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

[ralgex]

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?

[noblegiraffe]

Yes, I get that, but why is there apparently a big gender split in who does which? 11 to 1 is surely worthy of explanatory comment?

[CariadsDarling]

Yes, I get that, but why is there apparently a big gender split in who does which? 11 to 1 is surely worthy of explanatory comment?


No, not really. Its two very different systems and one is more than likely favoured over the other by parents.

[noblegiraffe]

But only parents of girls?

[CariadsDarling]

I would be interested in knowing where the school is, even if its Uk based, and where the kids would go onto university,

Ive had 2 go down the A Level route and 2 do IB.

[LeBearPolar]

Some do A Levels, some do IB. The groups are determined by who chooses which subjects for Higher and which for Standard, as well as numbers doing A Levels, numbers doing IB, numbers doing Lang/Lit, numbers doing Lit, teachers' timetables, students' timetables and how the subjects are blocked. So we can't make all the sets perfectly balanced according to gender - in fact, it doesn't even get a look in after all the other factors have been considered. We have about 18 English sets in the sixth form at the moment.

[noblegiraffe]

That's a pretty large sixth form!

We had to shuffle maths sets recently. We did take gender split into account, to avoid having one set very male dominated. But then I suppose it's more important in maths.

[pharoahinthebath]

My dd is much younger but has experienced similar in that her maths class she was one of only a few girls. She had an inexperienced teacher last yr and was quite convinced that the boys were better than her knew all the answers because their hands shot up and they were louder and had a more competitive attitude. I had a word with the teacher and she arranged the class so that the girls were sat together.
However at the end of the year she was graded as one of the best in the class - so her perception was obviously wrong. I know it is different because she is much younger but perhaps the competitive mindset is still there?

[skylark2]

Just taking a slightly different angle here - OP, has anyone explicitly said to your DD that FMaths Alevel is hard and that it is completely normal for people who've coasted through maths all the way to and through GCSE to suddenly find that there are things they don't "just get" and which they really have to work on?

I spent most of my lower sixth thinking my world was ending. Actually I was doing fine - it was just that I was used to getting close to 100% on no work and suddenly I was having to work to get 70%!

Does she have a class tutor who she could ask about having an arranged chat with her maths teacher about her concerns?

[DeWee]

Dd1's is in year 9 and they've just split all the maths sets boy/girl.

Great maybe you think?

Actually dd1 is begging to be allowed to join the boys group so she'll be 1:32 in there. She's very shy and hasn't a lot of confidence, but she found the mixed goups last year much easier to get on in, and the boys are more supportive of each other-helping each other etc.

[BrendaBlackhead]

Agree with others that it is really about the individual and not "boys are horrid".

I went to an all-girls school, very high achieving. I can tell you that in maths some of those girls were mean . There was much theatrical groaning at anyone who asked a question and people were continually asking the teacher to move on to more difficult areas beyond the curriculum. I didn't do very well, because I was that shy, intimidated girl at the back who feared to speak up. As far as I remember I don't think the teacher was in any way unkind, just a bit oblivious.

And so it goes at A Level. In ds's class there are the super geeks who know it all. And likewise in ds's English class there are the girls who ds says are "full of themselves" and try to dominate the discussions. And, btw, ds is the only boy in the class. He says that in an ideal world he'd like some male company, but he's not particularly bothered.