- Title
- Girls in Maths research project: extension report
- Creator
- Gore, Jenny; Jaremus, Felicia; Fray, Leanne; Prieto, Elena
- Publisher
- Teachers & Teaching Research Centre
- Resource Type
- report
- Date
- 2018
- Description
- The 2017 Girls in Maths Project was a research study designed to investigate the underrepresentation of girls’ in Higher School Certificate (HSC) mathematics courses. This project was conducted in three phases involving: (1) analysis of girls’ representation in mathematics, using HSC enrolment data; (2) analysis of girls’ aspirations for careers requiring high level mathematics, using the existing Aspirations Longitudinal Study dataset; and (3) analysis of any systemic factors that discourage girls from enrolling in high level mathematics, by conducting and analysing interviews. The project found that girls were less likely than boys to enrol in high level mathematics courses during Years 11 and 12, and less likely to aspire to careers that require participation in high level mathematics during secondary school. Additionally, the project identified several issues that discourage interested girls from undertaking high level mathematics subjects, particularly: higher workload, inadequate ATAR compensation, competitive university entrance procedures, the removal of high level mathematics as a prerequisite for entry to certain degrees, and perceptions of high level mathematics as only necessary for certain career paths. The research reported here builds upon these results, in an extension to the third phase of the 2017 Girls in Maths Project. The aim of this extension was to continue investigating the range of factors that enable or constrain aspirations for, and participation in, mathematics by interviewing an additional 50 participants including secondary students (male and female), their parents, mathematics teachers and careers advisers. This additional research was designed to ensure the credibility and trustworthiness of findings by confirming, expanding, or challenging insights into both the declining participation and the consistent underrepresentation of girls within intermediate and advanced mathematics across NSW.
- Subject
- mathematics; aspirations; teachers; female students; underrepresentation
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1416010
- Identifier
- uon:36985
- Identifier
- ISBN:9780725914011
- Rights
- This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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