Gender equality in education: Scottish Youth Parliament research

Conclusion

This qualitative research engaged with 13 young people to gather views on how Scotland can achieve gender equality in education and learning. To set the scene at the start of each interview, participants shared some reflections on the issue of gender equality within school. These reflections showed that teachers stereotype pupils in relation to career choices, which negatively impacts on females' subject and career choices. Some female participants experienced situations where they felt teachers did not have the same confidence in their academic ability compared to that of their male counterpart.

While these reflections are evidence of gender inequality in education and learning, the research in this report used the Theory of Change model, where participants were asked questions in relation to how change can be made to solve the problem of gender equality, rather than gather any new evidence.

In response to who should be involved in any change, participants cited that an intersectional approach should be taken when thinking about any change. Creating meaningful change and impactful policies will be difficult without the experiences of seldom heard groups, such as Black young people and young People of Colour. Participants thought everybody should then be involved in change with men taking a stand in calling out sexist and misogynistic behaviour. An emerging theme from this research was that participants felt that achieving gender equality in education cannot be considered in isolation due to the prevalence of gender inequality in society. However, the young people who participated in this research were clear that there are actions that can be taken to work towards achieving an education system where they are taught by gender competent teachers, where they no longer experience sexual harassment and are encouraged and supported to study subjects traditionally not taken by young women due to attitudes and gender stereotyping with education. These actions are set out below.