technical training, which strongly attracts boys;
- women workers are strongly concentrated in traditional female
occupations, and full-time women workers earn on average
considerably less than men (and few rise to high levels of pay or
responsibility);
- educational opportunities for women re-entering the workforce
are very limited;
- girls are less confident and ambitious than boys, less inclined
to see themselves as able to influence their lives, and learn to
define themselves as accommodating and relatively incompetent in
public action arenas; and, furthermore, that
- what it means to be female or male in a particular social
context is largely learned.(7)
The Committee argued that schools reinforce gender stereotypes
by using biased curriculum materials, not using materials
presenting women in important social roles, failing to accommodate
the needs of certain (non-stereotypic) families, under-valuing the
skills of interpersonal relationships, and not appointing women to
positions of high administrative responsibility in schools and
school systems(8). It proposed a range of 'directions for action'
on curriculum, teacher development and practice, promotion systems,
vocational guidance, research, and continuing education, stressed
the importance of national coordination of efforts, and recommended
the establishment of an Advisory Committee on the Education of
Girls and Women to progress implementation of 'action
directions'(9).
The Commonwealth Schools Commission (CSC) established a Working
Party on the Education of Girls in 1981, by which time education
Directors-General of most States and Territories had issued policy
statements aimed at eliminating sexist practices. A 1980
Parliamentary Research Service paper noted that a 'most explicit'
statement had come from NSW, but observed generally that, while
there appeared to be broad agreement on principle, there was little
sign of willingness to implement the hard options suggested in
Girls, School and Society(10). This observation is echoed
by Lyn Yates in The Education of Girls, where she notes
that when the Commonwealth's Curriculum Development Corporation led
a 1978-9 discussion on national core curriculum, '...no attention
was paid to the questions about biases and problems in school
processes...identified by Girls, School and Society and
many State reports'(11).
In July, 1984, the Working Party presented its report, Girls
and Tomorrow: The Challenge for Schools, which was proffered
as a 'first step' in the development of a national policy on the
education of girls(12). The preface to the Report stated that
'Action is urgently required to redress the neglect of girls in
classroom practices, to remove the limitations placed on girls'
aspirations, competence and opportunities by a curriculum which
neglects women's achievements and circumscribes girls' life
options, to allow women and men to participate equally in the
governance of schooling, and to reverse the increasing predominance
of men in school hierarchies'(13).
The report noted that, despite convincing evidence in Girls,
School and Society of the educational disadvantages suffered
by girls, females continued to be disadvantaged by an education
that limited their options in and out of school. Girls' lack of
appropriate prior study in mathematics, science and technology
blocked their entry into much post-school training, education, and
employment. Existing education systems, the report argued, produced
and reproduced undesirable, gender-based divisions in society
manifest in, for example, a high degree of occupational segregation
by sex; the report observed that in 1977 the OECD found Australia
had the '...highest level of occupational segregation by sex of all
the countries it studied'(14).
The report also noted evidence of distinctive, gender-based
post-school education pathways: males predominated at TAFE and
university, and females at colleges of advanced education.(15) In
terms of subject choice, the report observed that while girls had
made inroads into some areas previously dominated by males, the
trend was accompanied by an increasing concentration of women in
the fields of education, the humanities, and paramedical
studies.(16) The majority (60 per cent) of female university
students in 1981 elected to study the humanities, education, or the
social and behavioural sciences, while at TAFE women comprised the
majority of enrolments in secretarial studies and non-vocationally
oriented courses.(17)
The Working Party recommended, among other things, the
development of a national policy on the education of girls.(18)
In May of 1986, the Commonwealth Schools Commission presented
the Minister for Education, Senator the Hon. Susan Ryan, with
'interim advice' on the development of a national policy on the
schooling of girls. The report presented a 'framework for action',
including values and principles, shared objectives and priority
areas and suggested implementation and policy review processes, as
a proposed basis for further consultation. The framework was
endorsed 'in principle' at a June 1986 meeting of the Australian
Education Council, and other consultations were to take place
before the final report was submitted in 1987.(19) The most
significant issues raised in response to the Interim Report
included: the need for development of appropriate teacher skill and
understanding, the relationships between gender and other factors
affecting educational attainment, the need for recognition of the
educational significance of the early childhood and primary school
years and the role of parents in education, and the implications of
the National Policy for the education of boys, particularly those
being educated in single-sex schools.(20)
In May 1987 the Commission forwarded its final report to
Minister Ryan, describing it as '...completing the advice set out
in the 1986 Interim Report, and taking account of the responses of
major school authorities throughout Australia, as well as
submissions and representations from major interest
groups'(21).
The National Policy for the Education of Girls in Australian
Schools, the first national policy on schooling to be
developed in Australia, was endorsed by the Australian Education
Council and major non-government education bodies in September
1987. The recommendations of the Report are contained in Appendix
A.
The stated purposes of the Policy were to:
- provide a focus for national concerns relating to the
educational needs of all girls in Australian schools;
- provide an agreed framework for improving the quality of
schooling for girls, through a synthesis of current system
policies;
- clarify and strengthen existing system and school policies as a
basis for further commitment;
- provide a means for identifying needs and priorities as a basis
for future action;
- provide a basis for the development of specific programs at the
national, state/system and school level;
- provide a reference point for policy development, including
policies relating to school resource allocation;
- encourage the collaborative use of resources;
- provide a basis for monitoring and reporting progress.(22)
The National Policy proposed a framework for action comprising a
statement of educational values and principles, four broad
objectives for improving schooling for girls, and an outline of
priority areas within each objective. Core educational values and
principles underpinning the National Policy were to '...provide a
publicly acceptable basis for the operation of schools in
Australia...to which all schools could reasonably be expected to
commit themselves'(23). The inclusion of a principle stating that
'girls are not a homogeneous group' was noteworthy and represented,
according to an Australian academic, a departure from earlier
policy formulations where factors such as ethnicity, economic
differences and disability were regarded as additional (not
integral) to the understanding of identity formation.(24)
Improving girls' schooling according to the values and
principles made explicit in the Report 'translated' into the
identification of four broad objectives, each with specific
priority areas:
- The first, to raise awareness of the educational needs of
girls, would promote the idea of equal capacity and equal rights in
schooling, awareness of the roles and status of women, and would
foster relevant research to inform policy.
- The second objective was to ensure equal access to and
participation in a reformed school curriculum that would contribute
to full and equal participation in economic and social life by
'avoiding bias in content and practices'(25).
- The third objective, to provide a supportive and challenging
school environment, was to address the manner in which patriarchal
power is reflected in school organisation and practice. Inclusion
of this objective represented to some extent a new emphasis,
inspired by evidence from research and school projects, on the
issue of sexual harassment and intimidation of girls in
schools.(26)
- Objective four was to ensure the consistency of school resource
allocation policies and practices with principles of equity and
relative need, which would be achieved through review and provision
of ongoing general resources to address the educational needs of
girls.
One observer has commented that the National Policy set school
systems the task of mainstreaming.(27) According to the Commission,
the process of mainstreaming the National Policy into all aspects
of schooling would involve taking into consideration:
- system policies for staffing, provision of resource and support
services, research and school evaluation, curriculum and assessment
review and development;
- development and application of resource standards and related
allocation procedures;
- development of guidelines promoting practices consistent with
the Policy;
- development and application of measures to give effect to
relevant sex discrimination legislation; and
- the development of advisory structures and procedures related
to Policy implementation.(28)
Endorsement of the National Policy provided an agreed framework
for consolidating and developing action at the school, system, and
national level, but the Commission recognised that implementation
of the policy framework would '...be undertaken against the pattern
of responsibilities for schooling, and the relative roles of the
Commonwealth, States, Territories and non-government
authorities'(29). Therefore the Policy document proposed
'illustrative' implementation strategies which government and
non-government authorities were invited to consider in developing
strategies for improving the education of girls.(30)
The inclusion of a policy and review process in the Policy
document would facilitate 'documentation of gains', periodic
assessment of objectives and priorities, and enable regular
examination of values and principles.(31) The Commission proposed a
five-year reporting cycle, involving an initial report describing
'...existing and developing programs in relation to the objectives
and priority areas of the National Policy', three more focused
annual update reports to include an '...assessment of progress and
... implications for further directions', and a fifth and final
review report to provide '...a comprehensive review of all elements
of the National Policy'(32). Timelines and coordination mechanisms
for the production of annual reports were discussed, but detailed
reporting guidelines were not provided.
These annual Department of Employment, Education and Training
(DEET) reports summarised Commonwealth and State/Territory
government sector and non-government sector initiatives in relation
to each of the four National Policy objectives. DEET's overviews of
government sector activity in particular provide a valuable
chronicle of achievement, limitation, and difficulties experienced
endeavouring to coordinate and monitor national implementation of
the Policy.
