SWIMMING AGAINST THE TIDE: BOYS, LITERACIES, AND SCHOOLING – AN AUSTRALIAN STORY

This article focuses on issues related to boys, literacies, and schooling as played out in the Australian context. It reflects on the swathe of populist discourse centring on boys, and on literacy, that drives a potentially divisive education agenda. In providing more nuanced analyses of the debates surrounding the disputed territory of boys, literacies, and schooling, the article offers examples of disaggregated literacy test data to demonstrate the importance of adopting a “which boys” and “which girls” approach to the issues. The article also provides brief coverage of the Success for Boys program, introduced in Australia in 2006, that encourages teachers to swim against the tide of populism by embracing the agenda in all of its complexity. Key words: gender, literacy achievement, schooling Cet article porte sur des questions reliées aux garçons, aux littératies et à l’école dans un contexte australien. L’auteure étudie les multiples discours populistes sur les garçons et la littératie susceptibles d’entraîner une approche fractionnelle en éducation. Tout en fournissant une analyse nuancée des débats entourant le territoire contesté des garçons, les littératies et l’école, l’article fournit des exemples de données de tests de littératie non regroupées qui démontrent l’importance de distinguer de « quels garçons » et de « quelles filles » il s’agit. En outre, l’article présente brièvement un programme lancé en 2006, Success for Boys, qui incite les enseignants à nager à contre‐courant du populisme en adoptant un point de vue qui tient compte de toute la complexité de l’éducation. Mots clés : genre, rendement en littératie, éducation

Secondary school students' perceptions of, and the factors influencing their decision making in relation to, VET in schools

This paper addresses the issue of Vocational Education and Training in Schools – an issue that has recently attracted significant political attention particularly in light of current national skills shortage in Australia. Specifically, it investigates secondary school students' perceptions of VET in Schools [VETiS]. It also explores the factors influencing their decision-making in relation to VETiS – that is, why one might choose, or choose not, to enrol in a VETiS course of study. In view of the findings presented, the paper argues that VET, and more particularly VETiS, is experiencing an "image problem" – one underscored by the need for curriculum design and delivery reform – and suggests that there is much work still to be done on the VET agenda

Success for Boys: planning guide and core module

This publication does not have an abstract

Making education and career decisions : school students' aspirations, attitudes and influences

The study investigated the ways that Year 10 and Year 12 students make education and career decisions, the processes that they draw on in arriving at these decisions, and critical factors that influence their thinking about a range of study and career issues. It was commissioned by the Department of Education, Science and Training and conducted in New South Wales, Queensland and Western Australia. In examining decision-making processes, the study paid particular attention to the influence of Career Advisers, the uptake and reception of Vocational Education and Training in schools, attitudes to traditional trades and school-based New Apprenticeships, and current thinking about teaching as a career. Each of these themes was considered from the perspective of students, parents, Career Advisers and Principals. Importantly, the study examined whether decision-making of this kind was associated with students’ gender, and with the socio-economic and geographical demographics of the schools that students attended. Some of the main findings determined that: • parents are the most significant influence on the formation of students’ career aspirations; • career advisers are less influential but very important in helping students to clarify their options and pathways to achieve them; • 60% of students aimed to go to university and 20% to VET courses (including apprenticeships), reflecting students’ hope of a career in professional occupations; • VET opportunities are not well understood by many students; and • teaching is not a first choice profession for a variety of reasons, especially among males

Boys performing English

This paper explores the gender dynamics of boys' responses to one particular aspect of English teaching: oral performance work. It focuses on the possibility that the requirement to perform publicly in dramatic and other oral tasks may be an important factor in the rejection of English by many boys, and contribute to boys’ relatively poor achievement in English. The paper provides a study of boys' engagement in English oral activities in two classrooms, and identifies a number of factors influencing boys' English learning. In particular, it shows that there is no simple relation between the performance requirements of English learning activities and boys' disengagement with English

