Math teachers who believe women no longer face discrimination tend to be biased against girls’ ability in math. This is what we found through an experiment we conducted with over 400 elementary and middle school math teachers across the United States. Our findings were published in a peer-reviewed article that appeared in April 2023 in the International […] … learn more→
Blog Archives
Math teachers hold a bias against girls when the teachers think gender equality has been achieved
UK students are abandoning language learning, so we’re looking for a more creative approach
There is a storm brewing for modern language education in the UK. The uptake in higher education has more than halved in the past 15 years. And in the same period, ten modern language university departments have closed, while a further nine have been significantly downsized. Meanwhile, language provision in schools is patchy. There are substantial regional […] … learn more→
Biodiversity in primary school: worms, bees and neighborhood stores
From an early age, boys and girls get closer to fauna through visits to zoos, stories and children’s movies. They know many animals, although they are usually species from faraway places and, basically, large mammals, such as the lion or the kangaroo. However, they present more limited knowledge about the animals in their environment and their value to […] … learn more→
School phone bans seem obvious but could make it harder for kids to use tech in healthy ways
School phone bans may seem like the answer to reeling in young people’s technology use. But if we ban phones and bury this issue under the sand, when and how do our kids learn to have a healthy relationship with technology in a world becoming more tech-focused by the day? Existing bans in Australian schools School mobile […] … learn more→
Keeping a diary can improve teachers’ wellbeing – here are some ways it can work for all of us
Teachers in England are struggling. A recently released government report on the working lives of teachers found that teachers’ wellbeing levels are lower than the general population. More than half of the 11,177 teachers and school leaders surveyed said that their job was negatively affecting their mental health. Teacher wellbeing should be addressed at a structural level. […] … learn more→
Why don’t we take comics seriously?
Despite its indisputable importance in popular culture, the comic does not enjoy a similar status in the Spanish-speaking world as it does in other countries. Among other reasons, this may be due to the very origin of the modern comic in the daily press, much weaker than in the United States, and which linked the comic to […] … learn more→
Ofsted inspections cause teachers stress and aren’t backed up by strong evidence – things could be done differently
The school inspectorate in England, Ofsted, has faced criticism recently following the death of headteacher Ruth Perry. According to her family, Perry’s death was a “direct result” of the pressure resulting from the Ofsted inspection process which resulted in her school being judged as “inadequate”. This has sparked debate about whether the current Ofsted framework should be […] … learn more→
The ethics of care as a basis for the coeducational curriculum
Care is an essential right to sustain life. All people need it to have a decent life. In Spain, more than 75% of the people who provide care to dependent people are women . In the rest of the world the proportions are similar . In a social and cultural context based on inequality, care is understood as women’s work. In addition, it […] … learn more→
Teachers are quitting – here’s what could be done to get them to stay
Each year roughly one in ten state school classroom teachers in England leave the profession. This is a significant problem when the government continues to miss teacher recruitment targets. Just recently, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak acknowledged that more teachers are needed to implement his policy of maths education until the age of 18. My research, published in a working paper for the Institute […] … learn more→
Drawing pictures is great for children’s development – here’s how parents can help
When the weather’s bad and there’s no prospect of a trip to the park, we might well reach for crayons, pencils and paper as a way to keep our children entertained. But drawing is much more than a fun activity. It has wide-ranging benefits for children’s development. Here, we’ve outlined some of the ways drawing […] … learn more→