In relation to this objective the 1988 report observed of
government sector initiatives that, while much activity appeared to
be taking place, awareness-raising without appropriate teacher
in-servicing and staff development was 'insufficient'(33); DEET
observed approvingly in the next report that there had been an
increase in the availability of professional development
programs.(34) The 1990 report noted greater creativity was being
employed in awareness-raising activities, and that a broadening of
educational target groups had occurred.(35) By 1991, some States
were making it a priority to engage whole school communities in
critical discussion and analysis of educational provision in
relation to this objective.(36)
The Commonwealth reported doing the following during this
period:
- funding (totalling approximately $0.5m) and managing a national
awareness-raising information/promotional campaign(37), including
the production and dissemination of information through The
Gen newsletter, the Teaching Girls Bulletin, teachers
kits, and a promotional video(38);
- establishing, managing and publishing a National Database on
Girls and Education ($19,000)(39); and
- funding appropriate gender equity/educational research projects
to ascertain girls' educational needs (total research project
expenditure approximately $338,000)(40).
Suitable awareness-raising initiatives were also undertaken
within the non-government sector. The National Catholic Education
Commission reported a significant number of these, which targetted
the values and attitudes of staff and parents.(41) The National
Council of Independent Schools reported similar undertakings, which
it assessed as having 'some success'(42).
DEET's first report in 1988 observed that, while most systems
had been engaged in at least one project with a curriculum focus,
this was not in itself enough to ensure that students actually
pursued non-stereotypic subjects or career choices.(43) According
to the second report in 1989 though, not only was the concept of
'inclusive curriculum' gaining currency, but careers education
initiatives were promoting non-traditional occupations for
girls.(44) The 1990 report signalled that gender-inclusive
practices were being incorporated particularly into mathematics,
science and technology curricula, and that initiatives at the
primary and secondary educational levels were focussing on work
education.(45) By 1991, some attention was being paid to the
development of curricula to address the learning needs of girls
from non-English-speaking, impoverished, rural, isolated, and
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds.(46)
During this period, the Commonwealth reported the following:
- funding teaching practice and curriculum projects, eg, the
Girls in Mathematics and Science Project ($1m), the Gender Equity
in Curriculum Project ($3m)(47); and
- funding the development of appropriate curriculum materials
(totalling approximately $816,000)(48).
In the non-government sector, the National Catholic Education
Commission reported that its schools were reviewing curricula,
providing careers education, ensuring girls' access to mathematics
and science classes, and actively recruiting students to correct
'disproportionate representation'.(49) And the National Council of
Independent Schools reported it was providing equal access to
appropriate curricula, offering comprehensive career counselling,
and improving girls' maths/science participation rates.(50)
The 1988 DEET report noted that while most systems were
focussing on the issue of sexual harassment as a means of providing
a more supportive school environment, more attention needed to be
paid to the behavioural development of boys if such harassment was
to be eliminated.(51) The following year DEET observed that sexual
harassment was increasingly being identified as a barrier to girls'
success in education, but there was no reference to the attention
to boys it had recommended the previous year.(52) In 1990, DEET
reported a significant increase in the number and range of
strategies addressing the creation of a supportive school
environment, including for example the development of abuse
protection programs, and the pursuit of single-sex classes for
girls.(53) Sexual harassment remained the focus of States' work
with this objective, and in 1991 DEET reported the development of
policy, grievance procedures, training programs and curricula to
prevent and deal with sexual harassment.(54)
The Commonwealth reported funding the following initiatives at a
total cost of approximately $327,000:
- projects addressing the creation of a supportive school
environment, eg, investigating classroom practice and other and
social factors affecting girls' learning and school retention(55);
and
- projects to develop gender equity resources for school
administrators and gender equity performance indicator kits to help
schools monitor progress(56).
In the non-government sector, Catholic schools reported
establishing self-esteem-raising programmes for girls and
developing policies to counter sex-stereotyping in schools.(57)
Catholic and independent schools emphasised the importance of
ensuring that schools provided suitable role models for
girls.(58)
DEET's first report argued there was a need to establish more
visible mechanisms to ensure that resources in schools were
allocated equitably,(59) and its second report in 1989 expressed
the need for 'improved mechanisms' for the identification of the
gender basis of resource allocation.(60) By the end of the next
year at least the dilemma could be clearly articulated:
jurisdictions did not seem to have any common understanding of what
equitable resource allocation meant, or how strategies could be
developed to address it.(61) DEET's 1991 report suggests that not
much progress was made over the following year, as all
jurisdictions identified the need to address the objective more
comprehensively.(62)
Meanwhile, the Commonwealth reported it had:
- incorporated gender equity requirements into Commonwealth
program funding guidelines;
- used formal resource agreements with State/Territories to
direct funding to gender equity-promoting projects;
- improved national data collection systems to facilitate
monitoring the impact of capital grants on the education of
girls;(63) and
- required that half of AUSTUDY, ABSTUDY, homeless youth and
Isolated Students Scheme beneficiaries were female.(64)
The National Catholic Education Commission reported that
Catholic schools were addressing inequities in resource allocation
by improving girls' science, technology, and physical education
facilities, and ensuring that equitable resource allocation
strategies were in place.(65) The National Council for Independent
Schools reported that it was allocating more resources to science
teaching for girls.(66)
As was mentioned at the beginning of this segment, the Girls
in Schools reports also provided some commentary on the
challenges DEET faced in coordinating and monitoring Policy
implementation. In the first report in 1988, DEET recommended that
educational systems develop frameworks, action plans and outcome
indicators,(67) and in the second report it observed that the most
significant development of the 1988 school year had been the
'considerable improvement' in the collection of data to define the
nature of problems and assess program effectiveness.(68) DEET
commented in the 1990 report that there had been progress in the
development of 'system-wide action plans',(69) , but it stressed
that future reports should include critical assessment of outcomes
and evaluative statements, as well as descriptive material.(70) In
the final Girls in Schools report, DEET was still arguing
the need for increased attention to the development of more
effective and wider-ranging performance indicators.(71)
The 1989 National Report on Schooling in Australia noted a
marked increase in female participation in education, with
approximately two-thirds of girls completing Year 12 in 1989
compared with only one-third in the early 1970s.(73) The proportion
of female students remaining at school to Year 12 in 1989 (65 per
cent) exceeded that of male students (55 per cent); indeed, girls'
Year 12 retention rates overtook males' in 1977.(74) Prior to this,
from around 1930 until the mid-1970's, boys had higher rates of
educational participation at all ages above those of compulsory
attendance.(75)
The 1989 report also presented the findings of a study conducted
by the Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) into the
subject choices of 47 000 Year 11 and 12 students; these were
analysed by several variables, including sex. In relation to this,
the report noted 'Within the study of mathematics gender
differences were quite marked. In comparison to males, females
studying mathematics tended more frequently to study non-tertiary
oriented mathematics and less frequently to study advanced
mathematics'(76). And also, '...students studying humanities,
social science and arts courses were more likely to be female'.
Males predominated in mathematics, science, and technical and
applied courses(77).
Information contained in the 1989 National Schooling report
suggested that, while in 1989 slightly more females (49.6 per cent)
than males (48.3 per cent) were continuing on to some form of
tertiary study, tertiary fields of study were also gender-typed,
with females preferring arts, education, and health-related
courses, and males architecture, engineering, science, and
agriculture courses.(78) Although the 1989 female tertiary study
rate contrasted sharply with that prevailing in 1971, when females
comprised 28 per cent of students studying for post-school
qualifications,(79) the gendered pattern of study observed in 1989
was consistent with that observed in 1975 by the authors of the
Schools Commission Report, Girls, School and Society. They
had noted then that '...women concentrate in the Humanities and
Social Sciences and Teacher Education while men predominate
everywhere else, especially in the 'masculine' occupationally
oriented areas of Science and Technology and the
'professions''(80).
Subsequent reports for 1990, 1991, and 1992 noted continually
improving retention rates to Year 12 for both sexes, but a
persistently higher one for girls which, at 82 per cent in 1992,
was ten per cent higher than the male rate.(81) The 1991 Report
observed that the discrepancy in retention rates could be partly
explained by '...the greater numbers of males entering
apprenticeship training and TAFE courses after year 10, and the
better employment opportunities for young males leaving year
10'(82).
National Schooling Reports for 1990-92 recorded also that:
- while increasing proportions of Year 12 girls were undertaking
tertiary-accredited studies in 'male' domains, traditional
preference patterns prevailed in high school and the tertiary
sector, except that females dominated enrolments in business and
economics at TAFE in 1991(83), and Year 12, tertiary-accredited
economics and business studies enrolments in 1992(84);
- similar proportions of male and female school leavers attended
tertiary educational institutions (although girls exceeded boys by
four per centage points in 1992)(85), but girls preferred
universities, and boys TAFE/technical colleges;
- according to the results of a special study commissioned by
DEET, there were '...marked differences in labour market outcomes
according to gender and early school achievement'(86), although
these were not elaborated.
The 1987 National Policy document proposed that in the 'fifth
and final year of the first phase' of Policy implementation, a
comprehensive review of the elements of the National Policy would
be undertaken. This would include an assessment of progress over
the period towards achieving the objectives of the National Policy,
and a reconsideration of policy directions for a further five-year
period. As envisaged, review processes would entail widespread
consultation with government and non-government authorities and
groups(87).
