How policy about entry to secondary education turned into a dispute about female brains

How policy about entry to secondary education turned into a dispute about female brains

Educational research, risks and dilemmas: NZARE/AARE Conference 2003 29 November - 3 December 2003, Auckland New Zealand

• McDonald, Geraldine Wellington College of Education, New Zealand

Auckland, New Zealand

New Zealand Association for Research in Education

2003

NZARE/AARE Conference (2003: Auckland, New Zealand)

• Q Philosophy of Education, Educational System & School At Different Levels
  • QC Primary Education
• Q Philosophy of Education, Educational System & School At Different Levels
  • QD Secondary Education
• A Human Growth & Development
  • AJ Sexual Difference, Bisexual Educational Difference, Sexism in Education

Academic Achievement Access to Education Admission (School) Admission Criteria Child Development Coeducation Cognitive Psychology Court Litigation Educational Policy Equal Education Females Gender Issues Neuropsychology Rights to Education School Law Secondary Schools Selective Admission Sex Differences Sex Discrimination Sex Fairness Student Placement Test Results Secondary Education Hong Kong Brain Research

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Primary Education
• Secondary Education

One of the dilemmas in educational policy is how to reconcile individual rights with social demands and ease of administration. In 1978 the Hong Kong Department of Education introduced a competitive secondary school allocation procedure (SSPA) based on Internal Assessment (IA) in primary schools. It was designed to match pupils to appropriate secondary schools. Every year the girls performed better than the boys. At first the Education Department solved this "problem" by taking marks away from the girls and subsequently by employing separate gender ranking, gender banding, and gender quotas for co-educational schools. In 1995 a Sex Discrimination Ordinance was passed and an Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) set up. Complaints from girls soon came to the EOC and the department's policy was judged by judicial review. Documents presented in court will be used to illustrate the arguments about gender and cognition.
[Copyright of Australian Association for Research in Education (AARE) at http://www.aare.edu.au]

• English

Conference Papers

• 11764902 (CD ROM)
• 13249339 (eISSN)

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/bibs/3675fcd0

2010-11-25