Only female in A level class

[Coldddddd]

Not sure if this is the right place but I'm looking forward opinions please. DD started 6th form yesterday and found in Physics she's the only female with 14 males and a male teacher. She's quite upset about this, she gets on fine with boys, no past trauma or anything like that. But she feels uncomfortable.

She had her 1st lesson this morning and was told she can swap to a different group (there are plenty of girls in the school doing physics), but doing so means she has to move groups in all her other subjects which she's currently happy with. The teacher broached this with her directly so they obviously recognise it's a potential problem for her.

I just wondered what other people's thoughts were, do you think I should advise her to stay or move groups? Is her learning outcome likely to be impacted by being with all males? Sorry if this seems like a non issue, DD is really quite upset and I'm not sure what to say for the best.

I think I'd suggest giving it a go for a few weeks. She will feel
more comfortable once they start into the work properly and the dynamic of the class becomes leas important some how .

Give it time. Honestly, all students are concerned about something early on in A Levels. Some posters here seem to think that schools can magic female Physics teachers and students out of the ether - not possible. There is a massive drive to get more women into STEM but we are still a very long way from parity.

Keep chatting to her but I wouldn't overplay it. There were only 2 women on my first degree course and it was a little strange at first but I got used to it.

Only she knows how much of an issue this is to her. I can understand why she’s a bit apprehensive and I think I’d change classes in her position. My niece did Physics and it was boy heavy. She used to study in a group from her class, which really helped, and I know she wouldn’t have wanted to do that if it was with all boys as they sometimes spent t8me at each others houses without parents there.

Likewise and in pure maths and applied maths too, the few other girls doing maths chose to do combined maths.

Being comfortable with boys/men will be important if she's looking to do science or engineering in her career, many areas are still very male dominated.

No classroom is a “male space”.

I did my physics A level with just me and 3 boys. Wasn’t an issue. Not many girls did physics in the 90s.
Boys tend to get a lot more sensible in 6th form too as they mature so likely to be completely fine with her

I was the only girl to study engineering science - quite similar to physics but more engineering specific based - for standard grade, higher and advanced higher. It was fine. In my case there was no option to change class because that was the only one but it didn't occur to me. I didn't find my learning impacted in any way by being the only girl.

I was then 1 of 3 women on my civil engineering course, and I got a first class degree. The numbers balanced more at postgrad, but still male dominated.

Now I work in a sector of engineering which is quite male dominated.

I don't feel like my ability to learn, study, take exams, etc has been in any way impacted. I've always felt quite proud to be representing women in a space dominated by males!

I think by A Level boys who have chosen physics are overwhelmingly the sensible nerdy type. That's not to say they get everything right in interacting with girls, but it's not like in lower years where many of the boys will be disruptive and deliberately obnoxious.

Unfortunately not. Some of the lads in my nieces Physics class still didn’t do homework, acted like they didn’t want to be there, chatted over the teacher, and outside of class made sexually inappropriate comments to girls etc. I did Chemistry, Biology and Maths years ago and it was the same back then. The subjects seen as more academic are no protection from this sort of behaviour unfortunately.

This totally.
That’s my Daughters experience if physics boys. She said they are all so nice.

It is 40 years since I did physics A level, so the syllabus has likely changed, but are the pupils still paired up to do experiments? If so, your DD will be with a boy every single time. I would worry that she would let him dominate and possibly lose confidence in her own practical ability, rather than “giving it a go” with another girl.

The school could have prevented this with better timetabling in the first place.

There was only one girl doing A level physics in DS small sixth form but both year 12 teachers were female which rebalanced it a bit.

Some girls would be fine but If she's uncomfortable with the situation then I would definitely investigate the alternative timetable so she's not the only girl.

You don’t know that any other girls in the class would automatically be friendly with your daughter, or be more confident than her.
Presumably she knows the boys she’s with even if she’s not friends with them, and I bet some of them are as nervous around girls as she is around boys.
She knows the teacher has her back, it’s a few hours a week, so honestly, she needs to give it a go before upending her whole timetable.