The Australian Education Council appointed a Review Committee,
comprised of representatives from each State and Territory
education system, the Department of Employment, Education and
Training, the National Catholic Education Commission and the
National Council of Independent Schools Associations, to conduct a
review with the following aims:
- to consult upon and develop a revised set of priorities;
- to propose key strategies to underpin the new range of
priorities; and
- to advise on an appropriate structure for annual reporting,
based on indicators of progress towards objectives.(88)
The Review Committee and DEET commissioned two major
consultancies to support the review process. One was an exploration
of the views of educators, administrators, and 'the girls
themselves', the other an analysis of girls' school subject
choices.
The Committee commissioned educational consultants, Ashenden and
Associates, to visit as many Australian schools as possible and
'...to describe, anecdotally, the educational experience of girls
in 1991'(89). The consultants questioned over six hundred educators
and school administrators and eight hundred school girls (aged 4-18
years) from seventy-three government and non-government schools
from every Australian jurisdiction in their '...formal consultation
aimed at assessing the adequacy of girls' education'(90).
The educational consultants' report recommended the following
six priorities for action:
- Sex-based harassment
Levels of sex-based harassment in pre-primary, primary and
secondary schools need to be reduced and the behaviour of boys
needs to be altered as part of this.
- Teaching practice
Teachers need to understand better the effects of gender on
learning, and to alter teaching practice in order to be more
effective. Single-sex learning may be useful here.
- Curriculum reform
Curriculum needs improvement, and curriculum policy needs to ensure
that all students participate in a balanced and broad curriculum
covering skills and understandings needed for domestic as well as
social, economic and political life. Design of curriculum
components needs to reflect more strongly the needs, interests, and
experience of girls, reflect the contribution of women and girls to
society, and encourage critical awareness of the effects of gender
on peoples' lives.
- Careers education
Careers education needs to be more attuned to the complex
interaction of influences involved in the endeavour of broadening
girls' post-school options. Specifically, there is a need to reduce
confusion caused by 'mixed messages' and lack of information about
post-school options for women.
- At-risk girls
Better services are needed for girls at risk of leaving school
early. This includes passively alienated girls, pregnant
schoolgirls, young mothers and girls who are required to undertake
heavy domestic or work-force responsibilities that interfere with
their schooling.
- Listening to girls
The education system needs to listen better and respond to girls'
views about their educational needs. This will ensure that issues
that are of particular local concern will be identified.(91)
The Review Committee's brief for this consultancy specified that
the aim of the research project was to investigate and analyse
girls' subject choices in senior secondary schooling to inform
debate about girls' participation in certain subject areas.
Consultants reviewed relevant literature and conducted interviews
with Year 11 girls and school personnel in six schools in two
Australian States.(92)
Research consultants found 'noticeable' gender differences in
subject choice, with female selections predominating in home
sciences, creative and performing arts and languages, and males'
predominating in technical, applied studies and physical sciences.
Some changes over the period 1986 to 1990 were noted, suggesting a
general (boys and girls) increase in interest in business studies
and computer studies, a general decrease in interest in physical
and biological sciences, increased girls' interest in mathematics
and '...evidence of a movement of girls' preferences more towards
the preferences of boys'(93). Researchers observed, however, that
pressure to take mathematics and science to meet tertiary
prerequisites, and to keep options open, had resulted in a
narrowing of the senior secondary school curriculum, where less
career-related subjects offering a broader 'education for life'
were under-valued.(94)
Authors argued there were no simple conclusions to be drawn from
their study about senior schooling subject choice,(95) and chose to
present their outcomes as a 'model for subject choice' that
identified factors likely to impact on this; according to the
educational consultants, each was worthy of further research. Model
factors and elements included:
- Student background: including parental/family expectations,
parental/family understanding of the educational system, and
experiences of the student with career models;
- Students' prior academic achievements; and
- School factors: including information available, career
education programs, individual counselling, encouragement or
mentoring by individual teachers, prerequisites, flexibility, and
differential resourcing.(96)
In March of 1993 the product of the review process, the
National Action Plan for the Education of Girls 1993-97,
was introduced by the Chair of the Australian Education Council.
The Plan document included a synopsis of the findings of
the two review consultancies and some general, summary observations
of the Review Committee. The Review Committee identified the
following as significant post-1987 educational developments:
- devolution policies resulting in greater school
self-management, an associated strengthening of centralist
policy-making, increased community participation in education, and
greater accountability requirements;
- 'significant' improvements in post-compulsory schooling
retention rates for both sexes, but continuing inequitable outcomes
for girls, and markedly less success amongst particular groups of
girls;
- real reductions in resources available to schools;
- the release of key reports on employment-related competencies
and entry-level training;
- an increased recognition of the importance of early childhood
experiences in shaping educational outcomes.(97)
Commenting generally on the success of the first five years of
Policy implementation, the Review Committee noted that some policy
objectives were easier to achieve than others. There had been, for
example, a 'significant' rise in the awareness about the
educational needs of girls, but less progress with objectives
relating to curriculum reform and equitable resource
allocation.
Academic commentators on the National Policy observed the
following about Policy implementation:
- while considerable activity had taken place to raise awareness
of the educational needs of girls, not enough had been done to
ensure that awareness was raised in all teachers and schools, and
there was not enough understanding of what constituted 'good
practice'(98);
- the focus of the Policy's curriculum objective was narrowly
defined in terms of mathematics, science, and technology studies,
and discussion of post-school options was similarly narrowly
focussed(99);
- the objective to provide a 'supportive and challenging school
environment' had focussed more on the 'supportive' rather than the
'challenging' aspect(100);
- lack of consensus on the meaning of 'equitable resource
allocation' was prevalent and understandable, as the construct was
not 'self-explanatory'(101);
- Policy implementation had led neither to incremental nor to
constant progress as there had been '...no sense of building on
existing experience to work out more effectively what might have
some impact'(102);
- The Policy framework could provide a basis for 'exponential'
progress, but only if initiatives became 'mainstream', and
mainstream curriculum policy did not appear to have been much
affected by the '...vague commitments of the National
Policy'(103).
Perhaps more importantly, critics argued that inadequate
theorising of the complex inter-relationships of gender, social
class, ethnicity, and power, related to the limitations of the
Policy's predominantly liberal feminist underpinnings, had resulted
in ineffective attention to certain key issues. Yates, for example,
described how 'universalising' and patronising tendencies of
reforming liberalism contributed to a failure to effectively
address the educational needs and interests of working class and
non-English-speaking girls(104).
Similarly, Jane Kenway related the Policy's liberal feminism to
inadequate theorising of the relations of gender, sexuality,
education and power and, specifically, the 'problem' of boys'
education, which she described as 'a submerged theme' in the Policy
document and a 'sensitive, highly contested issue in the policy
field'. 'Clearly', she argued, 'if one accepts gender is a
relational concept then one recognises the important need to
reconstruct the boys'. But the Policy's under-developed theoretical
base enabled only superficial, naive understanding of issues and
their educational implications.(105)
The outcome of the review of the operation of the National
Policy, the National Action Plan for the Education of Girls
1993-97, was endorsed by Ministers at the 68th meeting of the
Australian Education Council in September 1992.(106)
A short section on the review of the National Policy contained
in the Action Plan argues that sex discrimination
continues to '...actively operate to exclude women and girls', and
that the need for the original Policy was confirmed by the review.
The Policy is '... as relevant and necessary now as it was in
1987', and the purpose of the National Action Plan is not
to replace the 1987 Policy, '...but rather to add a new dimension
to its usefulness in Australian schools'.(107)
The Introduction to the National Action Plan states
that 'It is obvious that the shift required in Australian culture
to establish the outcomes of the National Policy may take many
years and will require continuing commitment from the education
community in all parts of Australia'(108).
The framework and objectives forming the substance of the 1987
National Policy provide the fundamental underpinning of the
National Action Plan, which is distinguished principally
by its identification of eight new priority areas to '...provide
direction for the education of girls from 1993-97'(109).
