Gender inequality in the primary classroom: will interactive whiteboards help?

Abstract

This paper sets out to investigate (i) gender differences in whole class classroom interaction with a sample of teachers who were not using interactive whiteboards (IWBs) in their lessons; and (ii) the short‐term and longer term impact of IWB use upon gender differences in classroom interaction. The study focused upon teacher–student interaction at Key Stage 2 in the teaching of literacy and numeracy in English primary schools. As part of the National Literacy and Numeracy Strategies, IWBs have been made widely available as a pedagogic tool for promoting interactive whole class teaching. In order to investigate their impact, the project looked specifically at the interactive styles used by a national sample of primary teachers. Using a computerized observation schedule, 144 lessons were observed over a two‐year period. The findings concur with other research which has found that boys dominate classroom interaction in terms of the frequency of certain discourse moves. The average length of each move did not vary significantly between boys and girls. Frequency dominance was disproportionately stronger in classes with a high percentage of boys in class, and was also stronger in lessons where whiteboards were used. Understanding how interaction varies in the classroom, and how new technology might affect this interaction, has important implications for teachers, researchers and future research priorities.

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank the Centre for British Teachers (CfBT) for their funding of this research and the Department for Education and Skills for their support with the research project. Thanks also go to Kate Wall, Ian Hall and Heather Smith who undertook the classroom observations.

Notes

1. An analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) tests for differences between groups (in this case gender) but it controls for the effects of another variable (in this case percentage of boys present in class).

2. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) compares the variance of group means (e.g. the variance of the three means for ‘no IWB 2003/IWB 2003/IWB 2004’) with the variance of the values within these groups.