Insights from the Growing Up in Ireland Study
The Growing Up in Ireland Study is a longitudinal study which researches the experiences of children in Ireland (McCoy, Smyth & Banks, 2012). Of the 9-year-old children living in Ireland, one-in-seven are involved in this study. This report ‘draws on the first wave’ of results, combining questionnaire, interview and academic assessment data from parents, principals, teachers and children (p. ii). The total sample size was 8578 (p. 4).
There are a range of types of schools in Ireland, including single-sex and coeducational. The following results focus on girls from single-sex schools:
• Students in girls’ schools spend more time on Art, Music and Religious Education than students in boys’ or coeducational schools (p. 11)
• Students in girls’ schools spend less time on English and Social, Personal and Health Education (SPHE) than students in coeducational schools (p.14)
• Students in single-sex schools (both girls and boys) spend more time on Drama than those in coeducational schools (p. 14)
• Children in girls’ only schools are more likely to have teachers who provide differentiated activities, and are substantially more likely to get frequent opportunities to engage in hands-on activities (p. 27)
• Girls enrolled in single-sex schools are substantially more likely to have teachers who use pair-work and group-work most/every day (p. 27)
• Teachers in girls’ only schools tend to place less emphasis on students copying notes from the board, with a greater emphasis on students ‘finding things out for themselves’ (p. 28)
• There is a greater use of DVD/audio in single-sex girls’ schools (p. 31)
• Girls attending single-sex schools have more positive attitudes to Mathematics and more negative attitudes to Irish than their coeducational counterparts (p. 49)
Specific gender differences were found for school engagement; ‘boys are over three times as likely to report never liking school or never looking forward to it as girls with similar characteristics. The gender gap is similarly large in terms of attitudes to their teacher, with boys being 2.8 times more likely to have negative views than girls, all else being equal’ (p. 41).
The Growing Up in Ireland Study will continue to produce reports as the longitudinal data is collected and analysed in waves. A conclusion which concerned the researchers was that boys are much more likely to be disengaged from school and negative about literacy than girls. These trends were also present among children with special education needs (p. iii).
McCoy, S., Smyth, E. & Banks, J. (2012). The primary classroom: insights from the growing up in Ireland study. Dublin: The Economic and Social Research Institute. Available from their website: www.esri.ie