The eight priorities identified in the National Action
Plan are:
- Examining the construction of gender
Strategies include developing policies, curricula, and professional
development programs that take account of: the role of language;
the abuse of power in relationships; violence; body images, media
and anorexia; the role of 'popular cultural texts', eg, videos and
computer games; the influences of family, peers, and
community;
- Eliminating sex-based harassment
Schools and school systems are to develop sexual harassment
policies and grievance procedures, professional development
programs, compehensive (kindergartern through Year 12) curricula,
and information materials for the wider community;
- Improving the educational outcomes of girls who benefit
least from schooling
Strategies include monitoring educational participation and
outcomes, developing and implementing racial harassment policies
and procedures, providing suitable professional development
programs, career counselling, organising community discussion
forums, improving literacy skills, providing information in
different languages, and improving the representativeness of
teachers and support staff;
- Addressing the needs of girls at risk
Monitoring and collaboration mechanisms are to be established, and
suitable professional development/ community education programs
provided;
- Reforming the curriculum
Schools and school systems should develop and implement
non-discriminatory assessment procedures, review existing curricula
and develop gender-inclusive guidelines, provide access to all
areas of the curriculum and ensure students have the skills to
benefit from access, teach boys and girls domestic skills, and
provide comprehensive relationship and human sexuality
programs;
- Improving teaching practice
A range of teaching methods and assessment procedures should be
employed, and equitable assessment procedures identified,
gender-equity-sensitive staff selection and promotion criteria
should be established, research into pedagogical practice should be
supported, and materials to facilitate assessment and evaluation of
pedagogical procedures should be developed;
- Broadening work education
Curricula that critically examine the gender distribution of work
in families, households and paid work should be developed,
vocational educational programs should be reviewed for
gender-differentiated information and experiences, suitable
professional/community development programs should be developed,
independence-enhancing career and subject-choice advice should be
provided, and post-school pathways and destinations should be
monitored;
- Changing school organisation and management
practice
Schools and school systems should review and adapt policies,
procedures and resource allocation to satisfy gender equity
requirements and provide training to the school community about
inclusive management practices, and ensure adequate provision for
girls' physical needs.(110)
The National Action Plan presented an altered reporting
'framework' to be comprised of annual National Schooling
Reports and a new series of annual Girls in Schools
reports, each of which would specifically focus on one or more of
the areas for priority action.(111) The statistical annexes
accompanying the National Schooling Reports were to
include data on literacy and numeracy levels, achievement in
learning areas, students' records of performance on key
employment-related competencies, and information on student
pathways.(112)
Girls in Schools 1993 was published in May 1995.
Tellingly, the foreword acknowledges that the reporting process was
'not without difficulties'. The Report is described as different in
that it does not focus exclusively on girls, and it is the first to
attempt to document National Action Plan implementation
gains.(113) The first Report was to address the priorities
'Improving teaching practice' and 'Broadening work education', for
which performance indicators had been identified in the Action
Plan.
In relation to the 'Improving teaching practice' priority,
Girls in Schools 1993 reported on one of three performance
indicators concerned with girls' and boys' curricular participation
rates and attainment levels.(114) 1992 DEET data was analysed to
reveal that more females than males were enrolled in tertiary
entrance accredited courses in most States, retention rates for
girls slightly exceeded boys', girls' overall attainment levels
were higher than boys', but well-established gendered subject
preference patterns prevailed.(115) More evidence of this latter
was provided in the 1993 National Report on Schooling,
which summarised the results of a large (n=20,000) national
survey(116) of the subject choices of Year 11 and Year 12 students
as demonstrating that:
- gender accounted for a considerable variation in subject area
enrolments males predominated in the physical sciences,
mathematics, and technical studies, while Languages Other Than
English (LOTE), home economics and, to a lesser extent, the
biological and other sciences were the subject areas in which
females predominated(117);
- female students were more likely than males to nominate
intrinsic reasons (eg interest, enjoyment) for subject choices,
while males were more likely to nominate extrinsic reasons (eg
future work and study) for their choices(118).
The second National Action Plan priority to be reported
upon in 1993 was 'broadening work education'. Girls in Schools
1993 reported (again, in relation to only one of three
performance indicators(119)) that, while females comprise the
majority (53.4 per cent) of total tertiary enrolments, traditional
patterns of participation prevail, despite some evidence that
enrolments in non-traditional areas are increasing. Similar
gendered subject choice distributions prevail at TAFE, where the
percentage of women enrolling in engineering, architecture/building
and agriculture courses has actually declined since 1987. The
percentage of women involved in apprenticeships (12 per cent) has
remained unchanged since 1987. The Report noted with interest that
females are under-represented at the postgraduate study level, even
in areas where women predominate at the under-graduate
level.(120)
As has been noted earlier, academic commentators on Australia's
gender in education policy have criticised its exclusive focus on
girls '...as if the issue of gender were solely a question of
female behaviour on an educational desert island', and argued that
equitable outcomes for girls (in and out of school) will not be
achieved without attending to boys' education.(121)
Concern about boys emerged as a 'key message' in one of the
consultancies undertaken for the review of the National Policy in
1991. Authors of the consultancy report, Listening to
Girls, explained that sometimes concern about boys reflected
disbelief in girls' educational disadvantage, but other times a
real conviction that '...if mutual understanding and tolerance
between the sexes is to be achieved, the education of boys needs to
change'(122). Boys needed to be educated about sexual harassment,
changing sex roles, and helped to develop skills in cooperation,
communication, and tolerance.
The matter of boys' education appears to have become a sensitive
public policy issue by 1990, when the third Girls in
Schools report referred to 'tensions' between 'two major
approaches adopted' by State and Territory Governments. The report
elaborated that 'Some States address girls' educational issues
explicitly under the education of girls title using special
measures to counter the recognised disadvantage which has accrued
to women and girls in our society...Others, under the title 'gender
equity', while addressing girls' educational and social
disadvantage may also use measures to address those behaviours
exhibited by boys which inhibit girls' access to full participation
in education. There is concern in some quarters that activities
under the title 'gender equity' can, by directing some funds to
programs for boys, too easily allow girls' issues to be diluted and
programs to be redefined to distribute resources equally among
girls and boys, or even promote programs which enhance boys'
educational advantage. Clearly, in cases where such concerns are
justified, the activities undertaken are unlikely to bring about
the desired change in girls' educational outcomes or ultimately in
women's position in our society'.(123)
Two years later there was formal acknowledgement of the
importance of boys' education (at least, as it relates to girls'
education) when a new government advisory committee was
established. The National Advisory Committee on the Education of
Girls was set up in 1992 when the National Action Plan for the
Education of Girls 1993-7 was endorsed by the Australian
Education Council. The Committee's terms of reference included
providing general advice, monitoring Action Plan implementation and
coordinating national reporting, but also providing
'...supplementary advice on strategies for boys in relation to
achievement of the objectives of the National Policy for the
Education of Girls...'(124).
The National Advisory Committee on the Education of Girls was
reconstituted in early 1994 as the National Gender Equity in
Schools Task Force with terms of reference to:
- monitor the implementation of the National Action Plan for
the Education of Girls;
- provide advice to national committees and working parties on
gender equity issues;
- provide advice on the best practice in the education of boys as
it relates to the education of girls;
- identify, in consultation with experts in the field, further
strategies for implementing the priority areas, pathways which
facilitate positive outcomes for girls throughout life, and key
areas for further development;
- build on the work to date in the area of gender equity as it
relates to the education of girls and on outcomes/ findings of
review of gender issues in the education of boys;
- report on programs currently in place in states and territories
which primarily support the education of boys in their operation
(eg behaviour management and remedial education programs) and to
report on research currently underway in States and Territories,
and
- provide advice to the Ministerial Council on Education,
Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA) for further work
which would facilitate State and Territory collaboration in
addressing the educational disadvantage of groups of boys.
A current list of Taskforce members is at Appendix B.
The Chair of the new Taskforce, Cheryl Vardon (Secretary of the
ACT Department of Education and Training), outlined her view of the
role of the Taskforce in an interview published in DEET's
newsletter, The Gen, in March, 1994. Ms Vardon stressed
that, while interest in boys' education could be construed as a
backlash to channel resources away from girls' programs, '...the
issue of boys' education moves beyond that to the more important
argument that the way boys behave, particularly violent boys,
impinges on girls' self esteem and girls' futures'. She described
the Taskforce's new emphasis on boys as 'evolutionary' but
emphasised that improving outcomes for girls was still the 'key
priority'. 'It's very important for us to analyse the impact of
boys' behaviour on girls, and in doing that we'll look at programs
for boys which actually improve things for girls'.(125)
Public interest in the subject of boys' education has
intensified over the past two years, and much of this can be
attributed to media coverage of an investigation into boys'
education in New South Wales. In 1994, the NSW Minister for
Education, Training and Youth Affairs asked a Government Advisory
Committee to investigate boys' education in NSW, and to make
recommendations on the future focus of gender equity policies in
that State. The Committee's report, known as the O'Doherty Report
(after the Committee's Chair, State MP Stephen O'Doherty), outlined
the 'nature of the problem' and recommended the development of an
inclusive gender equity strategy. The full text of the Committee's
recommendations is at Appendix C.
