Dd is the only girl in her AS Further Maths class - what could the school do to support her?

Can I just hand raglex some

I think she may have run out.

If your DD needs support, help her to ask for it. I think the issue some posters have with your stance is that you've presented her difficulties as an inevitability for any girl in this position.

personally, I find it much easier to work in a male dominated environment.

I did double maths 40 years ago, and DD is doing double maths now. The difference is that we both went to all girls schools.

We would probably both have been intimidated out of doing the subject at the age of 16 if we'd been the only girl in the class.

It's all very well for the more confident people on here to say "the problem's in you", but if you are shy and unconfident, it will take years, if not decades to change your own behaviour.

There is a lot of social pressure for girls NOT to do STEM subjects, not only at school, but as a career. Which leads to a sense of "I shouldn't be here", which is very undermining.

OP, talk to the school about it. If they are a half decent school, they are likely to be keen to encourage girls to do maths, and will hopefully put some support in place.

There is clearly a problem, not only with being the only girl in a class but also with being a female entering a field perceived to be male - or there would be more girls and women doing it.
Being a minority figure IS difficult - I'm old enough to remember there being streAms of accounts by adult women, recounting how hard they found being the only adult woman in given areas.

OP, I would say that listening to her, believing her and sensitively believing her would bd a start.
I hope she has an understanding teacher, too - who can find ways of including her and checking her understanding without embarrassing her.

I don't get the wankiness on this thread. It is surely not hard to believe this young woman feels awkward. Or that many others do. The absence of women from maths suggests young women are self-selecting themselves out of maths to avoid such singularity.

It is not useful to say: 'it was ok for me' because you are the group that continued - precisely because if was ok: it's almost a tautology.

And it is fatuous farting: it does not answer the OP - which doesn't ask about YOU , fascinated though we all are about you. Why don't you just write us all a long missive about what you're eating for breakfast? And where you're planning to go on holiday? All equally irrelevant. All equally You, you,you.

Perhaps that's why you didn't feel awkward being the only young woman in a class: you have the social sense of a cardboard box and the ego of UKIP politician.

Forgot to say we have got her a few hours tutoring to boost confidence and it really fair blaming others who are more confident and calling the intimidating.

It's clearly an issue for the OP's daughter so suggestions that she should deal with it or "I was the only girl and I was ok" are not that helpful.

OP you don't have to tell us, but if you have specific examples of intimidation I would suggest your DD arrange a meeting with her teacher or the teacher responsible for pastoral care to discuss.

The teacher can then work with her to find strategies to cope with classes on a day to day basis.

Obviously if it is a bullying issue then you should consult the school's anti-bullying policy and raise the issues formally.

I have dd doing As maths and a ds A2 maths.
By the time thay got to that age then they usually have come through their single sex friend groups and have mixed friendships, so it is odd that your dd feels intimidated by the boys.
Dcs maths department have an open door policy for 6th form maths. A student can go into any maths class and sit and wait until teacher is free for a few minutes. They can go to the staff room at anytime and ask to see a teacher. They make this clear to every 6th former but still some will not ask for help and school are now logging who asks for help etc.
My dd has been through a lot at the moment and struggling a bit in her as class at the moment because a few of her brighter friends (boy and girl) have unintentionally eaten at her confidence. School have suggested that she has a study group with her friend in another class. Unfortunately one of the other friends has got hear about it and wants to join. Have left her to sort out.

when I was in school I took a technology class that was like a workshop class, I was the only girl in a class of 30+. I have social anxiety and asking a question in any class was hard work. I just did it anyway. The boys were boys and just basically ignored me. I did all my work on my own and asked the teacher when I needed help. I don't understand why it should be intimidating because it's boys? What exactly is she worried about?

I'd advise the OP to tell her daughter to talk to the teacher and explain exactly what her difficulties in keeping up with the course are.

And actually I can't understand why DD hasn't done this already. She's studying for her AS levels which is a time when pupils are meant to be taking much more responsibility for their own learning than in previous years. Which means asking questions in class when she needs to - the teacher presumably does not have time to answer individual questions from each pupil after each class.

If there is a problem, DD needs to identify it, inform the teacher and then jointly work on a solution. And she needs to determine if the problem is the class composition or if it is her ability to keep up with the rest of the class. Perhaps she is struggling with the course composition and is maybe realising she isn't capable of doing the work and needs to switch to a different subject? (said as someone who was not good at maths)

To work with her dd.

This is a situation someone is going to have to face throughout their whole lives.

You can't pin this on a teacher if there is nothing happening in the class.

