ABSTRACT

This chapter examines what is known about everyday life in British schools as it is experienced by female pupils, drawing on the research done in the last twenty-five years. The school experiences of a female pupil of Chinese origin are unlikely to be 'the same' as the British West Indians studied by V. J. Furlong, M. Fuller and M. Mac an Ghaill. Teachers who believe boys are "naturally" more gifted at scientific and mathematical reasoning are unlikely to spend time and trouble on developing scientific and mathematical prowess in girl pupils. The co-ordinators of the problem pages in all the teenage magazines report a similar bias in the letters they receive: relationships with same sex peers matter a great deal to young women. The academic curriculum and the official school rules are manifest, but behind them, and largely invisible to adults were the rules of appropriate male and female behaviour learnt from peers and enforced by them.