The 'nature of the problem' was described by the O'Doherty
report in terms of educational and social factors. In relation to
education, key Committee observations were that in New South
Wales:
- the majority (65 per cent) of students in 'special' and
'support' classes are male;
- compared with girls, boys under-perform in literacy tests and
achieve notably lower grades in English;
- for thirteen years, girls' mean Tertiary Entrance Scores have
been higher than boys';
- boys' post-compulsory school retention rates are consistently
lower than girls', but what this means is unclear, as many school
leavers are moving on to TAFE;
- boys are over-represented in patterns of courses associated
with the least successful HSC outcomes;
- boys are under-represented in the total available university
and TAFE places;
- for each group analysed (all students, non-English speaking
background, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and rural),
average Tertiary Entrance Rank (TER) was substantially lower for
boys than for girls, and the difference has increased over the past
three years.(126)
As for 'social and other factors', the Committee noted the
following concerns:
- boys are uncommunicative and have trouble fitting in with
existing support mechanisms, despite the fact that they are more
likely to need welfare assistance;
- boys fear ridicule and bullying if they excel anywhere except
in the sporting field;
- boys have fewer conflict resolution skills than girls, and many
believe that physical confrontation is an acceptable way of
resolving conflict;
- many boys have low self-esteem, expect to be unemployed, and
display less certainty about the future than girls;
- boys represent the majority of behaviour problem students;
- perpetrators of violence in schools are virtually always boys,
and girls and boys are victimised by this aggression;
- there is a lack of appropriate male role models in the media,
the community, schools, and in some families;
- while the vast majority (80 per cent) of primary classroom
teachers are female, two-thirds of non-teaching executives are
male;
- many boys reject reading as boring and girlish, and three times
as many are receiving special assistance with it;
- parents, teachers, and students all reported a lack of widely
available, suitable, popular reading material for boys;
- boys are much more likely than girls to suicide(127);
- boys engage in other forms of self-destructive behavour, eg
dangerous driving, which kills three times more young males than
females;
- boys account for over 80 per cent of appearances in the NSW
Children's Courts;
- boys are more likely to suffer from certain learning
disabilities, eg, Attention Deficit Disorder;
- the vast majority (256/317) of children identified with serious
language disorders are boys;
- boys are less confident, articulate, and skilled in
interpersonal relations than girls.(128)
The O'Doherty Report provided a reference point for papers
delivered at a 'Promoting Gender Equity' Conference in Canberra in
early 1995. The Conference, held under the auspices of the Gender
Equity Taskforce of MCEETYA, was designed to assist the Taskforce
in addressing some of the central questions about gender and
educational disadvantage arising from its terms of reference.
In her opening address to the Conference Ms Sue Walpole, federal
Sex Discrimination Commissioner, expressed her great concern about
the matters raised in the O'Doherty Report, saying she knew '...the
life experience of many boys and men is impoverished by restrictive
and self-destructive notions of masculinity', and that boys need to
be 'assisted' to challenge aggressive behaviour and to ensure a
more equitable distribution of unpaid work.(129)
However, she placed her concern about boys into broad gender
equity context by arguing '...the reality is that post-school
pathways for many women continue to be inhibited or prescribed by
their gender', and illustrating her point by citing what she
described as 'a few important facts'(130):
- Australia continues to have one of the most gender segregated
workforces in the industrialised world, with women concentrated in
lower paid positions with less job security and fewer opportunities
for promotion. Forty-three per cent of all women workers are
employed in only two occupations - clerks and sales
assistants;
- Women are seriously under-represented in management positions.
In the Australian Public Service, where formal EEO strategies have
been in place for a number of years, women hold only 13.1 per cent
of all senior executive positions. (This figure has since risen to
17.7 per cent(131).) In the private sector, the proportion is much
lower;
- Women earn less than men. Women's average earnings are 83 per
cent of average male earnings, although the pay gap is more marked
in certain occupations and industries.(132) Discriminatory
provisions still pervade the award system, and the majority (76 per
cent) of part-time positions are filled by women. Women also
perform 70 per cent of unpaid work in the home.
The Sex Discrimination Commissioner concluded her address by
signalling her approval that O'Doherty had not recommended a
separate boys' education strategy. In her address to the
Conference, Jane Kenway echoed the Commissioner's sentiments when
she praised the O'Doherty Report for its rejection of what she
termed the 'flawed notion' of a separate boys' education strategy,
ie for its agreement that boys' programs should not be developed at
the expense of girls. However, she criticised the Report for being
'hamstrung' by conservatism, '...some rather dated ideas about
where to go from here with regard to curriculum and pedagogy', and
also because it '...had very little to say about the education of
girls in the context of its recommendations'.(133)
The elements of O'Doherty receiving feminist approbation, ie its
argument for an integrated gender equity strategy, explicit
recognition of the importance of improving educational outcomes for
girls, and refusal to polarise the 'debate' into arguments about
relative disadvantage, are to some extent a reflection of the work
of educational sociologist R.W. Connell. His rejection of
oppositional logic and rhetoric is based on the belief that for
males to 'decline the offer of power and pleasure made to them by
the gender order' is consistent with their interest in, for
example, reducing the emotional and physical costs of patriarchy,
and promoting the welfare of women(134). As he writes in
Masculinities, 'In the context of the broad delegitimation
of patriarchy, men's relational interests in the welfare of women
and girls can displace the same men's gender-specific interests in
supremacy'(135).
On the subject of gender-equity promoting educational strategies
for boys, Connell and others have pointed out that:
- There is now considerable practical experience with
gender-specific programs for boys from the US, Britain, Germany,
and Australia. Whole-school programs are much less common, but
programs operating across the curriculum, rather than in
specialised units, make sense;(136)
- Educational programs for boys should start with boys' own
interests, experiences and needs, and work should be driven by the
claims of justice, rather than the pressure of guilt.(137) The
importance of working with boys in a 'respectful' manner has been
identified as one of three principles for practice in the delivery
of gender equity programs for boys;(138)
- Suitable pre-service and in-service training programs for
teachers need to be developed.(139) Mr John Dunn, Principal of
Canberra's Caroline Chisolm High School, made this point in his
address to the Canberra Gender Equity Conference; he argued that
such training should be regarded as a major priority. Mr Dunn also
recommended that wider school communities be educated to promote
understanding of the purposes of gender equity
programmes;(140)
- Confrontational discipline systems in schools need to be
changed to stop 'cycles of aggression'.(141)
Evaluating social interventions is always difficult because
these are never conducted in perfectly controlled circumstances,
and uncontrolled variables mean causal relationships cannot be
established, at least with any degree of confidence. Commenting on
the impacts and outcomes of the initiatives outlined in this paper
is further complicated by the contested nature of the subject of
the intervention, and the amorphous, dynamic context of national
policy implementation. However, evaluations of social endeavours
are always problematic and with appropriate qualifications, some
general remarks are possible.
Impact evaluations typically involve assessing the degree of
attainment of program or project objectives; an impact evaluation
of the National Policy would therefore involve reflecting on the
extent to which Policy objectives have been realised. Evidence
presented in this report suggests that, at best, success to date
could be described as modest. Undoubtedly, in some quarters there
has been awareness-raising about the educational needs of girls,
and constructive attention has been paid to the reform of school
curriculum and practices, including resource allocation, staff
recruitment and development. But overall, progress has been uneven
and some have observed, perhaps unkindly, that activity has been
most concentrated in areas most removed from practical application,
eg in bureaucratic and academic establishments.
Outcome evaluations usually attempt to establish whether certain
long-term goals have been achieved. While the National Policy did
not articulate specific long-term goals, the conclusions of the
1975 report Girls, Schools and Society provide a useful
basis for comparison with the present. Authors noted with concern
then that girls were less likely than boys to remain in school
beyond compulsory age, or to be engaged in post-school education of
any kind. Not only are these social facts now no longer true, but
concern has shifted somewhat and begun to focus upon the problems
of boys in schools.
Improvements in rates of girls' educational participation are
not directly attributable to the 1986 National Girls in Schools
Policy. Girls' school retention rates began to improve in the 1960s
and surpassed boys' in the mid-1970s, a decade before the National
Policy was formulated. Similarly, girls' participation in the
tertiary education sector began to improve in the mid-1970s, well
before the National Policy was devised(142). It could be argued, of
course, that Policy-related activities facilitated, supported, even
promoted these noteworthy developments.
While girls' school and tertiary education participation rates
have improved and girls' collective self-esteem appears to have
risen, some of the patterns observed in Girls, Schools and
Society twenty years ago remain unchanged: subject choices
(with their career-enhancing or limiting effects) are still
strongly 'gendered', and Australia's labour force remains the most
segregated by sex of OECD countries, with women over-represented in
lower status occupations and earning, on average, less than
men.
Modest achievement levels in relation to National Policy
objectives, together with the apparent failure of Policy
initiatives to impact on well-established patterns of subject
choice, along with labour force segregation suggest that problems
of conceptualisation and implementation may have limited the
effects of Policy interventions. Unsophisticated conceptualisation
may have inhibited potential advances by not informing practice
sufficiently well, and weak national coordination and monitoring
systems may have resulted, paradoxically, in an under-reporting of
achievements.
Critics of the National Policy have argued that its principally
liberal ideological biases resulted in simplistic educational
prescriptions that placed too much emphasis on sex as a determining
and unifying factor, and too little on other vital factors, such as
race and poverty. Although Policy documents acknowledged the
importance of these 'other factors' in the determination of
educational outcomes, acknowledgement may not have translated
sufficiently well into appropriately-targeted and potentially
transformative school-based programs, policies and classroom
practices. Conceptual naivete may have resulted in practical
failure because what was on offer was not sufficiently meaningful,
relevant, or helpful where it mattered, at the 'chalkface'.