The op needs to prepare her dd for this not pass on the responsibility.

Backforgood:
The thing is, you've come on and suggested that any girl would 'automatically' be intimidated. People are pointing out that's not the case.

This. There's no hostility towards a teenage girl, there's a lack of understanding why you think it's obvious that any girl would be intimidated.

I was the only girl in my maths and physics classes and I've been in careers which are predominantly men. It's never been a problem for me.

If it is a problem for your DD, you need to understand exactly why as others have tried to figure out before you can find a solution.

It might be something the boys are doing and then you have to deal with that specifically. If she just feels shy though then that is something more internal and you need to work on confidence and assertiveness.

I think you need to focus on supporting your DD to increase her self-confidence and asking the school to support this.

There will be many times in her life in which she may feel intimidated and shock horror, this might even come from other females!!

Also why are you expecting the school to do this, somethings come down to parents to teach.

To everyone saying "the problem is within her", I guess you are referring to insecurities with the opposite sex. This is not uncommon. So, with this assumption in mind, what advice would you give the op?
I went to an all girls school so don't know how I would have behaved in a co-Ed, but at uni went to a male dominated course and have to say I found the boys much nicer than the girls

I was talking to someone who did a maths degree followed by an MA the other day. Was the only woman on the MA and was in the minority on the degree. She laughed about it but to her their sex was as irrelevant as hers seemed to be to them.

I can't understand why she would be intimidated. Both my girls are mathsy and I know that they wouldn't bat an eye lid in these circumstances. My DS2 often surrounds herself in a boy group during lessons eg drama just because she likes the straightforwardness of boys. They are just people after all. Nothing to be scared of.

But be hate can the teacher do?

She had no part in determining the gender of the applicants for the course and is powerless to change it.

She is also not responsible for a person's hang ups.

The op needs to do the work here

I agree with glitter- for a 16 year old, neing the only girl might well be daunting in a way a lot of the posters above obviously wouldn't feel! I wouldn't mind now, but would have been very self conscious at 16- I would very much go and have a chat or email the teacher.

Agree, it is essential to know why she feels intimidated.
being the sole female in a group of males is not, in itself, a reason to feel intimidated or for the school to offer additional support.
If there was one boy doing food tech in a class of girls would he need extra support?

Has she gone and spoken to the teacher about her problems? Actually, is it obvious there are problems?

Could it be that it is the course work, rather than the course members that are the real issue and she is struggling to keep up because she won't ask questions when she needs clarification? if this is the case then DD does need to start to take responsibility for her own learning and to speak to the teacher about her difficulties in keeping up with the course.

I think. First you need go find out what the problem actually is.

Are the other students bullying her? Are they stopping her from talking? Is the teacher failing to discipline or manage to class?

If your dd is getting herself worked up based on being the only girl then you need to work with her and encourage her.

If this is an AS level class then these are older kids who should have some responsibility for them selves. They aren't five year olds who can he told to play with other kids.

I'm another who doesn't understand why it's "needless to say". That's not to say it isn't a problem for your daughter but other girls would be able to cope, I did.

Certainly talk to her teacher and maybe the teacher can address her specifically in class from time to time. But it is something she is going to have to learn to deal with if that's her chosen path.

When I first went to college/uni I was the only girl (electronic engineering & physics), I agree with the vast majority of posters asking the op what in particular is the issue?

I was "the only girl" in a number of my classes at school and university. And later in the workplace.

Frankly, it was shit, and I eventually dropped out. Took me years to rebuild confidence.

Telling an uncertain teenage girl who's already suffering from that "you just have to toughen up", "it's in you", etc, is not going to foster the sort of self-belief and confidence that you need to walk into a workplace as the only techie female and kick ass. It's going to undermine her at a point where she's more likely to just lose confidence and drop out.

It's not just Ralgex being a bit precious about her DD and reading in unpleasantness. The cumulative effect of all the previous posts, especially "it's in herself" FFS, is pretty unpleasant.

Without being given further information I would have to think along the lines of there is nothing untoward going on and your DD is perhaps lacking a bit of confidence around boys, maybe even in general.

Flissypix has it in a nutshell.

I agree with what others have said. It is impossible to give advice until the OP actually tells us what the problem is? What are the boys in the class actually doing to make her feel intimidated?

Fair enough Claw.

OP Is DD very quiet and shy so doesn't want to speak up or are the boys actually doing or saying anything inappropriate? Does she have someone she sits with in class so they can discuss the work? Is she unhappy in the pure and applied classes?