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

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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?

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.

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.

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)

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Having read this post I just feel sad that in 2014 a further maths class in a comprehensive school only has one girl in it. I would be asking why has there been this culture in her school of maths being a boys subject.

I think this thread perfectly sums up why so few women succeed at STEM.

Any girls who try it and feel uncomfortable in the male dominated environment are discredited. Examples of other superior women for whom it was no problem are offered as evidence if where the blame lies.

Plus ca change. ..

I was the only girl in my A Level physics class. Never really occurred to me to worry about it. Boys are a lot easier to make friends with than girls at that age I think - far less bitchiness!

Yes, this, its spot on,

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.

"I found most disappointing."

Do you mean to sound like a condescending twat, coco nutty?

The OP is posting because she's worried about her daughter, and you're critiquing her writing style.

Now THAT is disappointing: a total empathy fail. I would say you fail the Turing test.

Yes Coconutty, the 'needless to say' was disappointing and Im wondering if the OP has the view its also rubbing off on her daughter.

It just all seems very defeatist.

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.

People are saying it was ok for them because of the "needless to say" comment. It implies it is inevitable but it is not at all.

Having read this post I just feel sad that in 2014 a further maths class in a comprehensive school only has one girl in it. I would be asking why has there been this culture in her school of maths being a boys subject.

It's a national (if not international) culture. I don't think you can blame this individual school for this.

You know, this OP was probably written by a woman hoping to get advice to help her with her daughter - and to help her stay in a class, doing Further Maths.

It was't posted as an invitation to give someone a kicking when they are worried enough to ask advice from anonymous people on the internet.

I appreciate that for your daughter, it's a challenging situation. I was the only girl (with 10 boys) in my A-Level Physics class, one of only 2 girls in further maths and, when I started my first job I was the only female "technical" staff in an office of 30 (there were PA/admin type ladies).

I'm not the most outgoing of people (am actually quite shy and don't have much confidence) but I've NEVER felt intimidated by the males.

I'd say there's a few things you could work on:

1. her self confidence - she needs to believe that she's as good as the boys and that her questions are just as valid as theirs
2. the opportunities the teacher is giving her to participate- is he encouraging her contribution and helping to increase her confidence
3. Finding a supportive female mentor (maybe a maths teacher or an upper sixth student) or maybe on-line support. There must be girlie "mathmo" forums out there?

The blokes I've studied/worked with have always been ambivalent about there being a girl in the room (pretty much). Yes, there's banter and occasional jokes directed my way but only in the same way that there's banter and jokes directed at each other. I would say a bit of joshing and the odd joke is to be expected (and is a positive sign that she's accepted into the group) but if they're crossing a line or creating a negative environment this needs tackling. I sometimes think that for all the "equality" talk these days, social media portrayal of poor female role models actually makes men less accepting of women's status than they were 15 years ago (but that's a whole other rant!).

The OP is not being given a kicking. Its merely being suggested that the source of her DD feeling like this could have many causes.

Surely its in the best interests of the DD if remedying the situation is done for the right reasons.

OP has DD got friends in the group? Has she only female friends normally? What about role play or acting classes to help her feel more confident? What about developing male friendships?