Whose Knowledge? Through Fresh Eyes ]
Earlier when referring to staff knowledge as a source of valuable data on gender equity at school, a caution was expressed about familiarity obscuring one's vision. The more familiar we are with a scene, the more likely we are to no longer see it. The more we take on a culture, the more hidden become many of its meanings. Similarly, the more familiar teachers become with a school situation the less likely they are to observe certain things or to see them critically. Conversely, in situations of new staff coming to a school, the less familiar they are with the school situation, the more likely they are to be able to see things that established staff no longer notice.
There were plenty of examples in this study to suggest this to be the case.
First impressions at a new school
One such example comes from a primary school of about 700 students with a very mixed population; a large group of second and third generation Australians as well as recent arrivals. The teacher who was describing the background to the work she had been involved with in gender equity, retraced her steps to her arrival at the school and her first impressions:
I'm going to refer back to when I first came, because that's when it all started. And it was pretty obvious. You only had to go into classrooms to look at who was getting all the air time, who was using all the materials, use of the yard, how people spoke to kids, what their expectations were, language. I don't mean swearing. Like, teachers' language as well. Also in terms of being a Catholic school, images of God, all that kind of thing. I didn't really have to do much at all to pick it up. You really just had to look at where all the behaviour issues were, who was demanding the most time. It was very, very evident.
In another example the principal of a small primary school in a low socio-economic area recalls vividly her first impressions of the school and of what she describes as being the norm at the school. Though for her it was `obvious to the naked eye', it had apparently gone unchallenged for a long time.
I was quite astounded when I came here and it was just the norm that girls did not participate in PE. They just sat around. And the same sort of things happened in the classroom for hands-on activities. Boys dominated the agenda and boys took up the time. So obviously, access and participation-wise, girls were a severely disadvantaged group. That was compounded too by the complexity of girls groups, like Aboriginal girls or Turkish girls, girls with disabilities. It was obvious to the naked eye, and it was also obvious in terms of student learning outcomes, that girls were not giving in some of the areas like maths, science, hands-on activities, PE, to the extent that boys were. They had been denied access and participation in all the areas of the valued curriculum. And of course, girls aren't in an homogeneous group. I can think of at least three girls who were quite assertive and did participate in PE and, to a lesser extent, the curriculum in the classroom. And of course there are a couple of boys who this also affected.
And in yet another example, two new teachers appointed to a school at the same time, saw things that greatly concerned them and as a consequence became catalysts for change at the school. One of the newcomers had previously taught in a lower socio-economic community. The contrast between her experiences there and what she found in the new school, located in a wealthier community, heightened her awareness of the problems. According to her:
I'd probably find it easier to start with the personal impact when I arrived at this particular school, years ago. I found enormous incidents of blatant sexual harassment, verging on assault, which weren't being dealt with. I'd never encountered that in a school before.Do you mean, between the students?
Between students, but also, there was an undercurrent of unhealthy relationships on staff, too, which I found quite offensive. As I said, it was such a culture and such a climate. There was so much of it going on, that all my hackles were alerted and I started to really become involved in the issues.
Seeing the contrasts
In part, the sensitivity of the newcomer to being able to pick it up without too much effort is very much a function of their newness. However it is also related to where they have come from and the contrast it offers to the new school. This was the case in several of these examples. In the following example, the teacher, the Head of a Mathematics Department, had come from an all boys school and this was his first experience with a co-educational setting. As he indicated in response to a question about how he knew that there was a gender problem at the school:
How do I know? Well, it's mainly from observation and experience in a sense. I came from an all boys school and came in and noticed the different performances through results, through activities in class and through student responses. ... The interesting thing about that was that I was obviously in a better position to judge, having come from an all-boys school. It was quite interesting for me, not having taught girls too, to look at that. I had an all male staff and when I first discussed these matters with the boss I said I wanted a female member of staff which was interesting.
The awareness of new female staff
In several instances where teachers were describing how newcomers to the school were experiencing gender-related problems, it was new female staff who provided the outsiders' perspectives. This was the case at another all boys' school, and according to one of the teachers:
We got an influx of six female staff this year. And through the trials and tribulations that they went through, there's been an investigation of the role of women in the school, but also of the whole culture of boys and boys dealing with the female staff. ...I guess predominantly what the young female staff were complaining or talking about in relation to their experiences when they first arrived, was the physicality of the place; the boys pushing and shoving in line and their use of inappropriate language and their often inappropriate comments. The female staff were concerned that the boys needed to develop a sense of discretion about what they said in front of staff, female staff especially, and I guess also the way they related to staff - even in terms of personal space and all those sorts of issues.