Teachers' Reported Practices Towards Girls and Boys in Science and Languages

S ummary . Fifty‐three science and 55 language teachers, male and female, were asked about their classroom practices with respect to a typical or average ability 14‐year‐old, either a girl or a boy. Questions ranged from the broad, e.g., amount of quality work expected, through the more specific, e.g., waiting time on difficult questions, to the very specific, e.g., frequency of smiling or eye contact. Up to eight of the 11 items showed a pattern where girls were relatively “favoured” in languages, and boys in science, though less markedly. The pattern generally held for both male and female teachers, and there was no evidence for boys or girls being favoured either overall or selectively by male or female teachers. Although science teachers expected lower achievement from girls, this appeared not to influence their teaching disposition adversely. Both the situation for girls in science and the less understood situation for boys in languages seem usefully elaborated by such classroom practice indicators.