Whatever Happened To Equal Opportunities In Schools?: Gender Equality Initiatives In Education

Whatever Happened to Equal Opportunities in Schools? is an edited book which makes an important contribution to the current debate about equal opportunities. Today the dominant concern is about boys' achievement but it was not always thus Contributors trace events relating to schools since the introduction of the Sex Discrimination Act and the establishment of the Equal Opportunities Commission in the mid-seventies. Prior to the advent of the National Curriculum it was common practice for boys and girls to take different subjects and be offered very different opportunities and experience through the overt and covert school curriculum. Initiatives emerging from central government, quangos, trade unions, local education authorities, and individual schools are described. The book discusses how much has really changed, the extent to which credit should be given to earlier initiatives concerned with the raising of girls aspirations and achievement, what can we learn from these initiatives and what we should really be concerned about now. The book also addresses the question of boys achievement both past and present and will be important reading for all educators with an interest in promoting gender equality in schools.