Literacy and gender in childhood contexts: moving the focus

In this chapter, I elaborate a number of key points related to literacy and gender in childhood contexts. First, I examine the impact of gender upon literacy learning, particularly in terms of its effect upon boys in the early years. I review populist biological frameworks that are\ud commonly used to explain gender differences, indicating the limitations of such frameworks for producing constructive educational practice. Literacy assessment data show that, while gender is important in predicting literacy performance scores, other issues such as economic privilege and ethnicity are also important predictors of success. In\ud covering this terrain, I argue that individualistic 'deficit' theories are not particularly helpful in addressing the difficulty that many boys have with literacy and suggest, instead, the value of an approach that deliberately considers how social constructions of gender affect boys' perceptions of literacy. It is important to broaden our understandings of 'literacy', not only to account for ways in which literacy is socially constructed, but also to account for the impact of technology upon literacy practices, and to recognise the changing contexts within which young children learn and practise literacy. Finally, in drawing the threads together, the Australian\ud context is used as an exemplar, highlighting current government-sponsored, teacher-driven efforts to more firmly locate boys at the centre of literacy learning, a place that young boys themselves often appear reluctant to inhabit

Exploring boys' literacy performance at school: incorporating and transcending gender

This colloquium paper focuses on government-funded projects on boys' literacy performance in Australian schools. It begins by outlining the socio-political context in which the work was undertaken and briefly references the socially critical model that supported the development of professional development and teaching units. The paper draws on work completed and work in progress in highlighting dilemmas inherent in working in this field. The central argument is that it is necessary, but insufficient, to continue discussing gender's association with school literacy outcomes

Swimming against the tide: boys, literacies, and schooling - an Australian story

This article focuses on issues related to boys, literacies, and schooling as played out in the Australian context. It reflects on the swathe of populist discourse centring on boys, and on literacy, that drives a potentially divisive education agenda. In providing more nuanced analyses of the debates surrounding the disputed territory of boys, literacies, and schooling, the article offers examples of disaggregated literacy test data to demonstrate the importance of adopting a “which boys” and “which girls” approach to the issues. The article also provides brief coverage of the Success for Boys program, introduced in Australia in 2006, that encourages teachers to swim against the tide of populism by embracing the agenda in all of its complexity

Shifting discourses about gender in higher education enrolments: retrieving marginalised voices

In this paper the authors describe the ways poststructuralist discourses assisted us to read and reflect on data collected as part of a traditional survey-style research study. The study-generated in response to widespread concern about falling male enrolment rates at the authors' regional university-focused upon factors affecting rural male school-leavers' decisions about postschool destinations, and upon these students' attitudes to higher education. In the paper that follows, the authors contest the dominant discourses that are frequently drawn on to explain differences in male and female higher education enrolment trends. They then focus upon the features of two of the more dominant stories that students told to explain this 'difference': stories about 'real men', and stories about the value of the 'practical' over the 'theoretical'. In addition, they present another story that draws upon girls' views of higher education. Together, these stories indicate not only how the students are positioned within discourses of rurality and 'work', but also how they draw on a highly gendered and hierarchiacal set of oppositions in storying their futures

Literacy and gender in early childhood contexts: boys on the side?

This chapter examines the impact of gender upon literacy learning, particularly in terms of its effect upon boys in the early childhood years. The chapter reviews populist biological frameworks that are commonly used to explain gender differences, indicating the limitations of such frameworks for producing constructive educational practice. It also r~visits major national literacy assessment data to show that, while gender is important in predicting literacy performance scores, other issues-notably ethnicity and economic privilege-are also important predictors of success. The chapter argues that individualistic 'deficit' theories are not particularly helpful in addressing the difficulty that many boys have with literacy, and suggests, instead, the value of an approach which deliberately considers how social constructions of gender affect boys' perceptions of literacy. It also indicates how important it is to broaden our understandings of 'literacy', not only to account for ways in which literacy is socially constructed, but also to account for the impact of technology upon literacy practices, and to recognise the changing contexts within which young children learn and practise literacy