Girls can't do maths !

[Keepo]

My dd (10) loves maths. However, she is now the only girl in top set for maths in her class. All of her friends tell her that she cannot be good at maths because she is a girl . The other boys tell her the same.

This week they had a maths enrichment lesson and only the boys in her set got to go. I went to talk to her teacher about this and she told me she assumed that dd would not want to go. I asked why and she said "well I thought english might be more her thing she is a girl". . Am I alone in finding this odd. This attitude is starting to grind dd down.

Are all schools like this about girls and maths ? To be fair it does seem to have only come up this year.

Shocking! I work in research, and there has been masses of work undertaken which shows that how good you are at maths is directly related to how good you think you will be. And that's why girls getting this message that it is hard, and not for them becomes a self-fullfilling prophecy! Good for you supporting your child, and keep telling her she is good at maths!

Holy shit, Keepo, I've come late to this and cannot believe I'm reading it!! I'm a PhD-qualified scientist, so have some small knowledge of mathematics - educated in the 70s, I never came across this attitude. In fact, at 13 I went to an extra maths course on Saturdays run at the nearby university, encouraged by my (male) maths teacher. The top maths/science grades in my school year were attained by me, my best mate and another girl - did someone forget to tell us we weren't supposed to do maths?

I am, however, crap at map-reading but am a shit-hot cook

Glad the head took you seriously - that woman needs retraining if she is stereotyping the genders in that way. Is the maths course being run at another time, and could your DD go then?

Keepo - the girlstart site looks good. If you find, or start, a UK version then I would definitely subscribe for my daughters.

Keepo et al: have you heard about nrich?

senua that is brilliant i hadn't heard of it.

'not a day goes by without that warm fuzz of satisfaction that I proved them all wrong. '

It's amazing what a motivator this 'proving you wrong' can be! A marketing boss once told me I was not 'a writer'. I was so incensed by this that I redoubled my efforts and have now had two novels published.

A bit of 'I'll show you!' is very energising.

God I am so glad I went to a girls' school - that way I could get on with being a geeky double maths and chemistry A level student without any inane input like this! Catch anyone trying to tell me that girls aren't good at maths/science etc - they'd soon find out!

But for those of you with daughters at/going on to mixed secondary, that can fine work too. It didn't matter to me in the least that there was only one other girl in the double maths set and none in chemistry or physics. I knew I could beat the pack of them (the other girl and I vied for top position in maths); at home it was a given that I could do as well or better than my older brothers.

One of the good things about maths and the sciences is that the marking is largely objective - if you get good marks no-one can argue.

I think thats an outrageous & totally unfounded attitude from a teacher....gobsmacked that line of thinking still exists at all, IMHO its blatantly sexist & totally unfounded, & I think I would be raising it with the Schools head too, as sounds like the Teacher needs a lesson her/himself.........My DD is excellent at Maths equal top I believe with 1 boy, & from what I know, her top Math set is mostly girls.........I too was good with Maths, & it was a big part of my job,..........my husband is good too, but if its difficult stuff, its still down to me as he thinks I have the edge on him...............

I think this Teachers attitude really needs addressing badly, God forbid any of her Girls actually start to believe in that rubbish

QCA tests are the annual tests undertaken in each of the years 3, 4 and 5. They are SATs style tests, but the data generated from them (scores and levels) is not reported nationally and is used only in school for statistical analysis and data tracking.

At the moment girl's achievement in maths is a national priority. The gap between girls and boys achieving level 5 at the end of key stage 2 is widening (currently 7%). Work is happening on this nationally and in a lot of schools around the country.

A lot of girls who 'underachieve' do so because of a lack of confidence - some just need a greater exposure and more experience of maths. This then allows girls to develop their understanding and ability to apply their knowledge, using new, more efficient strategies.

Girls who underachieve tend to be those achieving level 2A/3C at the end of Key Stage 1. This is where schools need to put in support and work with these girls.

I do not condone the attitude of the teacher: it is completely wrong. If anything she should be making an example of DD and how well she is performing.

Sadly, my research has shown that teacher's attitides towards maths has a massive influence of the amount of progress chidlren, particularly girls make in that teacher's class. Unfortunately in this country it is acceptable to say 'I can't do maths.' Why? It's not acceptable to say you can't read or write.

A brilliant website - www.mathletics.co.uk - worth the subscription cost and a ton more. Kids love it and my research has shown that it improves the children's mathematical ability as well as speed with mental calculation.

Have you seen that Channel 4 have a programme in their Dispatches series next Monday at 20:00, called Kids Don't Count. It is looking at why one fifth of Primary school kids fail to reach the expected level in Maths.

thanks tg2006 very interesting and senua will watch. dd is still very determined and has asked to do extra work at home. She has not really done this before we got her a year six work book she is half way through. She still has a look of sheer determination on her face every morning. The power of mumsnet is amazing all those stories have really helped her.

I will be looking into Mathletics as well. Thank you

BTW I have name changed I am not a total stranger

Went to parents' evening tonight and DD2's teacher described her as having an amazing ability with Maths. She then went onto say that there is a boy in DD's class who is incredible at Maths, but DD2 is far and away (and I quote) the best girl in the class for Maths. I had to smirk at that comment because I thought straightaway about this thread!

I really like DD's teacher but it just shows there is still this belief that Maths is more for boys.

We went to DS's parents evening (he and DD2 have the same maths teacher) and his maths teacher said he should be aiming to do as well as his sister - it just seemed a bit ironic when thinking about this thread I have a daughter who is very good at maths and a son who is very good at english, did I go wrong somewhere along the line?!

Webwiz, mine are the same way. Well, DS is only in reception so perhaps a bit soon to judge. But, DD was never as interested in books as he is.

I was always more interested in math as well.

It just goes to show this is all a load of bollocks and you have done nothing wrong.