Even if implementation of National Policy initiatives were not
complicated by the imperfectly-conceived and contested 'nature of
the problem' being addressed, it would be confounded by the
practical difficulties of coordinating and monitoring Policy
implementation across government and non-government educational
sectors of nine (including the Commonwealth) different
jurisdictions. Quite properly perhaps, jurisdictions exercised
great latitude in determining their activities within a loosely
defined framework, but synthesising and analysing vast amounts of
essentially qualitative information, without the benefit of
agreement on minimal data sets or performance indicators, must have
been difficult to do in a manner that did justice to the plethora
of Policy undertakings. It is quite possible that actual levels of
achievement as well as certain kinds of achievement were
under-reported.
The new National Action Plan for the Education of Girls
1993-97 and accompanying Gender Equity Taskforce appear to be
taking measures to address some of the afore-mentioned conceptual
and practical difficulties. Priorities are now more thoughtfully
targeted and less gender-specific; inattention to boys' needs has
begun to be corrected, and the development of a truly inclusive
gender equity strategy is currently being contemplated. Reporting
requirements are more realistic, and system-level performance
indicators have been identified. Despite the latter however, the
failures of reporting evident in Girls in Schools 1993
suggest that much more work remains to be done in this area.
Perhaps, though, it needs to be acknowledged there are limits to
what can be achieved with National Action Plan
implementation, because there are limits to the amount of social
change that can be effected through educational systems. Teachers
have been arguing this point for some time now.(143) Schools are
agents of socialisation, but even if all were to become perfect
engines of gender equity, there are other social institutions
playing a role in the production and re-production of social
relations, and it is naive to imagine these will not exert
influences driven by different interests. Social change involving
relations of power necessarily involves resistance, even fierce
opposition. This is to be expected in a pluralistic, democratic
system. It means, though, that perhaps ambitious National Policy
initiatives will always result in modest levels of achievement, and
incremental change.
- Announced on a segment of the Australian Broadcasting
Corporation's7:30 Report, Monday, June 26, 1995.
- Maslen, G. 'Boy, you're in big Trouble'. The Bulletin with
Newsweek, April 25, 1995, pp. 28-31.
- Birrell, R. et al. 'Female Achievement in Higher Education and
the Professions', People and Place, Vol.3, No.1, 1995, p.
53.
- Commonwealth Schools Commission (CSC). Girls and Tomorrow:
The Challenge for Schools: Report of the Working Party on the
Education of Girls. Canberra, July 1984, p. 15.
- CSC. Girls, School and Society: Report by a Study Group to
the Schools Commission. Canberra, 1975, p.1.
- ibid., p. 1.
- ibid., pp. 154-156.
- ibid., pp. 156-157.
- ibid., p. 167.
- Education and Welfare Group. Education and Women.
Canberra: Department of the Parliamentary Library, 1 September
1980, pp. E7-8.
- Yates, L. The Education of Girls: Policy, Research and the
Question of Gender. Hawthorn, Victoria: ACER, 1993, p.
13.
- CSC. Girls and Tomorrow: The Challenge for Schools: Report
of the Working Party on the Education of Girls, op.
cit., p. vii.
- ibid., p. vii.
- ibid., p. 3.
- ibid., pp. 5-7.
- ibid., p. 4.
- ibid., p. 5.
- ibid., pp. 9-14.
- CSC. A National Policy for the Education of Girls in
Australian Schools. (Interim Report). Canberra, May 1986, p.
vi.
- CSC. The National Policy for the Education of Girls in
Australian Schools. Canberra, May 1987, p. 13.
- ibid., p. iii.
- ibid., pp. 10-11.
- ibid., p. 27.
- Yates, L. op. cit., p. 15.
- ibid., p. 31.
- ibid., p. 15.
- Kenway, J. Gender and Education Policy: A call for new
directions. Geelong, Victoria: Deakin University, 1990, p.
67.
- CSC. The National Policy for the Education of Girls in
Australian Schools, op. cit., p. 39.
- ibid., p. 37.
- ibid., p. 60.
- ibid., p. 61.
- ibid., p. 63.
- Department of Employment, Education and Training (DEET).
Girls in Schools: Report on the National Policy for the
Education of Girls in Australian Schools. Canberra, 1988, p.
17.
- DEET. Girls in Schools 2: Report on the National Policy for
the Education of Girls in Australian Schools. Canberra, 1989,
p. 18.
- DEET. Girls in Schools 3: Report on the National Policy for
the Education of Girls in Australian Schools. Canberra, 1990,
pp. 18-21.
- DEET. Girls in Schools 4: Report on the National Policy for
the Education of Girls in Australian School. Canberra, 1991,
pp. 13-16.
- DEET. Girls in Schools, op. cit., p. 5.
- DEET. Girls in Schools 3, op. cit., p. 7.
- Reported in the first and second Girls in Schools
reports, on pages 6 and 8, respectively.
- Such activity was reported in the first Girls in
Schools report on page 6, in the second report on pages 9-10,
in the third report on pages 8-9, and in the final report on page
7.
- This point was made on page 102 of the first report, page 88 of
the second, page 98 of the third report, and page 95 of the final
Girls in Schools report.
- DEET. Girls in Schools 3, op. cit., p. 109.
- DEET. Girls in Schools, op. cit., p. 17.
- DEET. Girls in Schools 2, op. cit., p. 19.
- DEET. Girls in Schools 3, op. cit., pp. 18-19.
- DEET. Girls in Schools 4, op. cit., pp. 14-15.
- DEET. Girls in Schools, op. cit. pp. 6-7,
Girls in Schools 2, op. cit., pp.11-12, Girls
in Schools 3, op. cit., pp. 9-11, and Girls in
Schools 4, op. cit., p. 8.
- DEET. Girls in Schools, op. cit., p. 8,
Girls in Schools 2, op. cit., p. 12, and
Girls in Schools 3, op.cit., p. 9.
- DEET. Girls in Schools, op. cit., pp. 100-101,
Girls in Schools 2, op. cit., p. 88, Girls in
Schools 3, op. cit., p. 98, and Girls in Schools
4, op. cit., p. 95.
- DEET. Girls in Schools 2, op. cit., p. 99, Girls
in Schools 3, op. cit., p. 109, and Girls in Schools 4,
op. cit., p. 105.
- DEET. Girls in Schools, op. cit., p. 18.
- DEET. Girls in Schools 2, op. cit., pp.19-20.
- DEET. Girls in Schools 3, op. cit., pp. 19-20.
- DEET. Girls in Schools 4, op. cit., p. 15.
- DEET. Girls in Schools, op. cit., pp. 9-10, Girls
in Schools 2, op. cit., pp. 12-13, Girls in
Schools 3, op. cit., pp. 11-12, and Girls in
Schools 4, op. cit., pp. 9-10.
- DEET. Girls in Schools 2, op. cit., p. 13, and
Girls in Schools 3, op. cit., pp. 11-12.
- DEET. Girls in Schools 4, op. cit., p. 96.
- DEET. Girls in Schools 2, op. cit., p. 100, Girls
in Schools 3, op. cit., p. 110, and Girls in
Schools 4, op. cit., p. 96.
- DEET. Girls in Schools op. cit., p. 18.
- DEET. Girls in Schools 2, op. cit., p. 20.
- DEET. Girls in Schools 3, op. cit., p. 20.
- DEET. Girls in Schools 4, op. cit., p. 15.
- DEET. Girls in Schools, op. cit., pp. 10-12.
- DEET. Girls in Schools 4, op. cit., p. 10.
- DEET. Girls in Schools 2, op. cit., p. 88, Girls
in Schools 3, op. cit., p. 98, and Girls in
Schools 4, op. cit., p. 96.
- DEET. Girls in Schools 3, op. cit., p. 110.
- DEET. Girls in Schools, op. cit., pp. iii-iv.
- DEET. Girls in Schools 2, op. cit., p. 18.
- DEET. Girls in Schools 3, op. cit., p. 17.
- ibid., p.3.
- DEET. Girls in Schools 4, op. cit., p. 16.
- In April 1989, State, Territory and Commonwealth Ministers
responsible for education agreed to collaborate on the production
of annual national reports, based on a framework of ten common and
agreed national goals for schooling. From 1992, all school sectors
in Australia were meeting the Commonwealth's educational
accountability requirements through this process.
- Australian Education Council (AEC). National Report on
Schooling in Australia 1989. Carlton, Victoria: Curriculum
Corporation, 1991, p. 9.
- AEC. National Report on Schooling in Australia: Statistical
Annex. Carlton, Victoria: Curriculum Corporation, 1989,
p.22.
- CSC. Girls, School and Society, op. cit.,
1975, p. 31.
- AEC. National Report on Schooling in Australia 1989,
op. cit., 1991, p. 13.
- ibid., p. 14.
- ibid., p. 19.
- CSC. Girls, School and Society, op. cit., p.
47.
- ibid., p. 43
- AEC. National Report on Schooling in Australia 1992.
Carlton, Victoria: Curriculum Corporation, 1993, p. 4.
- AEC. National Report on Schooling in Australia 1991.
Carlton, Victoria: Curriculum Corporation, 1992, p. 5.
NB: As the number of apprenticeships has steadily declined since
1989, competition may drive up apprentices' school-leaving age and
this explanation will lose some validity.
