whethermatchingpupilsandteachersbygenderisthoughtby（29页）.docVIP

A Perfect Match? Pupils’ and teachers’ views of the impact of matching educators and learners by gender Becky Francis, Christine Skelton, Bruce Carrington, Merryn Hutchings, Barbara Read and Ian Hall. Paper presented at the British Educational Research Association Annual Conference, University of Warwick, 6-9 September 2006 Professor Becky Francis is Professor of Education at Roehampton University. Professor Christine Skelton is Professor of Education at Roehampton University. Professor Bruce Carrington is Head of School of Education at Glasgow University. Professor Merryn Hutchings is Deputy Director of IPSE, London Metropolitan University. Dr Barbara Read is Research Fellow at IPSE, London Metropolitan University. Mr Ian Hall is Research Officer at University of Newcastle. Contact: Becky Francis Southlands College, Roehampton University 80 Roehampton Lane, London SW15 8SL. e-mail: B.Francis@roehampton.ac.uk A Perfect Match? Pupils’ and teachers’ views of the impact of matching educators and learners by gender Abstract: British government policy on teacher recruitment gives a high priority to increasing the number of male teachers, particularly to primary schools. This focus stems from concern to challenge ‘boys’ underachievement’: policy-makers believe that ‘matching’ teachers and pupils by gender will improve boys’ engagement with school. Yet there is little evidence to support such assumptions which, as this article notes, are predicated on out-dated theories of social learning. This article reports findings from a large-scale qualitative study that sought to investigate primary pupils and teachers’ views concerning ‘gender match’ of teacher and learner. It demonstrates that the substantial majority of pupils and teachers rejected the salience of gender in pupil-teacher relations and learning outcomes, prioritising instead the abilities of the individual teacher. The explanations of those pupils and teachers who did support the notion of ‘g