Science and engineering remain male-dominated professions in Canada and elsewhere. This is a disheartening fact for a society dedicated to providing equality of education and opportunity, and protection of the right to physical and psychological security of the person to all its citizens. Canadian women comprise 51% of the population, yet still hold down, on average, less than 10% of all jobs in the basic and applied sciences. Few women are found in the upper strata of the science hierarchy, whether (...) judged by income, by rank within the relevant professions, or by inclusion in the structures of government, industry, education or professional institutions which formulate science policy. The evidence is compelling that science as both power and knowledge is firmly located in white, Western, bourgeois, (compulsorily heterosexual) men's hands. (shrink)

Book reviewed in this article:Theory competition and intercultural articulation: methodological reflections on Louts and Legends: Essay reviewSeeking a rationale for schooling: A review of Why go to school?:James Marshall.Positivism or pragmatism: Philosophy of education in New Zealand. Marshall, James D.Educating reason.Hobbes and….

This paper contributes to debates on the benefits of single-sex and co-educational school environments by considering both single-sex versus co-educational schools and single-sex versus co-educational classes in co-educational schools. Two research studies provide the empirical basis for this discussion. One study was a 10-year-long investigation of two Australian secondary schools which had been single-sex schools and became co-educational secondary schools over a two-year period. The second study involved a two-year investigation in an English co-educational secondary school where single-sex mathematics classes (...) were introduced for one cohort of pupils for five school terms, after which mixed-sex classes were reintroduced. Evidence relating to academic self-concept, pupil, parent and staff perceptions and academic achievement are discussed. Overall, the evidence suggests that co-educational environments create possible social/interaction disadvantages for girls, but that academic self-concept is not adversely affected by transferring from single-sex environments into mixed-sex ones. (shrink)