The release of the Australian Education and Training Committee’s report on the education of boys in schools, entitled Boys: Getting it Right, has stimulated discussion on the interactions between gender and education, how they should be understood, and what can be done to foster academic success levels for male students that are as high as those currently being achieved by female students. While performance equity among male and female students should be achieved and maintained, many claims regarding causes and remedies of the systematic performance differences are not supported by research and focus solely on outcomes for male students rather than outcomes for all students, an issue which is analysed by Diny Slamet in their article, The Gender Balance. …show more content…
28). Evidence is provided that gender alone is not the source of systematic differences in performance, but in conjunction with other factors such as socioeconomic status and subject selection trends, significant differences in performance emerge, indicating the need for an intersectional approach achieving gender equity in education (Slamet, 2003, pp. 28-29). It is also argued that the government report and recommendations therein neglect to acknowledge that masculinity and femininity are social constructions, which would reinforce adherence to existing homogenised gender norms and potentially worsen gender equity in education (Slamet, 2003, p. 29). Slamet argues that education should be conducted in a way that treats students as individuals facilitates the success of students of all genders (Slamet, 2003, pp.