Women and work in literature

Examples from fiction to illustrate the Paula Principle in relation  to  female success (or lack of it) in education are quite easy to find;  Maggie Tulliver in Mill on the Floss is particularly well-known, as bright and bookish Maggie is denied access to school, whilst cloddish brother Tom is sent, at great cost, to a useless tutor.  But the other side of the PP equation is more problematic -  I've had more difficulty finding my way to illustrations from novels of how women don't make it to positions at work which exercise their full competence.  I have the data, but need the colour. At the foot of this blog is one example which I've…
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older women

Jackie Ashley's piece in today's Guardian  is subtitled 'the nation's great untapped resource' and makes a strong case for paying attention to the competences of older women.  This generation of 50+ women is the first to have a high level of qualifications, and far fewer of them have no qualifications at all.  So we need to think much more about how they can play a full part in paid as well as unpaid work.  She makes a powerful argument that this affects us all, for fairness and efficiency reasons. Ashley quotes some significant changes in attitude compared to 30 years ago.  In 1984 65% of women agreed that a husband's…
Read More

Aspirations and ambitions

In Winifred Holtby's South Riding, published in 1936,  Lydia Holly is the eldest daughter of a large and poor family living in a converted railway carriage.  She is 'an untidy fat loutish girl in a torn overall' - but she shows evident signs of cleverness, and her mother sees this.  "Her mother  was a fighter; her mother had insisted  that she take the second chance of a scholarship to Kiplington High School.  When she was eleven she had  won a place at Kiplington, but her parents had needed her to escort her small sisters to the village school, so she had missed her chance.  Now Daisy was old enough to…
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Resilience, conscientiousness, openness – do these matter more than cognitive skills?

We're all  told, and most of us believe, that education makes a  big difference to people's lives;  but what exactly is it about the education that has such an impact?  I've just been at a meeting organised by the OECD's Centre for Educational Research and Innovation, where I used to work.   One of the meeting's primary topics was how far so-called 'non-cognitive' skills/characteristics such as resilience, conscientiousness or ability to relate to others contribute to individuals' success, as compared with traditional cognitive skills such as levels of literacy or numeracy. The project is looking particularly at the social outcomes of learning,  ie how education does (or doesn't) affect issues such as crime, health…
Read More

Women and work in literature

Examples from fiction to illustrate the Paula Principle in relation  to  female success (or lack of it) in education are quite easy to find;  Maggie Tulliver in Mill on the Floss is particularly well-known, as bright and bookish Maggie is denied access to school, whilst cloddish brother Tom is sent, at great cost, to a useless tutor.  But the other side of the PP equation is more problematic -  I've had more difficulty finding my way to illustrations from novels of how women don't make it to positions at work which exercise their full competence.  I have the data, but need the colour. At the foot of this blog is one example which I've…
Read More

older women

Jackie Ashley's piece in today's Guardian  is subtitled 'the nation's great untapped resource' and makes a strong case for paying attention to the competences of older women.  This generation of 50+ women is the first to have a high level of qualifications, and far fewer of them have no qualifications at all.  So we need to think much more about how they can play a full part in paid as well as unpaid work.  She makes a powerful argument that this affects us all, for fairness and efficiency reasons. Ashley quotes some significant changes in attitude compared to 30 years ago.  In 1984 65% of women agreed that a husband's…
Read More

Aspirations and ambitions

In Winifred Holtby's South Riding, published in 1936,  Lydia Holly is the eldest daughter of a large and poor family living in a converted railway carriage.  She is 'an untidy fat loutish girl in a torn overall' - but she shows evident signs of cleverness, and her mother sees this.  "Her mother  was a fighter; her mother had insisted  that she take the second chance of a scholarship to Kiplington High School.  When she was eleven she had  won a place at Kiplington, but her parents had needed her to escort her small sisters to the village school, so she had missed her chance.  Now Daisy was old enough to…
Read More

Resilience, conscientiousness, openness – do these matter more than cognitive skills?

