The Patterns of Gender in Schools, or POGS
Whilst there are important national and global trends in how young people grow up to become adults, the Patterns of Gender in School, or POGS, allows schools to learn more about the role that they play in forming adolescent identities. Educators know that school culture is hugely significant in determining outcomes and POGS offers an opportunity to explore that link.
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Data for the Patterns of Gender can be collected from each pupil within the school via an online questionnaire and through small group interviews. The questionnaire can be adapted based on the insight of teachers and leaders at the school, and usually fits well into a form time activity.
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What's in the Questionnaire?
The POGS questionnaire explores the constructions and performance of adolescent gendered identities, specifically looking at effect of the formal culture, peer interactions and online influences. Often described as agents of socialisation, these are important in setting the standards of what it is to 'be a boy' or 'be a girl' whilst at school.
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The questionnaire asks about the sources of pressure on pupils, the shared values in the school, time online, and much more. The only identifying data collected is yeargroup and gender and all data is made available to the school.
Group interviews and the mixed methods study
Whilst the questionnaire alone can provide valuable insights for schools, the original Patterns of Gender in Schools study utilised a mixed methods approach. This combines quantitative and qualitative elements: questionnaire and small-group interviews. Each serves a purpose for understanding what it is like to be a pupil in school, and together the two can build a fuller picture through triangulation, helping determine the common themes that cause gendered behaviour.
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Pupils who are willing to take part can be interviewed as small groups (between 2 and 4 participants), and crucially it is the pupils who choose these groups. Semi-structured questions mean that the data from the questionnaire can be explored, but with the freedom to examine new areas and begin to appreciate the lived experience of the pupils.
