How can teachers help close the gender gap? Get guidance on helping girls achieve their potential with this free online course. The behaviours that the education system rewards – studying, careful preparation, patient climbing from one level to the next – seem to give women an advantage academically. Yet in the world of work, people hire and promote based on character as much as on formal qualifications.
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Through examining what should be experienced by young women in the classroom this course aims to start a conversation between teachers about how to best help girls succeed in the classroom and beyond, as well as offering authoritative advice, guidance and practical solutions.
Understand the factors that affect girls at school
Before exploring teaching strategies that work in the classroom, we will first examine the significant factors that influence girls’ learning experiences. In particular we’ll look at the strategies that develops character in a way that supports academic success in school and professional success after school. We will also examine and discuss the factors that can inhibit girls reaching their full potential in school and in their future careers.
Get guidance on helping girls achieve their potential
This course will give you practical steps to enhance the quality of learning for girls; after all, how pupils learn is as important as what they learn. We will examine different aspects of pedagogy that are ‘girl-friendly’ according to research and experience, and that also develop and promote character traits such as independence, resilience, collaborative working, problem solving and confidence.
These approaches include: collaborative learning, challenge and problem solving, and ways of developing social interaction. You’ll then work on evaluating the impact of such approaches in your own school and identify any issues you might face.
Learn from the GDST
The GDST (Girls’ Day School Trust) is the leading group of independent girls’ schools in the UK, with nearly 4,000 staff, and 20,000 students between the ages of three and 18. Founded in 1872, the GDST has a long history of pioneering innovation in the education of girls - in fact this course coincides with a research project going on within our schools, and much of the course has been created using this cutting edge research.
What will you achieve?
- Discuss the need for effective pedagogies for girls and identify factors that can limit girls reaching their full potential
- Develop a rationale and criteria for effective collaborative learning in order to maximise effectiveness and engagement in girls' learning
- Explore strategies used to develop and sustain Growth Mindset
- Evaluate school-based strategies that can help girls build confidence and respond positively to learning challenges
- Identify practical in-school opportunities to develop talk for life and consider the need to develop a cognitive vocabulary in girls
- Explore the range and nature of partnerships that enable learning
- Reflect on, analyse and understand the implications of the course for your own
