Send in Buffy to save lost girls - Ofsted chief

Media role models ’can bridge gender gap’

Lucy Ward, education correspondent

Saturday March 6, 2004

The Guardian

The media should provide more strong female role models such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer to help inspire girls to fulfil their potential at school and in their future careers, the chief inspector of schools will say next week. In a speech marking international women’s day on Monday, David Bell will warn that girls’ recent forging ahead in academic achievement conceals a more complex picture, with many still victims of a gender bias pushing them into traditionally "female" subject areas often leading to lower paid jobs.

Girls’ well-publicised exam success also overshadows a generation of "lost girls" who fall through the education net completely, but whose problems are little-documented compared with those of disaffected boys, Mr Bell will say at a Westminister event sponsored by Ofsted and the equality pressure group the Fawcett Society.

He will urge schools to address boys’ "laddish behaviour", which studies have shown can harm girls’ learning, by examining options such as single-sex lessons in some subjects - tried out in some schools - or ensuring girls and boys sit in mixed groups when they work, to "enable them to learn from each other".

Such experimentation can be beneficial, he told the Guardian, though Ofsted studies have stopped short of recommending single-sex groups.

Denying he is advocating "political correctness gone mad", he will call on the media to ensure different kinds of characters of both genders are well represented.

Mr Bell’s speech breaks new ground, since it questions now received wisdom about girls’ success and focuses on an often-hidden group of low-achievers which he concedes Ofsted, the schools watchdog he heads, has also failed to address.

He will tell the Westminster audience: "Much research ... has been devoted to identifying ways to help the ’bad-lads’. But of course, boys do not have a monopoly on problems. Disengaged girls also need help and support to encourage them to take an active interest in their learning. Indeed, the consequences for these ’lost girls’ can often be more life altering than for boys. In short, girls can be left holding the baby, often literally."

Girls had attracted less help than boys because their problems were "quieter" and less visible than those of boys, often leading them to resort not to violent or trouble-making behaviour but to self-harm or even suicide, or to seeking a role through teenage pregnancy, Mr Bell said in an interview with the Guardian.

Early motherhood - substantially higher in the UK than in comparable European countries - then had a knock-on effect on the next generation of children, whose parents lacked education.

Ofsted figures show that just over 3,000 girls - 1% of the total - went "missing" from their final year of education in 2002-3, compared with just under 5,000 boys.

Far fewer girls than boys are excluded - representing only 18% of the total - but the proportion has crept up slightly in the last two years. Overall, girls make significantly more progress at school than boys, outperforming male counterparts at GCSE and A level, and in higher education numbers and success.

But Mr Bell will highlight the continuing gender pay gap, warning: "Despite the early head-start that girls appear to have in the race of life, they do not seem to gain the golden prizes at the finishing line in terms of careers and salaries."

Statistics show subject stereotyping steers girls early into often low-paid professions, with more boys than girls choosing information technology, maths and physics, while girls opted for English, biology and social studies.

To address this issue, girls must feel that their education has prepared them as much as it has boys to work in their chosen profession - a change that will require society to "challenge the long-standing cultural assumption over the role of the family’s primary carer", the chief inspector will say.

From Webindia123.com :

Ofsted chief showers praise on "Buffy"!

London| March 07, 2004 8:23:38 PM IST

Well, this one calls for a round of applause for TV serial "Buffy The Vampire Slayer". The famous sitcom can now boast of real popularity following appreciation from the head of Ofsted. According to The Telegraph, Ofsted chief David Smith said that more television programmes such as "Buffy" would help ensure that the superior achievements of girls at school and university were mirrored later in careers.

Why, he asked, did girls, having secured an early head-start, most notably at GCSE and A-level, fail to gain the golden prizes at the finishing line in terms of jobs and salaries? The answer was gender bias. It influenced the choices girls made at school, which led more women than men to enter the "caring professions" of social work, nursing and teaching that had historically lower rates of pay.

One solution was to boost the number of strong female role models such as Buffy, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar on BBC and Sky, portrayed in the media.

Gender bias also meant that many girls were automatically excluded from scientific and technological professions because they did not specialise at an early age. (ANI)