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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think girls are being treated unfairly?

121 replies

glassankles · 30/03/2022 16:03

I am not a mother, but my younger sister has made me aware of an issue in her class that's upsetting her and by extension me.

My sister is 11 years old and is in 5th class (UK year 6). For some time now her male classmates have been taken out of class to receive extra maths lessons by another teacher. These lessons focus on more advanced topics such as algebra and geometry, while the girls are instructed to read books. When the teacher enters the classroom apparently she calls for the "buachailli" to go with her which is the Irish word for boys. This is in addition to the maths the whole class does.

My sister is a bit irritated at this because she wants to study maths at higher level in secondary school and feels she is now at a bit of a disadvantage. There is no plan to give the girls the same extra tuition that the boys are getting. AIBU to think this is ridiculous and to politely take it up with the school?

OP posts:
Fifthtimelucky · 30/03/2022 16:42

I think this would be fine if the group taken out needed extra help because they were struggling or because they were extra good at maths and were being given extension work to stretch them.

But it seems unlikely that in either case the group would consist of almost all the boys and none of the girls.

I'd definitely query it with the school.

yellowtwo · 30/03/2022 16:42

3glassankles

No that's not OK! Can you find out if all the boys are taken out and just the girls left? Is there a school WhatsApp even for the parents? You could ask your Mam to say it in the group, that she'd like her daughter to do the extra maths. See what other parents say about it.

Limer · 30/03/2022 16:44

You need to ask the school what's going on.

jeaux90 · 30/03/2022 16:46

There is a reason girls academically achieve better in single sex schools.

FairyCakeWings · 30/03/2022 16:47

Could it be because they’re doing an entrance exam for another school, or because some children have mastered long division and are ready to move onto the next thing while some aren’t? Is there a SATa equivalent where some children are taking the higher version maybe?

ProfessorSlocombe · 30/03/2022 16:48

Is this in the UK ?

irishfarmer · 30/03/2022 16:51

@FairyCakeWings no our 1st official exams are the junior cert, which is at age 14/15.

Fair enough, I had lots of older sibling (youngest of MANY) but I clearly didn't take heed of what they were doing!! I think that is a disgrace anyway, get onto Joe Duffy Grin no, seriously make sure your mam knows and raises it with the school. Your sister might have the wrong end of the stick.

RoseslnTheHospital · 30/03/2022 16:52

Are the girls left without a teacher? That's really not acceptable if that's the case.

My DS has additional maths in a small group, but they are taken out and taught by a maths specialist whilst the rest of the class is taught maths by the usual class teacher. Even if this maths group is currently all boys, referring to them as the "boys" group is going to reinforce the idea that boys are better at maths and the girls need less consideration as a result. Totally unacceptable.

Your sister needs to find out from the class teacher exactly what is going on and why, so that she can decide what steps to take next.

MuchuseasaChocolateTeapot · 30/03/2022 16:53

My son and a couple of others finished maths routinely before the others in the class so were singled out for advanced classes. Nothing to do with being boys though, just whoever was in the little ‘top’ group at the time.

seadreams · 30/03/2022 16:53

@FairyCakeWings Schools in Ireland are not allowed to have entrance exams in order to gain a place in a school. Entrance exams are purely for determining what classes within a school the child should be in. I think they can do them for scholarship places but not the places themselves so I'd say its highly unlikely. And if nearly all the boys have caught onto a topic whilst none of the girls have there is clearly an issue.

RoseslnTheHospital · 30/03/2022 16:53

Sorry, your mother needs to find out what's going on from the class teacher, not your sister.

DameHelena · 30/03/2022 16:58

First of all, find out 100% that this is actually what's going on.
Then if it transpires that it is, hand the school's arses to them.

ancientgran · 30/03/2022 16:58

My DD couldn't do the maths option she wanted for A level, her school didn't do it so she did it herself. The school did arrange for her to sit the paper. Can your sister do something like that.

At my kids primary they had two groups that were taken out, one was a catch up group and one was a challenging group for kids who needed a bit of stretching. Both were mixed though. I always felt sorry for the kids in the middle who didn't seem to get anything special.

Original poster
glassankles · 30/03/2022 16:58

@seadreams

They carry on with regular classwork, mainly English or Irish.

OP posts:
Original poster
glassankles · 30/03/2022 17:00

@RoseslnTheHospital

Sorry, may have phrased that wrong, the boys are taught by an outside teacher. Their class teacher carries on teaching the rest of the class.

OP posts:
RoseslnTheHospital · 30/03/2022 17:03

In that case I would contact the class teacher and ask what the criteria is for the additional maths group, and what your sister would need to be able to show she can do in order to qualify.

I'm surprised that there are 16 children that are sufficiently advanced to warrant separate tuition.

incognitoforthisone · 30/03/2022 17:04

Hasn't your sister (or indeed your niece) actually asked for any explanation about this?

I totally agree that it seems weird, but as you've said there are a couple of boys who aren't taking the extra maths classes, there must be more to it than just dividing the class by sex. But if I was your sister I'd certainly want to know more because it seems vanishingly unlikely that none of the girls in the class are performing well enough in maths to be invited to advanced classes. It would be a five minute conversation with the class teacher to find out what's going on, though.

gogohm · 30/03/2022 17:05

Seems very unusual in 2022. My dd (U.K.) was in the higher maths group and it was a mix of boys and girls chosen by ability

Original poster
glassankles · 30/03/2022 17:07

@yellowtwo

There's no Whatsapp group unfortunately.

OP posts:
EnzoArzo · 30/03/2022 17:07

Are you based in Kerry? A friend had the same. She wanted to do applied maths for leaving cert but was told she couldn’t as she was a girl.

WanderleyWagon · 30/03/2022 17:09

I'd definitely take this up. I'd start by double checking that it's not extra support for students who are struggling, and then 100% take it up with the school. You sound like a very supportive sibling; good luck.

KatsuKatsu · 30/03/2022 17:10

Find out exactly what the situation is then ask what the criteria is for the extra tuition

Original poster
glassankles · 30/03/2022 17:16

@incognitoforthisone

I told her to ask her teacher about it too, but to be honest she's really shy and I doubt she will.

OP posts:
Original poster
glassankles · 30/03/2022 17:18

Thanks so much to everyone who's helped, I really appreciate it!

OP posts:
worriedatthistime · 30/03/2022 17:18

Is it every boy or just a small group as if a small group these could be the very advanced and just so happens they are boys