What can teachers and other professionals do to create a more gender free environment in our schools?

These kids and correct me if in wrong are chosen because they are perhaps higher achievers and the cost to their education is less than thise who are struggling.

I teach maths which is setted, and you can have disruptive kids of any ability, although generally the disruption is worse in the lower sets because obviously if they are disrupting, they are not learning so their attainment drops.

Boys attainment is generally (much) lower than girls (look at GCSE results, it’s shocking), they tend to be more physical, talk more in class, receive more sanctions in general for poor behaviour. I would say that how boys (and girls) are socialised by society in general has huge implications for education. By the time they get to secondary, their biggest influence is their peers so we’re mainly pissing into the wind on that front. Can more be done at primary? Possibly? More male primary teachers as role models? I’m sure my primary colleagues are doing an excellent job in increasingly difficult circumstances. But schools cannot be the solution to society’s ills. Kids spend way more time out of school than in, and are bombarded by more compelling messages from various sources than schools could ever hope to counter completely.

I can sit two disruptive kids together and try to teach them how to behave, or I can split them up and teach the whole class some maths. We have to go for the more second option, because that’s my job.

But doesn't it beg the question noble
Why the kids are selected for the role on the first place?

Because it's not every child and it's not every girl.

These kids and correct me if in wrong are chosen because they are perhaps higher achievers and the cost to their education is less than thise who are struggling.

And they are chosen because they don't speak up. They are quiet and well behaved and won't argue when told to go sit there.

You said yourself they often don't talk if get are the opposite sex.

So isn't that being tested unfavourably because of their sex?

And using the socialization to your advantage?
.those are stereotypes that need to be broken not enforced

Look I do sympathise I really do I feel really bad for teachers whis hands are tied and they have a group of kids who cabt he sat within 6 feet of eachother or all hell breaks loose. As well as having to keep on top of the friendship issues that make grouping difficult

I am not trying to deny how hard it just be and I do wish you had more time and money and resources to deal witg these things more effectively and have the back up of staff and parents to do so

But however you dress it up the root of it is based on stereotypes and socialization even if you don't mean it to be.

Obviously not, Giles which is why I said in my post that disruptive kids are sanctioned and/or removed from the classroom. A good seating plan is good behaviour management. Allowing a kid to elbow another unchallenged is poor behaviour management.

Like I said, ideally the disruptive kids would be sat on their own, but class sizes may prevent this.

But my kid didn't get kuch of a fighting chance when she was being elbowed or having the kid man spread his stuff all over the desk. Or being obstructed from seeing the board.

It's not ok to leave one kid in the shit just cos it makes things easier for everyone else.

Giles we have to work with the world that we’re given, not pretend the world is as we would like it to be, then wonder why it all goes wrong.

So we don’t sit gossipy kids next to their best mates. We don’t leave the blinds open when PE is going on outside. We don’t allow mobile phones in school. We give kids a fighting chance to actually focus on the work in front of them. And if a kid is disruptive, we sanction them and eventually remove them from the classroom to give the other kids a fighting chance too.
I get that you’re primary-focused. In secondary, we see them for 2-4 hours a week and have to use all the tools at our disposal.

I do also think that it doesn't work because if it did anything to change the undesirable behaviour then you would effectively be able to sit them with anyone as they would have learnt not to talk or distract people.

The fact this can start early on in school and by year six still be the go to strategy cos those kids still can't be trusted to behave show it's not actually doing anything. It's just placing the responsibility of controlling the class onto someone ekse. Someome else who doesn't get to sit next to their friend or get to chose the group's they work in because other people cant behave.

The kids shouldn't not be talking to eachother either just because ones a boy and ones a girl. Surely that's just creating a divide and using the stereotypes and socialization to your advantage

Giles I’ve been thinking more about your compliant girls as buffer zones.

Seating plans are one of the biggest tools of behaviour management a teacher has. Get it right and a class can become so much easier to manage. If you have disruptive students, then you are not going to sit them next to each other - that way madness lies. So you split the disruptive students up around the class. Ideally disruptive students would be sat on their own but with increasing class sizes, there aren’t always desks that can be left empty. So they have to be sat next to someone, and obviously you’re going to sit them next to well-behaved students. If they are the sort of student who is going to turn around and mess around with the kids behind them too, then you need to surround them with well-behaved students.
In one of my classes at the moment I have a disruptive (incredibly chatty) girl. I have tried sitting her next to lots of different combinations of girls in the class (I tend to pair girls with girls and boys with boys in my seating plans because they generally work better together) and every single girl, even nice quiet well-behaved ones, she has ended up chatting to and dragging into conversation instead of working. I finally placed her next to a nice boy, and you know what? They don’t talk to each other.

