Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Original poster

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

135 replies

ralgex · 16/11/2014 00:16

Needless to say, she feels intimidated, and doesn't ask the questions she needs to. I feel she has to be given a chance to talk regularly to a teacher about how it affects her, and a chance to ask the questions she daren't raise in class. Anyone got any examples of support for female mathematicians in a co-ed school, please?

OP posts:
WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 16/11/2014 00:36

I was the only girl in my A level physics class, one of only 3 in chemistry and it was just not a problem, I was at a college not a school and it was a long time ago but there were staff that dealt with pastoral care, that would be a good place to start, does the school have that system?

catkind · 16/11/2014 00:35

I was the only girl in my A-level physics class and wasn't a problem at all.

I think you need to talk to her about why she's feeling intimidated. Is it the behaviour of the male students? In that case it needs to be addressed.

Otherwise maybe it's her own attitude that she needs to think about. Not being able to speak just because the other students in the room are male is not healthy. Has she come from an all girls lower school or something to feel so intimidated by her classmates? The sooner she gets hold of the idea that colleagues are colleagues and gender really is not relevant the better.

EmbarrassedPossessed · 16/11/2014 00:34

Any half decent teacher should not allow over confident boys (or girls) to dominate a class as you describe. It's a teaching issue, and should be dealt with like all poor behaviour is dealt with.

WhoKnowsWhereTheTimeGoes · 16/11/2014 00:31

If there is specific unacceptable behaviour being directed at her that needs to be reported to the teacher and dealt with, but I don't think being the only girl in a class is a problem per se. Why does she feel unable to speak out in class, has this been a problem before?

OhYouBadBadKitten · 16/11/2014 00:31

She may well end up in a degree where the ratio of females to males is very low. It was the same for me rather a long time ago. The only support I can think of is finding a female mentor.

Wolfiefan · 16/11/2014 00:30

Perhaps they need to deal with the obnoxious boys then?

prettydaisies · 16/11/2014 00:30

DD was this. She had one female maths teacher which i think was helpful. Otherwise i think she just got on with it. She would ask and all the boys were quite protective of her and would help her when necessary.

Hamuketsu · 16/11/2014 00:29

I'm wondering why it is "needless to say" that she's intimidated, or why she "daren't" raise questions in class. Why does she need to have separate conversations with the teacher? Genuine questions, because I have a dd of my own who wants to take STEM subjects further and may well be in a similar position next year.

Original poster
ralgex · 16/11/2014 00:27

Yes, she knows she may end up in such an environment. I still think it reasonable for the school to offer her help. Teenage girls are not as strong as working women, and some teenage boys are obnoxious before they learn to impress women in sensible ways.

OP posts:
Wolfiefan · 16/11/2014 00:25

Why does she feel intimidated? Surely she needs to be able to ask questions in class? What if she ends up working in an environment that is mostly male?