Premium
The (mis)use of SATs to examine gender and achievement at Key Stage 2
Author(s) -
Fielding Shaun,
Daniels Harry,
Creese Angela,
Hey Valerie,
Leonard Diana
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
the curriculum journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.843
H-Index - 36
eISSN - 1469-3704
pISSN - 0958-5176
DOI - 10.1080/0958517990100202
Subject(s) - identity (music) , diversity (politics) , politics , test (biology) , mathematics education , psychology , quality (philosophy) , pedagogy , sociology , gender studies , political science , law , physics , acoustics , biology , paleontology , philosophy , epistemology
This article discusses some of the issues raised in the early stages of an Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) study. 1 The first phase of the project involved an analysis of end of Key Stage 2 (children aged 10–11) Standard Assessment Test (SAT) data within a Midlands and a London local education authority (LEA(M) and LEA(L) respectively). The LEAs were identified according to the quality and accessibility of the data and their socio‐economic and socio‐cultural diversity. The analysis was used as an instrument for selecting schools in each LEA that displayed specific but con‐ sistent patterns of high, low and average achievement which were cross cut by large differences between boys' and girls' achievement in all three SAT subjects (English, maths and science). On one level, this article discusses the difficulties we encountered in identifying schools with consistent patterns of gendered achievement as well as signposting the ‘political’ significance of these difficulties for present and future edu‐ cation policies. On another level, it is a vehicle for the development of the theoretical lenses of learner identity and post‐Vygotskian analysis that have shaped our under‐ standing of gendered achievement which we use to ‘speak’ to and influence the development of the test procedures highlighted in this article.