Mike Younger - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Mike Younger
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc eBooks, 2014
Gender and Education, Mar 1, 2011
Feeling part of one's peer group is of crucial importance for most middle adolescents. Drawing on... more Feeling part of one's peer group is of crucial importance for most middle adolescents. Drawing on empirical research in different schools, this paper explores the components of exclusion in relation to gender, the consequences for those excluded by their peers, and the kinds of strategies engaged in by girls and boys in order to attain peer group acceptance.
American Educational Research Journal, 2006
The gender agenda in many North American, Western European, and Australasian countries has underg... more The gender agenda in many North American, Western European, and Australasian countries has undergone a “boy turn” in the past decade amid growing concerns about boys’ apparent “underachievement” relative to girls. One aspect of this turn has been the resurrection of interest in single-sex classes in coeducational public state schools. This article reviews these developments from an international perspective, particularly focusing on the experiences of a number of United Kingdom secondary schools involved in the 4-year Raising Boys’ Achievement Project. The article suggests that, while single-sex classes have the potential to raise the achievement levels of both boys and girls and to have a positive impact on the atmosphere and ethos for learning, these gains will be achieved only if the initiative is developed within gender-relational contexts rather than situated within recuperative masculinity policies.
British Journal of Sociology of Education, 1996
... There have been relatively few studies which have explored this issue of male under-achieveme... more ... There have been relatively few studies which have explored this issue of male under-achievement at the level of ... boys, leading to effective disengagement and lack of involvement, and inevitably then to underachievement (Harris, 1993 ... Boys play up more in lessons, don't they ? ...
Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, 2017
The different educational opportunities offered to boys and girls over the last 40 years in the s... more The different educational opportunities offered to boys and girls over the last 40 years in the secondary schools of the United Kingdom, and the differential outcomes from such opportunities, have been the subject of robust and enduring debate. A focus on the gender agenda stimulates a feeling of deja vu, a sense that we have been here before and are returning to a recurring theme. Thus, we have a search for equilibrium in policy and practice, as the pendulum has swung from a concern with promoting equal opportunities for girls, through a preoccupation with underachieving boys, to a renewed determination to ensuring justice, equality and fulfilment for girls and women. Many of the gains of the period through to 1990 were submerged over the next 20 years by the tide of recuperative masculinity; despite some schools’ attempts to gender-relational approach which foregrounded the needs of girls as well as boys, short-term essentialist arguments came to the fore, myths and misconceptions about differential learning needs, and poor boys came to dominate the discourse, and girls became more invisible. More recently, as we move through the second decade of this century, there are optimistic signs (perhaps) that the pendulum is swinging gently back, of a more balanced debate with a returning focus on equal opportunities and of recognition of the needs of boys and girls who do not fit the normative stereotype. But we have had optimism before!
Education and Gender, 2014
Teacher Education and the Challenge of Development, 2012
School Leadership & Management, 2002
This article addresses the responses of four mixed comprehensive schools to the apparent '... more This article addresses the responses of four mixed comprehensive schools to the apparent 'under-achievement' of boys. The issue is briefly placed in context, both nationally and locally through a consideration of the improvement trajectory in each school. Approaches are classified into one of (i) organisational (ii) individual (iii) pedagogical and (iv) socio-cultural, and the potential of each approach for raising
Research Papers in Education, 1999
... The determination of successive Conservative administrations to publish league tables of resu... more ... The determination of successive Conservative administrations to publish league tables of results ... in which boys are viewed as falling behind in academic performance (Weiner etal ... a major challenge for those concerned with raising standards in secondary schools in England and ...
Professional Development in Education, 2013
The increased accessibility to education in many developing countries in the Global South has ine... more The increased accessibility to education in many developing countries in the Global South has inevitably posed challenges not only of increasing teacher supply but of improving the practices and the quality of those teachers already in post. In this paper, we consider some of the issues that have arisen in developing and upgrading the skills and expertise of practising experienced teachers, through the development of communities of practice in the Caribbean island state of Antigua and Barbuda. Working with schools and teachers in some of the most socio-economically disadvantaged catchment areas in the country, we have explored challenges and opportunities which emerged as we tried collaboratively to develop communities of practice in practice, as part of creating sustainable spaces for teachers’ professional development. Previously, opportunities for continuing professional development of teachers were limited, and the normal focus for classroom observations was inspectorial and monitoring; so ongoing classroom-based and school-based professional development, and researching practice in practice, have had to overcome suspicion and scepticism, and proceed with care and sensitivity. Findings to date show an impact at the whole school and classroom levels on ways in which teachers and school principals have begun to reflect more on their teaching styles and methods, and on the ways in which pupils think about their own learning.
Oxford Review of Education, 2001
... Many of these claims are long-standing and led to pleas for a reconsideration of the merits o... more ... Many of these claims are long-standing and led to pleas for a reconsideration of the merits of single-sex education within comprehensive schools. ... These claims for the merits of single-sex education are not unequivocally supported, however. ...
Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 1995
... achieved without planning or evident organisation, and to the mentors who, whilst outstanding... more ... achieved without planning or evident organisation, and to the mentors who, whilst outstanding with students in the classroom, were unable to ... The preconditions for 'Total Quality Mentoring' (TQM) From the HEI perspective, mentoring is not just supervising nor, from the school's ...
Gender and Education, 2000
... the ways in which 'the boys' story has become gender reform... more ... the ways in which 'the boys' story has become gender reform's biggest dilemma', and Yates ... teaching in order to attract more men into the profession (thus providing male role models ... same level as girls, with academic debates examining such issues as teacherpupil interaction ...
Gender and Education, 2007
The restructuring of secondary initial teacher education in England has seen a shift in both the ... more The restructuring of secondary initial teacher education in England has seen a shift in both the focus and location of training, with an emphasis upon tightly defined competences and standards and upon more school‐based work. In this paper, I discuss the impact of such changes on newly qualified teachers’ (NQTs) knowledge of gender issues, through a review of the experiences
European Journal of Teacher Education, 2004
This article focuses upon the developing professionalism and emergent thinking of 36 secondary tr... more This article focuses upon the developing professionalism and emergent thinking of 36 secondary trainee teachers, in terms of their motivation to teach, their early beliefs about teaching and the teachinglearning process and their views of themselves as trainee ...
Educational Review, 2012
ABSTRACT This paper sets out to interrogate the reality of secondary schooling in one part of the... more ABSTRACT This paper sets out to interrogate the reality of secondary schooling in one part of the Caribbean, through a case study exploration of the “gender regimes” of four secondary schools in the small Eastern Caribbean nation state of Antigua and Barbuda. In Antigua, as in the Caribbean region more broadly, the focus of attention has been on boys due to their apparent underachievement. However, this qualitative research project found highly complex gender dynamics. Inside classrooms, teachers’ gendered assumptions lead boys to receive more positive and negative attention, leading both girls and boys to be disadvantaged in different ways. Outside the classroom, many “hidden” gender inequalities were found to exist, inasmuch as these were not identified in teachers’ narratives and in discourses concerning policy; such “hidden” inequalities included the pressure both girls and boys are under to perform gender along normative lines and girls’ experiences of sexual harassment from boys.
Educational Review, 1999
... Conscious Effort to Learn': the views of Gemma, Daniel and their contemporaries on t... more ... Conscious Effort to Learn': the views of Gemma, Daniel and their contemporaries on teacher quality and effectiveness ... 103±1 15. KENWAY, J., WILLIS, S., BLACKMORE, J. & RENNIE, L. (1998) Answering Back: girls, boys and feminism in schools (London, Routledge). ...
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc eBooks, 2014
Gender and Education, Mar 1, 2011
Feeling part of one's peer group is of crucial importance for most middle adolescents. Drawing on... more Feeling part of one's peer group is of crucial importance for most middle adolescents. Drawing on empirical research in different schools, this paper explores the components of exclusion in relation to gender, the consequences for those excluded by their peers, and the kinds of strategies engaged in by girls and boys in order to attain peer group acceptance.
American Educational Research Journal, 2006
The gender agenda in many North American, Western European, and Australasian countries has underg... more The gender agenda in many North American, Western European, and Australasian countries has undergone a “boy turn” in the past decade amid growing concerns about boys’ apparent “underachievement” relative to girls. One aspect of this turn has been the resurrection of interest in single-sex classes in coeducational public state schools. This article reviews these developments from an international perspective, particularly focusing on the experiences of a number of United Kingdom secondary schools involved in the 4-year Raising Boys’ Achievement Project. The article suggests that, while single-sex classes have the potential to raise the achievement levels of both boys and girls and to have a positive impact on the atmosphere and ethos for learning, these gains will be achieved only if the initiative is developed within gender-relational contexts rather than situated within recuperative masculinity policies.
British Journal of Sociology of Education, 1996
... There have been relatively few studies which have explored this issue of male under-achieveme... more ... There have been relatively few studies which have explored this issue of male under-achievement at the level of ... boys, leading to effective disengagement and lack of involvement, and inevitably then to underachievement (Harris, 1993 ... Boys play up more in lessons, don't they ? ...
Education in the Asia-Pacific Region: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, 2017
The different educational opportunities offered to boys and girls over the last 40 years in the s... more The different educational opportunities offered to boys and girls over the last 40 years in the secondary schools of the United Kingdom, and the differential outcomes from such opportunities, have been the subject of robust and enduring debate. A focus on the gender agenda stimulates a feeling of deja vu, a sense that we have been here before and are returning to a recurring theme. Thus, we have a search for equilibrium in policy and practice, as the pendulum has swung from a concern with promoting equal opportunities for girls, through a preoccupation with underachieving boys, to a renewed determination to ensuring justice, equality and fulfilment for girls and women. Many of the gains of the period through to 1990 were submerged over the next 20 years by the tide of recuperative masculinity; despite some schools’ attempts to gender-relational approach which foregrounded the needs of girls as well as boys, short-term essentialist arguments came to the fore, myths and misconceptions about differential learning needs, and poor boys came to dominate the discourse, and girls became more invisible. More recently, as we move through the second decade of this century, there are optimistic signs (perhaps) that the pendulum is swinging gently back, of a more balanced debate with a returning focus on equal opportunities and of recognition of the needs of boys and girls who do not fit the normative stereotype. But we have had optimism before!
