Stephen Lamb

Completing School in Australia: Trends in the 1990s

AFTER a period of dramatic growth in school completion in Australia, rates of school retention have begun to decline. At its peak in 1992 the national rate of retention to Year 12 was approximately 77 per cent. By 1995 the rate had fallen to 72 per cent. The aim of this paper is to document state, system, and social differences in the recent downturn in school completion rates in Australia. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and from the Australian Youth Survey are used to look at patterns across states, school systems, geographical locations, social backgrounds, and by sex. The results suggest that during the 1990s the downturn in completion has been uneven and some groups of users which had come to rely on schooling during the 1980s for their future economic security are now turning away from school. The findings indicate a continuing need to monitor the numbers of young people completing school and their backgrounds.

Gender Differences in Mathematics Participation: an Australian perspective

Summary Gender differences in many areas of participation in school are receding, but the gap favouring males in mathematics study in senior secondary school persists. This study attempted to identify some of the dimensions underlying gender differences in mathematics participation. The data from a survey of Years 10, 11 and 12 students at four high schools were used to examine the relationships between the gender differences in attitudes towards mathematics and the participation in senior school courses. The findings suggest that the separation of senior school mathematics into academic and non-academic subjects was more efficient for boys than for girls because in the junior years of high school boys develop more positive views of mathematics and of themselves as mathematics learners leading to them more often selecting the university-preferred options. Not all girls were disadvantaged, however. Girls from middle-class backgrounds, particularly those from professional and managerial origins, tended to r...

Gender Differences in Mathematics Participation in Australian Schools: some relationships with social class and school policy

Abstract In Australia girls have been underrepresented in mainstream mathematics in senior high school. Yet is this true of all groups of girls? Using data gathered in four high schools, this study sought to document the extent to which girls’ participation in mathematics varied depending on social class and school background. The results show that while girls are less likely than boys to take up university‐preparatory mathematics subjects, particularly advanced mathematics, this is not experienced equally by all groups of girls. Social class has a major impact on girls’ chances of studying specialist mathematics in the final years of school. Gender relativities are much weaker for girls from professional family origins for whom class background works to offset the effects of gender. School policy is also an important influence. In schools which have more liberal policies of curriculum access the gender gap narrows, whereas in schools which operate traditional academic practices of pupil management and cu...