1. Are Gender Differences in Reading Inevitable?
Some Results and Perspectives
Pisa 2003

2. Setting the Context
“As we enter the next millennium it is the under achievement of boys that has become on of the biggest challenges facing society today” (T. Wragg, TES, May16th 1997)
“English is more suited to girls it’s not the way guys think. The subject is the biggest load of that I have ever done. I’d worry about guys who like English.” (Marino 1995)
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3. Reading and Gender: Overall Outcome
Pisa 2000:
Girls Boys Gap
Pisa 2003:
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4. Reading and Gender
Numbers of Boys an Girls in Lowest Categories of Reading Proficiency:
In Ireland:
Percentage of each Gender surveyed:
15% boys at or below lowest level
8% girls at or below lowest level
Almost twice as many boys as girls in this category…
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5. Junior Cert. English 2003
Similar pattern of differentiated proficiency evident:
58,000 + sat J C Ex in 2003:
Boys: H.L. 56% ; OL. 38%: FL: 5.8%
Girls: H.L. 70%; OL. 26.7%: FL: 3.1%
Girls achieved consistently higher grades within all levels.
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6. Reasons and Causes Many theories in the research literature:
Biological and psychological factors:
Socio-cultural factors:
School and curriculum factors:
A complex combination of all these factors come into play in any given context of under achievement or low achievement.
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7. Biological and psychological factors:
Different brain structures
Women more emotionally sensitive and linguistically orientated
Boys better at spatial-visual ability
Differential rates of development in adolescence.
Somewhat deterministic view!
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8. Socio-cultural factors:
Traditional definitions of masculinity
The power of feminism
Economic changes impacting on the social role of the male: changing expectations of behaviour.
Literacy’s place in this context
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9. School and curriculum factors
Peer group definition or appropriate behaviour…the need for “laddishness”
Feminisation of the teaching profession…
Teachers treat boys differently.
The generic methodology…transmission for school purposes
The content of the curriculum
School Attitudes to language and literacy
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10. Remedies and Ways Forward
No need for panic…Not a new phenomenon of boys not bothering to apply themselves to words and word usage
Reflex action of blunt, uninformed policy not desirable: Back to Basics will not get anywhere or more conservative teaching approaches…the opposite would seem to be desirable
Three areas of possible potential need to be explored in shaping a policy:
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11. Ways Forward 1: The students
Attempting to understand how boys define their masculinity and how that impacts on attitudes to literacy generally.
What meanings does literacy have for them?
How can literacy practices relate to specific contexts?
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12. Ways Forward 2: The curriculum
Introducing a broader range of “officially sanctioned” literacy practices which relate to identified needs…Content of Reading Courses for Junior Cert.
Information Texts
Computer based Texts
Multi- modal Texts
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13. Ways Forward 3: The teachers
Re-training teachers in diverse skills of teaching literacy practices to boys (Smith&Wilhelm 2002)
Competence, control and challenge
Respond to individual students needs
Design literacy tasks with an immediate purpose
Encourage more inquiry based learning
Learning relevant to real life contexts.
Encourage self –efficacy in controlling the knowledge they acquire
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14. To be remembered…
Reading Don’t Fix no Chevys
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