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Reading for pleasure is essential in the development of literacy. This paper reports on findings from a paired reading strategy introduced into primary schools in Antigua and Barbuda in order to foster children's pleasure in reading. This programme of cross-age peer tutoring intervention began with the training of teachers in a small group of seven schools and was extended to all the schools on the islands in the following year. Qualitative research data from children and teachers showed that children were enthusiastic about the experience, with some evidence to show that their wider interest in reading was stimulated. Although for the pupils, particularly the younger ones, the main benefit of shared reading was perceived to be an improvement in reading skills, for teachers, it was the increase in children's confidence in reading that was cited as the most positive outcome. Although resource constraints in some schools did limit the scope of the programme, the paper argues that it boosted the reading development of a number of children and may have acted as a catalyst for stimulating a lasting pleasure and joy in reading.

Within a context where relatively few girls complete secondary education, 18 women were interviewed in Uganda with the objective of ascertaining how they were able to overcome the challenges they encountered to become well-qualified and successful career-women. An important finding from this research was that although parental involvement in Uganda is a much less formal process than that reported in literature from the Global North, it is nevertheless crucially important, with parents and other key figures enabling, supporting and encouraging the young women's education, and acting as role models. The paper highlights, however, the gendered nature of such involvement, with some fathers having the advantages of authority, education, money and time to enable them to stand apart from their communities in supporting their daughters' education. In contrast, mothers frequently struggled through lack of resources, yet their unstinting hard work and persistence offered inspiration and role modelling of a different kind. Interviewees growing up without one or both biological parents meanwhile relied on a network of people who in effect became surrogate parents, in various ways assisting them to complete their schooling.

Within a conceptual framework of Sen's capability approach, the paper explores aspects of girls' retention in Kajiado schools, Kenya. Drawing on a qualitative study involving in-depth interviews with 24 girls in four schools, the paper discusses the "unfreedoms" the girls experience in relation to environmental, infrastructural and economic constraints, as well as the personal unfreedoms they experience in relation to their gender. The study found that despite these constraints, girls' retention was linked to their zeal for education and to the part played by key people, supporting and encouraging them and sometimes acting as catalysts for change.

Feeling part of one's peer group is of crucial importance for most middle adolescents. Drawing on empirical research in different schools, this paper explores the components of exclusion in relation to gender, the consequences for those excluded by their peers, and the kinds of strategies engaged in by girls and boys in order to attain peer group acceptance. (Contains 2 notes.)

This paper reflects upon the nature of a target-setting and mentoring scheme in an 11-16 school in England, through a series of retrospective interviews with students who continued into further education. It considers the extent to which the initiative impacted both upon students' formal academic achievement at 16+ and upon the subsequent longer-term aspirations of these students. Interviews with students who achieved considerable "value-added" in their GCSE examinations suggested that the impact of mentoring was strongest amongst those students who came from homes where there was less expectation of them participating in further and higher education, and that this effect was not differentiated according to gender. The paper suggests that longer-term transformation of students' aspirations, and the challenging of gendered course and career stereotypes, will only be achieved if schools adopt a more holistic and proactive approach to careers education and to widening participation for their students, and that the absence of such proactivity will limit the longer-term gains initiated by successful mentoring activities. (Contains 1 figure, 1 table, and 6 notes.)

The debate in the UK about gender equity and equal opportunities for girls and boys has been "captured", in the last two decades, by an overriding concern with the issue of boys' apparent under-achievement. More recently, however, there has been a reaction to essentialist approaches related to "boy-friendly" pedagogies and strategies, and attempts to return the debate to consider gender relational and gender-inclusive approaches. This article focuses upon these issues within the context of the initial training and education of primary school teachers in the UK, exploring the gender awareness and perceptions of one cohort of trainee teachers, to establish their emerging beliefs about pedagogy, curriculum and whole school strategies. On the basis of our findings, we argue that there is a need to re-activate debates about gender identity and inclusivity within initial teacher education and training in the UK, and to reconnect research within the academic community and teaching on such courses, if the seductive discourse about the need to defeminise primary schooling is to be effectively challenged. (Contains 4 figures and 5 notes.)

