Coeducation and personal and social development

The majority of students in both coeduca­tional and single-sex schools expressed a pref­erence for coeducational schooling. Coedu­cational students have a more positive view of their school's impact on their personal and social development than do students in single-sex schools. However, coeducation has few effects on objective measures of student development. Any effects appear to apply more to boys than to girls.

• Attending a coeducational school seems to make boys more self-critical, with less self-confidence in their academic abil­ities and more negative evaluations of their appearance, than among single-sex school boys.

• In contrast, girls have less confidence and more negative views of their appearance than boys, irrespective of the kind of school they attend.

• The quality of teacher-student interaction has a significant impact on personal and social development, including stress. Stress levels were found to be high. Reported positive input, by teachers (e.g. frequency of giving praise) has significant effects. Coeducation has little impact on student stress levels. Girls report much higher levels of stress than boys within both single-sex and coeducational schools.

Some of the policy recommendations

It was recommended that schools develop their own gender equality policies. The areas for further action included the take-up of particular subjects and performance in non-traditional subjects.

It was found that schools did not make it easy for the students to choose subjects that were not traditionally taken by one gender or the other. This was partly a result of decisions that had been made about the use of resources. Schools are being encouraged to be innovative in their timetabling to facilitate take-up in non-traditional subjects. There is a need to widen and improve curricular provi­sion for students of lower academic ability particularly girls in coeducational schools. This could be achieved for example, through the development and provision of girl-friendly vocational or technical subjects.

The underachievement in mathematics of girls in coeducational schools has been iden­tified as needing to be addressed. Recom­mended measures include more teacher support and encouragement for girls pursuing advanced mathematics courses, along with a re-evaluation of teaching methods in male-dominated schools.

Conclusion

The negative effects of coeducation are relat­ively small and are mainly confined to a few specific aspects of school experience. There­fore, an appropriate targeted response can be recommended. It is clear that factors such as family background and individual ability as well as school effectiveness continue to matter most, even if they are not as visible as the gender composition of a school.

J Task 4. Make up groups of 3 students, 2 of you will be presenting a possible interview taken by a British sociologist in a coeducation/single-sex school. The answers to the questions are already given. Try to work out the appropriate questions. The third student in the group will be formulating the sociologically relevant findings of the interview and giving policy recommendations for the school the interviewee comes from.

Handout 1.

Here are 10 answers given in an interview by a student. Think of the questions that fit these answers and present the interview. The 3^rd student’s task will be to formulate the sociologically relevant findings of the interview (first, who is the interviewee: a male or a female, how can you characterize him/her? social class, abilities?) and giving policy recommendations for the school the interviewee comes from (how do his/her answers characterize the school, its principles, atmosphere; what recommendations can you provide it with?).

1. No, it wasn’t. Frankly speaking I wanted to study in another school, where they have… you know…. more artistic subjects, but they didn’t take me, because I was not good at painting. But I think I am. So, I came here. And they took me.

2. So, my mother told me “Forget about those schools for artists. First, we have no money to pay for them.” She said there was this school. And it was not very far from our house. And some of my friends studied there, too.

3. Of course, no! I’d like to have more artistic subjects, like dancing, stage performance, painting. I know that in some schools you can even choose what you like!

4. Our school in general is very frustrating, so … I cannot say I really have one.

5. You know teachers are boring, they are more concerned about discipline, than about making their lessons interesting.

6 There are a few girls who are more or less good. But there are also some who are worse than me. In languages for example. But I am especially poor in Maths.

7.Well, perhaps no.

8. No, I hate our teachers, so I’ll never let them know any of my personal stuff.

9. maybe… a hairdresser.

10. because my mother’s a hairdresser. And I already can make nice haircuts to my friends.

Handout 2 (the task is the same as in Handout 1.)

1. No, but I’ve been here for a lot of years. Well, I don’t remember how it was, practically. And I don’t care, really. It’s a good thing there were no exams.

2. Well, I can’t speak about choice here. I just had to study somewhere, no?

3. No, because I don’t choose them. They always take those who are better in a subject, nor those who want to study it.

4. I think most subjects we study are senseless. .. Well, maybe PT or Woodwork.

5. Because we play sports together, basketball, football. And girls root for us.

6. My results are not top. But there are girls who study much worse than me.

7. I’m not a superman… of course.

8. I really hate the way they pretend knowing everything about us. But I won’t go to them for advice. It will make me absolutely sick

9. I don’t know, but there is no point in studying or something, it’s for sure.

10. My elder brother will find some job for me.

Handout 3 (the task is the same as in Handout 1.).

1. Yes. Before taking my exam, I was really worried, because some of my friends had not entered here last year. But I had been studying a lot in Biology, … Chemistry… and then they took me.

2. Oh yes. I like Biology, Chemistry, Physics. I have always wanted to study them more. And that’s why I chose this school. It was just for me.

3.Yes, of course. I’ve already said, practically.

4. There is a number of subjects, mostly concerning my future profession. But I like languages, too.

5. In spite of the fact that methods teachers use are obsolete, I like the process itself, and I study what I am interested in at home or in the library.

6. It depends on the subject.

7. We are different, I wear glasses, for example.

8. No, I discuss them only with my family. Teachers are not for this. They give us assignments.

9. Continuing my studies of fundamental subjects is one of my main priorities, because in future I’d like to enter University.

10. I want to follow my father’s steps and become a University Professor, take part in different international conferences, for instance.

Ö Task 5. Try to discern the meaning of the following words by extracting the prefixes you have studied in the table above. Mark them as follows:

(üü) – if you already know their meaning;

(ü) – if you can guess their meaning;

(?) – if you are not sure and need to check;

Compare your answers with a partner. Check the meaning of the words marked (?) in dictionary or with your teacher.

Ö Task 6. Fill in the table below deriving different parts of speech with the help of the suffixes and prefixes. Look them up in the dictionary:

Sub-Unit 3.4: Faith Schools

WARMING-UP:

Ö Task 1. This time we are going to speak about one more important sociological aspect of education - a paradox between an increasingly secular society and a growing demand for children to be educated in a “religious” environment. Look through the list of the questions and while scanning the article given below try to find answers to them:

· Do you agree that faith schools “teach tolerance and respect for other faith” and thus their number should be increased? What other ways of teaching tolerance and respect for faith can you suggest?

· What are the necessary conditions under which faith schools can get state funding? How can a faith school show the secretary of the state for education how they intend to “promote inclusiveness”?

· What is the attitude of the British people towards the increase in the number of faith schools? How can comment on it?

· How do you see the future of the multi-faith secondary schools? Do you believe their work would help to prevent the religious intolerance?

Date: 2016-03-03; view: 1411