Gap-minding, gap-closing, gapworrying: addressing the gender gap in primary children's writing

Gonzalez-Diaz, Victorina ORCID: 0000-0001-8856-342X (2022) Gap-minding, gap-closing, gapworrying: addressing the gender gap in primary children's writing [Report]

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Executive Summary

Concerns about a ‘gap’ in writing attainment between boys and girls (where girls consistently perform better than boys) date from the late 1990s, when central government implemented a non-statutory national strategy for literacy education and a target-setting agenda to increase the number of children working at or above the ‘national expectations’ in English (Beard and Burrell, 2010). It has been at the forefront of the educational agenda since then and constituted the subject of several reports from government agencies and research studies, as literacy gaps “can start early, persist through school and prove a limiting factor” both in terms of educational outcomes and socio-economic prosperity in later life (Quigley, 2022: 11). The COVID-19 pandemic constituted a serious setback to previous efforts to address the writing gender gap. Remote modes of teaching and learning during the pandemic had a significant detrimental effect on children’s writing (with at least a 6-point drop in writing-related activity for each gender nationally, Clark et al. 2021) particularly at the primary level and for those from disadvantaged social backgrounds (Juniper Education National Dataset Report 2022). This is especially worrying for Liverpool City Region, whose outcomes in Key Stage 1 and 2 (primary school age) attainment are in the lowest 10% nationally (Liverpool Education Improvement Plan, 2021). This briefing paper presents the main findings from a Liverpool-focused study of children’s writing and the gender gap in local primary schools. Its aim is to inform policy responses by decisionmakers working on improving writing outcomes in the City Region.

Item Type:	Report
Divisions:	Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences > School of the Arts
Depositing User:	Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited:	18 Dec 2024 10:37
Last Modified:	18 Dec 2024 10:37
URI:	https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3189283
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