Issues of gender equity in English secondary schools over the last decade have been dominated by a concern with the "under-achievement" of boys, implicitly acknowledging the apparent success of strategies developed in schools in previous decades to improve equality of opportunity for girls. This paper presents evidence to challenge this interpretation of the debate, arguing that policy-makers need to engage more centrally with diversity and heterogeneity of gender constructions and take note of inclusivity of needs rather than framing strategy within essentialist structures. We argue here, through exemplification developed with teachers in English secondary schools over the period 2000-2004, that there is a need to revisit policy and practice frameworks in England, as in Australia, to reassert the needs of girls as well as boys and to develop gender-relational policies which acknowledge and value difference and which have at their core the transformation of traditional aspirations and expectations of education. (Contains 6 tables, 3 figures, and 8 notes.)

Directing a publicly funded project can present a number of challenges to researchers in reconciling their own philosophy with the expectations of their funders. This paper explores those dilemmas in the context of a four year project funded by the British Government to explore strategies to raise boys' achievement. It reflects on the underlying philosophy of the project and outlines our theoretical position, arguing that some focus on performativity is justified in considering girls' and boys' achievements. At the same time, however, we suggest that it is possible to retain a commitment to feminist values, to engage critically with issues of masculinity and to avoid essentialist readings of gender. In arguing for a more nuanced discussion of gender, sensitive to individual school contexts, we argue that the project has allowed a contribution to policy and practice that would otherwise not have been possible. (Contains 2 figures and 3 notes.)

The gender agenda in many North American, Western European, and Australasian countries has undergone a "boy turn" in the past decade amid growing concerns about boys' apparent "underachievement" relative to girls. One aspect of this turn has been the resurrection of interest in single-sex classes in coeducational public state schools. This article reviews these developments from an international perspective, particularly focusing on the experiences of a number of United Kingdom secondary schools involved in the 4-year Raising Boys' Achievement Project. The article suggests that, while single-sex classes have the potential to raise the achievement levels of both boys and girls and to have a positive impact on the atmosphere and ethos for learning, these gains will be achieved only if the initiative is developed within gender-relational contexts rather than situated within recuperative masculinity policies. (Contains 4 tables, 1 figure and 16 notes.)

Addresses the responses of four mixed-comprehensive schools to the apparent "under-achievement" of males. Classifies approaches as organizational, individual, pedagogical, and sociocultural, and evaluates the potential of each approach for raising achievement levels of males and females. Considers the extent to which approaches might contribute to authentic school improvement. (Contains 38 references.) (Authors/PKP)

Focuses on single-sex teaching in co-educational schools, using a case study of a school where single-sex teaching has been the norm. Analyzes student performance since General Certificate of Secondary Education began. Finds girls have consistently achieved better results than boys in most subjects, but both sexes showed relative improvement. (BT)

Argues that despite academic achievements, the odds are still often stacked against girls within and outside of school. Data from surveys and interviews at English high schools show that though girls have outperformed boys in secondary level examinations, they still feel alienated from traditionally male subjects, career aspirations are still highly gendered, and boys still dominate the classroom environment. (SM)

Examines the gender gap in classroom interactions between teachers and students in eight English secondary schools, focusing on the views of teaching staff, the perspectives of Year 11 students, and observations of teacher-student interaction in the classroom. Suggests that boys and girls are treated differently in many classrooms. (CMK)

Media driven interpretations of fear and risk have failed to notify the general public that the most likely victims of violence are females who are attacked by a male partner. [...]

Daly's book provides a useful addition to the literature on homelessness, comparing the institutional and policy contexts surrounding housing and homelessness in Britain, the US and Canada, and bringing together [...]