Women’s under-representation in areas of key economic importance –constraining factor for women’s contribution to the resolution of critical societal problems, and particularly women’s under-representation in sciences and engineering on the one hand, and the recognition for gendered sensitive educational practices in mathematics education on the other, constitute concerns in Western Societies for sometime now.

PREMA’s orientation is on girls’ performance with school maths,

with particular focus on the dynamic and complex relationship between girls’ motivation and socio-cultural milieu. The project’s overall objective was the deepening of understanding on socio-cultural and pedagogic factors that impede upon girls’ equitable –to that of boys, performance in mathematics which consequently influence career choices. In the project, this was addressed through a reflective discourse with experts in the area of mathematics and gender, an on-going discussion with practitioners, and seven empirical research studies. The project concluded with the articulation of self-reflective tools for the promotion and support of gender sensitive teaching/learning processes.

PREMA investigated into patrimonial factors; the state of the art; pupils/students performances and their views and perceptions on mathematics; teachers’ reflections on teaching and perceptions on gendered educational practices as well as on the position of policy makers on gender sensitive education. Empirical research actions of both qualitative and quantitative nature were carried out in Austria, France, Greece, Poland, Spain and UK.

The empirical evidence from the conduct of multiple studies in the project’s six country context suggest that differences in the take-up of STEM can not be attributed to poorer performances by girls in school mathematics in the compulsory phase of education. The results indicate that in some countries, the lower take up of STEM by women is part of a larger problem of the decreasing take up of STEM by all pupils/students. It becomes therefore imperative for educational systems to monitor the attainment and take up of STEM by males and females alike, and in parallel to introduce reforms so as to ensure sexist-free curriculum and teaching practices.

Project findings point to the direction that the socio-cultural construction of mathematics varies a great deal across countries. Construction of mathematics as ‘masculine’ however is not associated with lower attainment by girls at school, or with lower entry to university courses. While socio-cultural factors are hard to change some may well be amenable to influence from policy makers and practitioners. Information about the take up of STEM by women, and information about successful women practitioners may well have an effect as part of career guidance. Information about successful women mathematicians can be easily included in mathematics lessons.

Noted is that mathematics teaching in some countries follows a common pattern in almost every lesson where teacher exposition is followed by student practice. The research reveals that most students want mathematics to be more interesting, relevant and enjoyable. Student preferences for a range of possible alternative classroom activities (such as group work) were not uniform across the countries the studies were conducted at.

The results also strongly point to the direction that gendered sensitive teaching practices in mathematics must take into account the classroom / discipline related behaviour gender characteristics.
Unquestionably there is a case for making mathematics more attractive to pupils, notable: by a greater focus on creative (as opposed to imitative) activities in mathematics lessons; by showing pupils something of the role of mathematics in shaping society; by emphasizing that mathematics is a human activity that has fascinated creative men and women for millennia; and by showing its relevance to pupils’ lives, and its importance in understanding society.

The work undertaken has resulted to nine tangible outcomes (available at: http://prema.iacm.forth.gr/deliverables.php) which are in the forms of Documents (Review of Literature Report, Report on the Regulatory Frameworks in Selected European countries, and Report on the results of empirical studies), Resources (Database of Annotated Bibliographical Resources, Collection of Excellent Practices on Gendered Mathematics Education, and Annotated Collection of Agencies / Institutions / Projects engaged in research and promotion of gender sensitive mathematics education), a Publication  which combines aspects of theory and praxis, and Tools (set of diagnostic –self reflective and context oriented tools, and a set of Best Practice Guidelines for promoting and supporting gendered sensitive education).

Implications for further action identified by PREMA include: Raising political awareness of differences in attainment and career choices between males and females; Curricular reform at the level of textbooks, teacher behaviour, and curriculum; and, Teacher Professional Development Actions (both in service and pre-service levels) including guidening teachers to develop self-observation / reflection skills.

The project was implemented from October 2005 to June 2007 with support from the SOCRATES Programme. Details are provided in other sections of this portal