Australian Journal of Adult Learning - Volume 50 - Number 1 - The big picture on men’s (and boys’) learning

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jasmine

International research evidence on men’s learning examines how gender shapes attitudes towards learning across diverse national and cultural contexts. The study compares similarities and differences in men’s and boys’ educational experiences, participation, and outcomes, and argues for recognising factors affecting gender parity, including in Australia where tertiary outcome measures often skew towards girls and women. It also frames background research for a major international project on men’s learning in community settings.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages21

Reading Time53 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

The big picture of gender inequality

A brief look at gendered participation across nations

Australian Journal of Adult Learning Volume 50, Number 1, April 2010 The big picture on men’s (and boys’) learning Barry Golding School of Education, University of Ballarat This paper focuses on what is known internationally from research about some aspects of men’s learning. It explores the similar and different factors that shape men’s attitudes towards learning in diverse national and cultural contexts. It also identifies some possible parallels (and differences) between the experiences, participation and outcomes in education of men and boys. The paper proceeds to make a case for recognising and addressing the factors that affect gender parity in educational contexts, including Australia, in which several tertiary outcome measures tend tobe skewed towards girls and women. The paper forms part of background research for Phase 1 (in several Anglophone nations) of a major international research project into men’s learning in community settings that includes several Australian study sites. The big picture on men’s (and boys’) learning 55 Introduction Gender parity, achieving ‘the same proportion of girls and boys that enter and complete schooling’(Aikman & Unterhalter 2007: 2), is an ideal shared by most world nations. And yet school-based education is characterised by extensive gender inequalities in many world nations. This paper begins by recognising that the gender participation pendulum in schools, worldwide and on balance, remains stuck well towards boys. It takes up Jha and Kelleher’s (2006: 10) argument that ‘gender equality cannot be viewed in isolation from other forms of inequalities’ that arguably exist in Australia. It also presupposes that gendered differences ‘often get sharpened by other dimensions such as race, ethnicity, location, class and other social or economic groupings’(p.10) that arguably divide Australian and other societies. An opening explanation is required to explain how this necessarily brief but complex paper is developed. After examining the diverse and complex gender disparities in upper school to vocational education and training transitions internationally, I tentatively identify gender segmentation (separate and different gender roles in the labour market) as one of several missing links. I also tentatively explore gender disparities in education and training (and possible remedies) in just one nation, Australia. My paper returns, in the Discussion, to caution against complacency in relation to evidence of gender inequity in some post-school and adult and community education (ACE) educational aspirations and outcomes in Australia. In brief, my interest is in how today’s men experienced learning at school, with the purpose of thinking about how these experiences might be improved for future men. My particular focus is on how men’s attitudes towards lifelong learning appear to be shaped to cause what McGivney (2004: 55) describes as the ‘significant and sometimes lasting impact on subsequent attitudes towards education and patterns of post-compulsory learning’. My argument is supported by evidence in McGivney’s (1999, 2004) research in the UK, baldly 56 Barry Golding but accurately encapsulated in her 2004 book title, Men earn, women learn. My claim is that most Australian education systems, and particularly workplaces, are already highly gender-segmented. This gender segmentation remains likely, in 2010, to continue to place more men on unbroken, lifetime working trajectories and more women on broken, lifelong learning trajectories. My recent and ongoing research interest, with colleagues, is what happens to men when the work ‘treadmill’ stops (Golding, Brown, Foley, Harvey & Gleeson 2007). While boys are briefly considered, the focus of my broader concern is not with gendered schooling per se. I consider it too simple and easy to blame education providers for mirroring and reproducing the existing, gender-segmented inequities in the community, families and workplaces

FAQs

What is the focus of Barry Golding’s paper on men’s learning?

The paper reviews international research on aspects of men’s learning, examining factors shaping men’s attitudes towards learning across national and cultural contexts.

How does the paper address gender parity in education?

It argues for recognising and addressing factors that affect gender parity in educational contexts, including Australia where tertiary outcomes tend to skew toward girls and women.

What role does the paper play in the broader research project?

It serves as background research for Phase 1 of a major international project studying men’s learning in community settings, including several Australian study sites.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Jasmine