- AEC. National Report on Schooling in Australia 1991,
op. cit., p. 175.
- AEC. National Report on Schooling in Australia 1992:
Statistical Annex. Carlton, Victoria: Curriculum
Corporation, 1993, p. 22.
- ibid., p. 23.
- AEC. National Report on Schooling in Australia 1990.
Carlton, Victoria: Curriculum Corporation, 1991, p. 161.
- CSC. The National Policy for the Education of Girls in
Australian Schools, op. cit., pp. 63-4.
- AEC. National Action Plan for the Education of Girls
1993-1997. Carlton, Victoria: Curriculum Corporation, 1993, p.
1.
- ibid., p. 43.
- AEC. Listening to Girls: A report of the consultancy
undertaken for the Australian Education Council Committee to Review
the National Policy for the Education of Girls in Australian
Schools. Carlton, Victoria: Curriculum Corporation, January
1992, p. 1.
- ibid., pp. 58-9.
- AEC. Where Do I Go From Here?: A report of the consultancy
undertaken for the Australian Education Council Committee to Review
the National Policy for the Education of Girls in Australian
Schools. Carlton, Victoria: Curriculum Corporation, April
1992, p. i.
- ibid., p. ii.
- ibid., p. iii.
- ibid., p. 85.
- ibid., pp. iii-v.
- ibid., p. 1.
- Yates, L. op. cit., p. 21.
- Kenway, J. op. cit., p. 72, and Yates, L. op.
cit., p. 22.
- Kenway, J. op. cit., p. 73.
- Yates, L. op. cit., p. 23.
- ibid., pp. 105-6.
- ibid., p. 105.
- ibid., pp. 98-103.
- Kenway, J. op. cit., p. 68.
- AEC. National Report on Schooling in Australia 1992,
op. cit., p. 7.
- AEC. National Action Plan for the Education of Girls
1993-97, op. cit., pp. 2 and vii.
- ibid., p. vii.
- ibid., p. 3.
- ibid., pp. 7-35.
- ibid., p. 37.
- ibid., p. 38.
- Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and
Youth Affairs (MCEETYA). Girls in Schools 1993: Report on the
implementation of the National Action Plan for the Education of
Girls 1993-97. Canberra: AGPS, 1994, p. iii.
- Details in relation to one 'missing' performance indicator are
to be published shortly, and data relating to a third are to be
collected in school surveys in 1994 and 1997.
- MCEETYA. op. cit., p. x. More detail is provided on
pages 55-6.
- The full text of survey results are contained in the DEET/ACER
publication Subject Choice in Years 11 and 12 by John
Ainley, et al,Canberra: AGPS, November, 1994.
- MCEETYA. National Report on Schooling in Australia
1993. Carlton, Victoria: Curriculum Corporation, 1994, p.
6.
- ibid., p. 8.
- The Girls in Schools 1993 report notes on page xi that
the National Advisory Committee for the Education of Girls decided
that data for the second and third indicators would not be
collected for 1993.
- MCEETYA. Girls in Schools 1993, op. cit., pp.
82-84.
- Byrne, E.M. 'Gender in Education: educational policy in
Australia and Europe, 1975-85'. Comparative Education,
Vol. 23, No. 1, 1987, p. 14.
- AEC. Listening to Girls, op. cit., p. 87.
- DEET. Girls in Schools 3, op. cit. p. 1.
- AEC. National Report on Schooling in Australia 1992, op.
cit., pp. 9-10.
- Munter, S. (Ed.). 'What About the Boys?', The Gen,
March 1994, p. 1.
- NSW Government Advisory Committee on Education, Training and
Tourism. Challenges and Opportunities: Inquiry into Boys'
Education 1994: A Report to the Minister for Education, Training,
and Youth Affairs, unpublished report, 1994, pp. 12-15.
- 1993 ABS data on suicide, summarised and discussed in
Parliamentary Research Service (PRS) Research Note No. 2, January
1995, reveals a male youth (aged 15-19 years) suicide rate of 17
per 100,000, and a female rate of 3/100,000: the male rate is
almost six times greater.
- NSW Government Advisory Committee on Education, Training and
Tourism, op. cit., pp. 15-18.
- MCEETYA. Proceedings of the Promoting Gender Equity
Conference February 22-24, 1995. Canberra: ACT Dept. of
Education and Training, 1995, p. 5.
- ibid., pp. 6-7.
- Department of Finance. Australian Public Service
Statistical Bulletin, 1994-95. Canberra, 1995, p.14.
- For more information on pay differentials and sex see Larmour,
C. and Winter, G. Economic Status of Australian Women: A
Statistical Profile. (Research Note Number 48). Canberra:
Department of the Parliamentary Library, 27 June 1995.
- MCEETYA. Proceedings of the Promoting Gender Equity
Conference, op. cit., pp. 50-51.
- Connell, R.W. 'Knowing About Masculinity, Teaching the Boys',
unpublished essay that began as a Conference paper for the Pacific
Sociological Association, San Diego, California, 1994, p. 18.
- Connell, R.W. Masculinities. Cambridge: UK Polity
Press, 1995, p. 242.
- Connell, R.W. 'Knowing About Masculinity', op. cit.,
p. 19.
- ibid., p. 21.
- Ludowyke, J. 'Designing and Evaluating Programs for Boys within
a Gender Equity Strategy', Proceedings of the Promoting Gender
Equity Conference,February 22-24 1995. Canberra: ACT Dept of
Education and Training, 1995, p. 315.
- Connell, R.W. 'Knowing About Masculinity', op. cit.,
p. 22.
- Dunn, J. 'Addressing Gender Equity Through Boys' Programs', in
MCEETYA. Proceedings of the Promoting Gender Equity
Conference, op. cit., p. 324.
- Connell, R.W. 'Knowing About Masculinity', op. cit.,
p. 22.
- Report of the Review Committee. Quality of education in
Australia, Canberra: AGPS, April, 1985, p. 42.
- This and related issues are canvassed in McIntosh, G. The
Schooling Revolution: Too Much, Too Fast? (Background Paper
No. 1, 1995-96). Canberra: Department of the Parliamentary Library,
2 November 1995.
Recommendations of the National Policy for the Education of
Girls in Australian Schools report, 1987
Recommendation 1
That the National Policy for the Education of Girls comprise the
following elements:
- Preamble: to outline the broad social context within
which the policy has been developed, relating to the role of
schools in achieving equality between the sexes, and in improving
the status of girls and women.
- Framework for action: comprising a statement of
educational values and principles; a statement of broad objectives
for improving schooling for girls; and an outline of priority areas
within each broad objective.
- Implementation strategies: action undertaken by school
and system authorities themselves, consistent with the policy
framework.
- Reporting and review procedures: for the assessment of
progress; and the periodic refinement and review of the policy
overall.
Recommendation 2
That the following statement be included as the preamble to the
National Policy for the Education of Girls.
Preamble:
In Australia and throughout the world, attention has focused on the
status of women generally, on the need to improve the conditions of
their lives, and on the benefits of a society where women and men
participate as equals in all aspects of economic, social and
political life. Schools have a role and responsibility in
contributing to the achievement of equality between the sexes, and
in improving the conditions of life for girls and women. All
Australian schools should ensure that what is being taught and
learned does justice to girls and women, taking account of their
cultural, language and socio-economic diversity, and is equally
valuable for girls and boys.
Recommendation 3
That the National Policy for the Education of Girls incorporate
the following values and principles:
- gender is not a determinant of capacity to learn
- girls and boys should be valued equally in all aspects of
schooling
- equality of opportunity and outcomes in education for girls and
boys may require differential provision, at least for a period of
time
- strategies to improve the value of education for girls should
be based on a recognition that action is required at both the
primary and secondary levels
- strategies to improve the quality of education for girls should
be based on an understanding that girls are not a homogeneous
group
- priority in improving the quality of education for girls should
be given to meeting the specific needs of those groups of girls
most requiring support to benefit from schooling
- to improve schooling for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
girls, school authorities will need to take into account the unique
culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
- a high quality education for girls is a mainstream professional
responsibility for all educators in all primary and secondary
schools and school systems
- schooling for girls and boys should reflect the entitlement of
all women, in their own right, to personal respect, economic
security and participation in, and influence over, decisions which
affect their lives
- schools should educate girls and boys for satisfying,
responsible and productive living, including work inside and
outside the home
- schools should provide a curriculum which in content, language
and methodology, meets the educational needs and entitlements of
girls and which recognises the contributions of women to
society
- schools should provide a challenging learning environment which
is socially and culturally supportive, and physically comfortable
for girls and boys
- schools and systems should be organised and resources provided
and allocated to ensure that the capacities of girls and boys are
fully and equally realised
- the effective change and lasting improvements needed in schools
will require awareness and understanding of the educational needs
of girls on the part of students, parents, teachers and
administrators, and institutional support for addressing these
needs
Recommendation 4
That the National Policy for the Education of Girls incorporate
the following objectives and priority areas:
- To raise awareness in schools and in the wider community of the
educational needs of girls in contemporary society by:
- promoting awareness that girls and boys have an equal capacity
for learning and equal rights in all aspects of schooling
- promoting awareness of the roles and status of women and of the
specific educational needs of girls
- improving the information base through fostering relevant
research and statistical collections as a basis for refining or
developing policies and practices relating to the educational needs
of girls.