Education and Gender, 2014
Teacher Education and the Challenge of Development, 2012
School Leadership & Management, 2002
This article addresses the responses of four mixed comprehensive schools to the apparent '... more This article addresses the responses of four mixed comprehensive schools to the apparent 'under-achievement' of boys. The issue is briefly placed in context, both nationally and locally through a consideration of the improvement trajectory in each school. Approaches are classified into one of (i) organisational (ii) individual (iii) pedagogical and (iv) socio-cultural, and the potential of each approach for raising
Research Papers in Education, 1999
... The determination of successive Conservative administrations to publish league tables of resu... more ... The determination of successive Conservative administrations to publish league tables of results ... in which boys are viewed as falling behind in academic performance (Weiner etal ... a major challenge for those concerned with raising standards in secondary schools in England and ...
Professional Development in Education, 2013
The increased accessibility to education in many developing countries in the Global South has ine... more The increased accessibility to education in many developing countries in the Global South has inevitably posed challenges not only of increasing teacher supply but of improving the practices and the quality of those teachers already in post. In this paper, we consider some of the issues that have arisen in developing and upgrading the skills and expertise of practising experienced teachers, through the development of communities of practice in the Caribbean island state of Antigua and Barbuda. Working with schools and teachers in some of the most socio-economically disadvantaged catchment areas in the country, we have explored challenges and opportunities which emerged as we tried collaboratively to develop communities of practice in practice, as part of creating sustainable spaces for teachers’ professional development. Previously, opportunities for continuing professional development of teachers were limited, and the normal focus for classroom observations was inspectorial and monitoring; so ongoing classroom-based and school-based professional development, and researching practice in practice, have had to overcome suspicion and scepticism, and proceed with care and sensitivity. Findings to date show an impact at the whole school and classroom levels on ways in which teachers and school principals have begun to reflect more on their teaching styles and methods, and on the ways in which pupils think about their own learning.
Oxford Review of Education, 2001
... Many of these claims are long-standing and led to pleas for a reconsideration of the merits o... more ... Many of these claims are long-standing and led to pleas for a reconsideration of the merits of single-sex education within comprehensive schools. ... These claims for the merits of single-sex education are not unequivocally supported, however. ...
Mentoring & Tutoring: Partnership in Learning, 1995
... achieved without planning or evident organisation, and to the mentors who, whilst outstanding... more ... achieved without planning or evident organisation, and to the mentors who, whilst outstanding with students in the classroom, were unable to ... The preconditions for 'Total Quality Mentoring' (TQM) From the HEI perspective, mentoring is not just supervising nor, from the school's ...
Gender and Education, 2000
... the ways in which 'the boys' story has become gender reform... more ... the ways in which 'the boys' story has become gender reform's biggest dilemma', and Yates ... teaching in order to attract more men into the profession (thus providing male role models ... same level as girls, with academic debates examining such issues as teacherpupil interaction ...
Gender and Education, 2007
The restructuring of secondary initial teacher education in England has seen a shift in both the ... more The restructuring of secondary initial teacher education in England has seen a shift in both the focus and location of training, with an emphasis upon tightly defined competences and standards and upon more school‐based work. In this paper, I discuss the impact of such changes on newly qualified teachers’ (NQTs) knowledge of gender issues, through a review of the experiences
European Journal of Teacher Education, 2004
This article focuses upon the developing professionalism and emergent thinking of 36 secondary tr... more This article focuses upon the developing professionalism and emergent thinking of 36 secondary trainee teachers, in terms of their motivation to teach, their early beliefs about teaching and the teachinglearning process and their views of themselves as trainee ...
Educational Review, 2012
ABSTRACT This paper sets out to interrogate the reality of secondary schooling in one part of the... more ABSTRACT This paper sets out to interrogate the reality of secondary schooling in one part of the Caribbean, through a case study exploration of the “gender regimes” of four secondary schools in the small Eastern Caribbean nation state of Antigua and Barbuda. In Antigua, as in the Caribbean region more broadly, the focus of attention has been on boys due to their apparent underachievement. However, this qualitative research project found highly complex gender dynamics. Inside classrooms, teachers’ gendered assumptions lead boys to receive more positive and negative attention, leading both girls and boys to be disadvantaged in different ways. Outside the classroom, many “hidden” gender inequalities were found to exist, inasmuch as these were not identified in teachers’ narratives and in discourses concerning policy; such “hidden” inequalities included the pressure both girls and boys are under to perform gender along normative lines and girls’ experiences of sexual harassment from boys.
Educational Review, 1999
... Conscious Effort to Learn': the views of Gemma, Daniel and their contemporaries on t... more ... Conscious Effort to Learn': the views of Gemma, Daniel and their contemporaries on teacher quality and effectiveness ... 103±1 15. KENWAY, J., WILLIS, S., BLACKMORE, J. & RENNIE, L. (1998) Answering Back: girls, boys and feminism in schools (London, Routledge). ...