Photo by Neven Krcmarek on Unsplash
“How many men have landed on the moon?”
It was one of those questions in the joyous Extended-Bates-Family-Lockdown-Zoom-Quizzes, read out by my 16yr old male cousin.
I questioned him;
“Do you mean men or people?”
He responded sheepishly;
“It wouldn’t make any difference. It’d be the same number.”
WHAT?!
Not being particularly into science, it had escaped my knowledge that WE ARE YET TO GET A WOMAN TO THE MOON!
Needless to say, I wasn’t very useful for my team in the rest of the quiz.
***
Now, I’m willing to be corrected (answers on a postcard), but I am guestimating that the reason for this anomaly is the same reasons for any minority group less likely to access a certain career choice (black women in politics, male primary school teachers, disabled TV presenters etc.):
Fewer women were chosen for the job…
Because fewer women apply to be astronauts…
Because fewer women have the needed qualifications…
Because fewer women applied to train in the relevant fields of study in Further Education…
Because fewer women had the necessary A levels (or equivalent) that would enable them to apply for the course…
Because fewer women elected those subjects through their school education…
Because they saw few-to-no examples of this as an option at school…
In addition, there were also few-to-no examples of female astronauts in books, stories, media etc. when the woman was a girl…
And the girl didn’t get to look at the science books or ‘play at being on the moon’ because her Nana only gave her the pink girls books about Princesses and caring for babies…
***
Which brings me to the questions:
What does it take to break this cycle?
How will we make significant shifts in equality of opportunity for all?
And I think I know the answer…
I think you do too…
Sometimes, it’s there in front of you – and if you’re not careful you might just mistake it for:
‘bad behaviour’
‘not respecting the rules’
Or ‘questioning authority’.
YES!!!!!
In *some* instances, those very pupils who cause us the grief, are the ones who are enabling our society to change and evolve – particularly if they’re teenagers. Teenagers’ very brains are wired to do this – it makes sense, it helps our species adapt and thrive! (Read more about that in Chapter 6 of my book, “Miss, I don’t give a sh*t” Engaging with Challenging Behaviour in Schools).
And when we look at it from this angle, what we see is necessary boundary pushing
AND
Of course, we do have to contain that. There’s a balance, I have written several blogs posts on this topic (Tough Love, Routines and Boundaries and Behaviour.)
But for now, for this blog post I invite you to take a rare moment with a completely different perspective…
…to imagine yourself sat on that moon, with your omnipresent eye as you are privileged and proud to witness the first female astronaut set foot on the moon…and she’s Laura from 9F2 12 years ago, who never could stick to your seating plan….
Engage with challenging behaviour in your school and support staff effectively;
For Teaching Staff
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For Leaders & Policy Makers
Free Video Series: How to support teachers to manage challenging behaviour.
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