We're all  told, and most of us believe, that education makes a  big difference to people's lives;  but what exactly is it about the education that has such an impact?  I've just been at a meeting organised by the OECD's Centre for Educational Research and Innovation, where I used to work.   One of the meeting's primary topics was how far so-called 'non-cognitive' skills/characteristics such as resilience, conscientiousness or ability to relate to others contribute to individuals' success, as compared with traditional cognitive skills such as levels of literacy or numeracy. The project is looking particularly at the social outcomes of learning,  ie how education does (or doesn't) affect issues such as crime, health…
Read More

Women and work in literature

Examples from fiction to illustrate the Paula Principle in relation  to  female success (or lack of it) in education are quite easy to find;  Maggie Tulliver in Mill on the Floss is particularly well-known, as bright and bookish Maggie is denied access to school, whilst cloddish brother Tom is sent, at great cost, to a useless tutor.  But the other side of the PP equation is more problematic -  I've had more difficulty finding my way to illustrations from novels of how women don't make it to positions at work which exercise their full competence.  I have the data, but need the colour. At the foot of this blog is one example which I've…
Read More

older women

Jackie Ashley's piece in today's Guardian  is subtitled 'the nation's great untapped resource' and makes a strong case for paying attention to the competences of older women.  This generation of 50+ women is the first to have a high level of qualifications, and far fewer of them have no qualifications at all.  So we need to think much more about how they can play a full part in paid as well as unpaid work.  She makes a powerful argument that this affects us all, for fairness and efficiency reasons. Ashley quotes some significant changes in attitude compared to 30 years ago.  In 1984 65% of women agreed that a husband's…
Read More

Aspirations and ambitions

In Winifred Holtby's South Riding, published in 1936,  Lydia Holly is the eldest daughter of a large and poor family living in a converted railway carriage.  She is 'an untidy fat loutish girl in a torn overall' - but she shows evident signs of cleverness, and her mother sees this.  "Her mother  was a fighter; her mother had insisted  that she take the second chance of a scholarship to Kiplington High School.  When she was eleven she had  won a place at Kiplington, but her parents had needed her to escort her small sisters to the village school, so she had missed her chance.  Now Daisy was old enough to…
Read More

Resilience, conscientiousness, openness – do these matter more than cognitive skills?

We're all  told, and most of us believe, that education makes a  big difference to people's lives;  but what exactly is it about the education that has such an impact?  I've just been at a meeting organised by the OECD's Centre for Educational Research and Innovation, where I used to work.   One of the meeting's primary topics was how far so-called 'non-cognitive' skills/characteristics such as resilience, conscientiousness or ability to relate to others contribute to individuals' success, as compared with traditional cognitive skills such as levels of literacy or numeracy. The project is looking particularly at the social outcomes of learning,  ie how education does (or doesn't) affect issues such as crime, health…
Read More

Women and work in literature

Examples from fiction to illustrate the Paula Principle in relation  to  female success (or lack of it) in education are quite easy to find;  Maggie Tulliver in Mill on the Floss is particularly well-known, as bright and bookish Maggie is denied access to school, whilst cloddish brother Tom is sent, at great cost, to a useless tutor.  But the other side of the PP equation is more problematic -  I've had more difficulty finding my way to illustrations from novels of how women don't make it to positions at work which exercise their full competence.  I have the data, but need the colour. At the foot of this blog is one example which I've…
Read More

older women

Jackie Ashley's piece in today's Guardian  is subtitled 'the nation's great untapped resource' and makes a strong case for paying attention to the competences of older women.  This generation of 50+ women is the first to have a high level of qualifications, and far fewer of them have no qualifications at all.  So we need to think much more about how they can play a full part in paid as well as unpaid work.  She makes a powerful argument that this affects us all, for fairness and efficiency reasons. Ashley quotes some significant changes in attitude compared to 30 years ago.  In 1984 65% of women agreed that a husband's…
Read More

Aspirations and ambitions

In Winifred Holtby's South Riding, published in 1936,  Lydia Holly is the eldest daughter of a large and poor family living in a converted railway carriage.  She is 'an untidy fat loutish girl in a torn overall' - but she shows evident signs of cleverness, and her mother sees this.  "Her mother  was a fighter; her mother had insisted  that she take the second chance of a scholarship to Kiplington High School.  When she was eleven she had  won a place at Kiplington, but her parents had needed her to escort her small sisters to the village school, so she had missed her chance.  Now Daisy was old enough to…
Read More

Resilience, conscientiousness, openness – do these matter more than cognitive skills?

We're all  told, and most of us believe, that education makes a  big difference to people's lives;  but what exactly is it about the education that has such an impact?  I've just been at a meeting organised by the OECD's Centre for Educational Research and Innovation, where I used to work.   One of the meeting's primary topics was how far so-called 'non-cognitive' skills/characteristics such as resilience, conscientiousness or ability to relate to others contribute to individuals' success, as compared with traditional cognitive skills such as levels of literacy or numeracy. The project is looking particularly at the social outcomes of learning,  ie how education does (or doesn't) affect issues such as crime, health…
Read More