I was one of 5 women on an engineering degree and have worked in all male environments and it’s been fine. I’m not saying they haven’t come across some dickhead men but you are going to come across dickhead men in all kinds of situations.

Secondary timetabling is unbelievably complex. It’s not reasonable to expect a whole timetable for a thousand or more students to be written around the gender balance in one class. There is an alternative on offer and if this doesn’t mean she would have to drop or pick up a subject then this is better than she’d find in many schools and colleges.

I think it depends on the teacher. I was in the same spot in physics 25 years ago, and the teacher picked on me continuously until I quit.

I was also the only girl in CDT for GCSE, and in Computer Science for A-level - in CDT I was ignored by the teacher, so made it through, in Computer Science I thrived and got an A.

So I'd say, as long as the teacher isn't a misogynist jerk like mine was, she'll be fine (as I was in the classes where the teachers were good)

I was the only girl in my sixth form doing chemistry and physics.

Jesus Christ alive

It is such a shame, though - in my Midlands all-girls’ school in the 1980s, half the year group did Physics A level (the other half did History: only 3 girls did neither, as I found out when I had to timetable something). We were taught by female teachers, all but 1 with PhDs in the subject.

The fact that in the last 40 years, the gender imbalance has remained and is still so acute is really sad.

@ThanksItHasPockets We all know that timetabling is complex and nobody would expect the entire timetable to be designed around the needs of one student. The school can't magic up more female physicists. However, it appears there is an alternative timetable that could have been allocated to this girl and now been offered. Presumably this is because she is doing a combination of subjects that is available is several timetable slots. If us this is the case then it could have been offered in the first place and not put this student in an uncomfortable position.

It is useful to discuss lessons with the other students in a class outside of lessons. If this is made harder by the gender balance then it may be worth swapping. Or maybe start a girls in STEM society.

I think you have to validate her feelings, try to find out more what they are about, and help her go through the options. It entirely depends on the boys and teacher in question. If she has had attention drawn to the fact of her femaleness already perhaps it’s not a great environment. I wouldn’t make light of it - being in an all male environment can be intimidating as I am sure nearly every woman on the planet can attest to.

I did Higher Geography in Scotland in the late 80s and was the only girl out of a class of 20. No issues.

There's a lot of survivorship bias on this thread. Sure, many of us experienced the same thing and were fine - because we were top of the class, or resilient, or were lucky to have brilliant teachers/mentors, or actually thrived in an environment where we were a bit different.

But many of the female undergraduate physicists I teach are still telling me even now that they are sidelined by their male peers doing experiments, or subject to inappropriate comments on academic group chats, or were told by their A-level teachers that "girls don't do well in physics" (multiple, in recent years - I'm not making that up).

Why should it be up to them to learn to tough it out? Why should they have to swim against the current right from the beginning, at 16? Yes, physics is a male-dominated subject but the point is it shouldn't be! And it won't change if we don't make room from the beginning for girls who are not top of the class, or not particularly resilient, or don't find their confidence until they are a little older.

I promise this scenario is being repeated in classrooms across the country. It's significant that all-girls schools are much more likely to send girls on to study physics post-16 (to quote the IoP).

So I really hope that OP's DD is supported to make a decision that works for her, that her teachers are aware of gender bias and proactively work to create an inclusive classroom, and that her school is keeping close records on their statistics and making action plans accordingly. Because these are things we can actually do to make change long term, rather than putting the onus on individual students to sort themselves out or muddle on through.

I’m sorry but what is the issue ? This is a situation she may find herself in throughout her working career how will she manage that ? It’s a total no issue and that’s how you need to deal with it , it’s about learning some resilience and understanding that sometimes in life you don’t always get exactly what makes you happy / comfortable. I was the only female in my chemistry class 40 years ago and throughout my career worked in a male dominated industry so was often the only female in a team / part of the management. It will teach some really valuable life skills about how to be respected and heard in a male environment.

I’m sorry to say that many parents have absolutely no idea how complex timetabling is and certainly do expect the timetable to be built around their child! I’m pleased to encounter a parent who is cognisant of the reality