- To ensure girls and boys have equal access to and participation
in a school curriculum which contributes to full and equal
participation in economic and social life through:
- Fundamental curriculum review and reform
- to provide more comprehensive perspectives to broaden girls'
understanding and options; to include study of sex and gender roles
in society and their changing social relevance; and to overcome
bias in content and related practices.
- Specific areas of curriculum reform
- changes to gender-stereotyped areas of the curriculum
- changes to particular curriculum areas to enhance girls'
participation and achievement
- development of new curriculum to include important areas of
knowledge, of particular significance to girls, which are presently
omitted.
- To provide a supportive and challenging, school environment for
learning, in which girls and boys are equally valued and their
needs equitably addressed through:
- teaching and learning processes and classroom management
- school organisation and practice
- the social and cultural environment
- the physical environment
- an examination of values and attitudes relating to gender,
sexuality and school achievement.
- To ensure that school resource allocation policies and
practices operate in ways which are consistent with principles of
equity and relative need through:
- review of system and school-level resource allocation policies
and practices by school and system authorities, with particular
attention to equitable provisions for girls and boys, and the need
to overcome the effects of past practices
- provision of ongoing general resources to address the
educational needs of girls arising from effects of attitudes and
practices beyond the school and past educational practices; and the
differing needs of schools arising from socio-economic and cultural
differences among the groups of girls they serve.
Recommendation 5
That Commonwealth, State and non-government school authorities
develop strategies for improving the education of girls, within the
framework of the National Policy for the Education of Girls,
following consideration of the illustrative strategies in this
Report.
Recommendation 6
Policy Review
That Commonwealth, State and non-government school authorities
endorse and agree to participate in the reporting and review
procedures outlined in Chapter 4 of this Report.
Recommendation 7
That a comprehensive statement be issued during 1987 by
Commonwealth, State and non-government school authorities,
endorsing the National Policy for the Education of Girls for the
period 1988-1992 inclusive, in terms of the formal recommendations
in this Report.
Gender Equity Taskforce Members
The Gender Equity Taskforce advises the Ministerial Council on
Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs (MCEETYA). It is
made of senior representatives from school systems, national parent
organisations and education unions from the state, Catholic and
independent education sectors.
Membership of the MCEETYA Gender Equity Taskforce
Ms Cheryl Vardon
Chair, MCEETYA Gender Equity Taskforce
Chief Executive, ACT Department of Education and Training,
and
Children's, Youth and Family Services Bureau
Ms Lyn Place
Coordinator, Education of Girls Program
Victorian Directorate of School Education
Ms Jo Diesel
Assistant Director, Social Justice Studies
Queensland Department of Education
Mr Jim Dellit
Executive Director, Curriculum Division
South Australian Department of Education and Children's
Services
Mr David Axworthy
Manager, Student Support Branch
Education Department of Western Australia
Ms Alison Jacob
Acting Director, Educational Planning
Tasmanian Department of Education and the Arts
Ms Barbara Henderson
Principal Education Officer, Gender Equity
Northern Territory Department of Education
Mr George Ellem
Principal, Campbell High School
ACT Department of Education and Training
Ms Ann Morrow
Chair, Schools Council
Ms Helen Leahy
Senior Policy Analyst, Girls and Women
New Zealand Ministry of Education
Mr Noel Simpson
Acting Assistant Secretary
Quality Schooling Branch, DEET
Mr Kevin Vassarotti
Executive Secretary
National Catholic Education Commission
Ms Joyce Hill
National Council of Independent Schools Associations
Ms Lori Beckett
Australian Council of State School Organisations
Ms Josephine Lonergan
Executive Director
Australian Parents Council
Ms Joan Lemaire
Women's Officer, NSW Teachers Federation
Taskforce Member for the Australian Education Union
Ms Judi Quinn
Women's Officer
Independent Education Union
Ms Heather Ridout
Convenor, WEETAG
Recommendations of NSW Government Advisory Committee Report on
Boys Education, 1994
NSW Government Advisory Committee - Report on Boy's
Education - Pages 4-6
The concerns expressed to the Committee about boys were
remarkably consistent across the state and across socio-economic
levels. These are of course generalisations which are not true of
all boys but indicate worrying trends. They include boys' lack of
communication skills, low self esteem and their reluctance to be
seen to excel except in sport. A key concern is boys' lack of
dispute resolution skills coupled with the notion among many boys
that physical confrontation is an appropriate way to resolve
conflict. Some boys not only harass girls but seem unaware of the
true impact of their behaviour. The lack of appropriate male role
models in the media and the lack of male classroom teachers in
primary schools were frequently raised as important issues.
A review of the academic indicators such as performance and
participation, together with the problems reported both among boys
generally, and within specific groups of boys, leads to the
conclusion that there is a complexity to the problems experienced
by boys. The recommended approach is to identify those things
relating to gender which prevent individuals from achieving their
full potential. We need to examine the values that lie beneath our
assumptions about gender itself.
The attributes, attitudes and values that are part of society's
stereotyped images of "femininity" and "masculinity" are for the
most part unattainable for many individuals. In seeking to meet
these images both girls and boys often suppress their true natures
and create barriers to their education and life opportunities. In
boys and men this can lead to attempts at asserting and abusing
power, against women and children or against other men.
The Committee has made a number of recommendations which it
considers will start the important process of assisting boys, and
girls, to understand the reasons for particular patterns of
behaviour and to question some of their own assumptions about what
is and what is not appropriate. The recommendations will lead to
students and their teachers developing skills and values which will
assist in their education and help all students fulfil their
potential in positive and constructive ways.
These recommendations are:
- A Gender Equity Strategy
- NSW should develop a Gender Equity Strategy in education. It
should include programs for boys, programs for girls and programs
for both boys and girls.
- The Strategy should include, but not be limited to the
following:
- Programs should be developed to involve all parents, and
fathers in particular, as active participants in their children's
education
- Opportunities should be developed for members of the wider
community to be involved in the educational programs of schools, to
provide appropriate role models to both boys and girls.
- Peer support programs should be implemented for all children,
starting with a Transition to High School program in Year 6.
- Current programs on sex-based harassment and violence in
schools should be brought under the umbrella of the Gender Equity
Strategy.
- School discipline policies should be re-assessed in the light
of the Gender Equity Principles and Strategy.
- Students should be actively encouraged to participate in
student leadership programs such as Student Representative
Council.
- Participation in cultural activities and the humanities should
be actively encouraged and promoted as being highly valued for both
boys and girls
- Four units of English should be available in a pattern of study
for HSC candidates.
- A set of Gender Equity Principles should be developed to
underpin the Strategy.
- Teaching of Gender Equity should be across the curricula.
- Roles and Responsibilities
- The DSE should identify a senior person with systemic
responsibility for Gender Education.
- Within each region, a senior officer should be identified with
responsibility for Gender Equity within the Region, including
curriculum advice and the provision of professional development and
support in Gender Equity for all teachers within the Region.
- Within all schools, Primary, Secondary, Central and Special,
responsibility for implementing the Gender Equity Principles should
rest with the executive, who should ensure that the Gender Equity
Strategy is a mainstream program of the whole school
- In all co-educational secondary schools, a Boys' Program
Co-ordinator and a Girls' Program Co-ordinator should be
identified. Their roles would be to work closely with the regional
Gender Equity Officer to help implement the Gender Equity Strategy,
and make recommendations to their school's executive about the
Strategy's further development within the school.
- The Ministerial Advisory Committee on the Equality of the Sexes
in Education should be restructured to allow its membership to
better reflect an equal emphasis on the particular educational
needs of both girls and boys.
- Recommendations for Monitoring and Evaluation
- Schools' progress in implementing the proposed Gender Equity
Strategy should be a mandatory part of all Quality Assurance
reviews of NSW schools.
- Further investigation should be carried out into ways of
measuring and evaluating the success of the Gender Equity Strategy
across a range of identified groups.
- The Ministerial Advisory Committee on the Equality of the Sexes
in Education should monitor the implementation of the proposed
Gender Equity Strategy. Its Terms of Reference should be amended
specifically to give it this task. The proposed senior officer
responsible for Gender Education within the DSE should be an
ex-officio member of the Committee and report to it on the
implementation of the Strategy.
- Areas Requiring Further Development
- This Report should be distributed as a discussion paper to all
interested groups.
- More men should be encouraged into Primary School teaching and
women into executive positions in education.
- Gender Education should be incorporated into teacher education
courses.
- Further work should be done on methods of identifying students
at risk of developing learning difficulties and associated
behavioural problems throughout K-12, but particularly in the early
years.
- Further investigation should be carried out into the
physiological differences between boys and girls as these relate to
learning ability and specific reading difficulties.
- Research should be carried out into the possible relationship
between socio-economic level, sex and educational outcomes.
- In the development of the Learning Profiles, the Gender Equity
Principles should be taken into account
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