ABSTRACT
This chapter considers whether there are differences in how young boys and girls learn and whether any gender-different ways of engaging in learning are influenced by biology or society. It critiques some of the evidence that suggests that boys and girls have different learning styles and introduces the concept of intersectionality by considering instead whether other factors may be in place. The chapter evaluates initiatives which have been introduced to engage boys more in learning, such as football-focused schemes, and examines how such programmes have the potential to reinforce gender stereotypes. On the one hand, it argues that gender can be seen as a construct and that any perceived approaches to learning are due to the way that children are socialised; on the other hand it signposts patterns of similar gendered messages seen across different cultural and geographical contexts, recognising that these patterns do impact on the ways that boys and girls are seen to learn.
