Gendered Teacher-Student Classroom Interactions, Student Sense of Equity and Student Achievement.

Gendered teacher-student classroom interactions have been the subject of extensive empirical research over the last four decades. However, several gaps and inconsistencies in the research-base still exist. With regard to positive teacher feedback, past research is contradictory, and with regard to negative teacher feedback, it is unclear which boys in particular are responsible for the increased levels of criticism. An incongruency exists between students’ perception of negative teacher bias towards boys and observational studies claiming that boys bring criticism upon themselves due to increased levels of disruptive behaviour. In this mixed methods study, the relationship between student demographic background, teacher-student classroom interactions and students’ perception of equity in the classroom environment is investigated. Questionnaires and standardized tests were administered to 6380 first-year secondary students. For a sub-sample of 180 students, fifteen-minute fragments of video-recorded lessons were coded. An intersectionality-informed approach is used to analyse additive and multiplicative effects of demographic background variables and their intersecting categories. Increased levels of negative feedback towards boys are confirmed, but some degree of unfair teacher differential treatment is supported. Boys report a lower sense of equity in the classroom environment than girls, and girls from a foreign language background appear to be an extremely vulnerable group, not participating in classroom interactions and frequently being off-task. We suggest that teachers be careful with tips and tricks on ‘how to handle boys and girls’. We see more merit in increasing teachers’ awareness and monitoring skills to control incorrect and negative expectancy effects.