So you may see the ‘compliant girls used as a buffer zone’ thing, and think that it’s because girls are socialised into being compliant so girls are used. But actually it is probably more effective than using boys because they are the opposite sex to the more usual antagonist.

WOW!....this thread has just blow my head in....?!....🤯

I can sort of understand where OP is coming from on some sense!
But why should all the children who understand and accept BOYS are BOYS and GIRLS are GIRLS not be communicated by their gender? E.G; well done girls for that fantastic piece of work?...(by this I'm meaning the group of girls are not DG)!
Surely you an speak to your DD teacher if she suffers DG and as them to relate to her in another form, such as E.G; well done child or if she was in a group "well done children".
As for toilet situation all schools have a disabled toilet for male and female to use, so why don't you ask them if she can use this?
There are ways and means to help with your DD DG without forcing it upon other children.
OP teachers/staff would be the easiest ones to make it comfortable for your DD the problems will come from other children, as children will find it difficult to understand DG and ya can't blame them tbh as it absolutely blown my mind!!🤯...also if children don't understand DG it won't be them been racist about it as to be fair it is a quite complicated matter!

I truly do not understand OP.
Your arguments contradict your aims.
And I don’t think you’ve been in schools recently (since the 1950’s?) as much of what you suggest I have never seen in my entire, long, teaching career.
To be able to continue to teach today despite the crappy curriculum changes, the paperwork, the data targets, the constantly changing goal posts, the changes to pretty much all the terms and conditions including our pensions and retirement ages, the culture of blame by the media, parents and the government ...I could go on but I need to get up really early to finish school work I didn’t finish today or last night... teachers need to 100% be invested in supporting, nurturing, inspiring every child regardless of gender, skin colour, socio-economic position, etc etc to fulfill their academic potential (our employment depends on that) and understand the wider world and their own unique place within it.
You seem to think that this isn’t true which is quite insulting.

Schools tackle rascism, homophobia, sexism- you name it- everyday. The problem isn’t in schools. Schools are leading the way in challenging so many “isms” that the children bring through our doors that they parrot from having heard at home/on tv/in crappy video games and films.
And yes, further to your previous response, I do feel that for the overwhelming majority of all children, schools are a safe haven. We are constantly striving to make it so.

That’s slightly more complicated than a straightforward boy girl seating plan, Giles. You need to know who your disruptive boys and compliant girls are, for a start. Compliant boys can also be used as a buffer once you know your class. I start with corners of the rooms for the most annoying kids, these may be girls or boys.

But the teacher I know who uses boy-girl seating plans does it at the start when they don’t know the class. I always start with alphabetical order. They prioritise behaviour, I prioritise learning names.

In fairness noble behaviour strategies involving quite conforming girls sat as buffer zones between disruptive boys is lazy and harmful my dd has been on the "rota" for a while it's done nothing to benefit either of the kids the teacher just has no idea as she keeps her mouth shut so I guess life is easier that way.

However looking at why this is done and why it's predominantly girls used for these strategies and why the other kids are behaving the way they are would he more useful

How dare we seek to implement behaviour management strategies in our classrooms...there must be no reason for it.

Why I bet some of us even have sons or daughters and base out idea of their gender on their genitalia!

Trolls, haters, goadyfucks, the lot of us.
Pretending we don't understand your ideas just to toy with you.
How dare we suggest anything but a world where people are actually referenced by there sex instead of called non-gendered!

How dare we want boys and girls to mix, or girls with short hair to be told they are the same as their peers.

You don’t think the child always deliberately choosing to use the unisex toilet instead of the girls toilet would have any impact on their self-image? Rejecting their sex’s toilet?

But why would they need to use it?

And you haven't been consistent.

Nah, you'd increase the incidence of gender dysphoria by introducing single sex toilets and calling girls other than by what they are .

Your idea seems to be "re-enforce gender stereotyping while removing sex"

Yes sex refers to biological sex. All kids will be girls or boys

So Why would you need a gender neutral unless you think that any boy who isn't masculine enough or any girl who isn't feminine enough need a to use them to avoid being challenged.

Isn't that enforcing the stereotypes?

These are some of the ways we can protect our autistic children from gender dysphoria

I get it you are from the US aren't you?

I can’t think of anything that would reinforce gender dysphoria more than making kids who don’t conform to gender stereotypes regarding appearance use different toilets to their sex.