Quick Start Guide
PDF file: Quick Start Guide to Improving Gender Balance and Equalities resources (288 KB) - use this resource to navigate your way quickly through some of our most popular resources.
News and events
Go to our news and events page for information about upcoming professional learning events and news and ideas from participating schools.
IGBE in a nutshell
PDF file: IGBE connections to National priorities (350 KB) - Overview of the programme, our rationale, key actions and connections with other education priorities and key national strategies.
Key resources
- Gender stereotypes: an introduction for practitioners
- Action guide for ELC practitioners
- Action guide for primary schools
- Action guide for secondary schools
- Case studies booklet
- PDF file: Data guide for primary schools and early learning and childcare settings – a guide to help practitioners gather and analyse a range of data to support planning approaches to address persistent gender imbalances.
- PDF file: Data guide for secondary schools - a guide to help practitioners gather and analyse a range of data to support planning approaches to address persistent gender imbalances.
- Ideas an activities to explore unconscious bias (Sway presentation)
- IGBE podcast series: Episode 1 (Sway presentation)
IGBE in more detail
- Further resources for practitioners
- Resources for use with children and young people
- Research and literature
- Video resources
Improvement questions
- Are there ongoing and sustained opportunities for children and young people to reflect on gender stereotypes?
- How do these resources help us to recognise and address our own unconscious bias?
- How could these resources support improved gender balance in subject uptake and widen learner pathways?
- How do these resources contribute to whole-establishment improvement?
Further resources for practitioners
Resources for practitioners in early learning and childcare (ELC), primary schools and secondary schools.
- Guiding principles for developing and selecting resources that promote equality and diversity
- Case studies booklet
- STEM: improving gender balance, equity and equality – understanding who feels STEM is ‘right’ for them and why
- A framework for monitoring interactions with young people in the classroom (Institute of Physics)
- These posters and postcards could be used to raise awareness around the setting
- Parentzone Scotland - learning at home, supporting gender balance and equality
- National Parent Forum of Scotland -STEM in a nutshell guide
- Poster with tips for ensuring inclusivity in teaching - The advice is broad and appropriate for all levels (Institute of Physics)
- Gender Action - resources to support a whole setting approach.
- General Teaching Council for Scotland – Equality and Diversity hub – professional learning
- Supporting transgender pupils in schools: Guidance for Scottish schools (August 2021)
Early learning and childcare and primary schools
- Gender equal play in early learning and childcare - practical tips plus advice on books, toys, activities, training and further reading (Care Inspectorate and Zero Tolerance, 2018)
- Ravenswood Primary - 'Big Me' DYW approach to gender stereotyping
- Gender equality for primary schools - a toolkit to support embedding gender equality into school policy, ethos and curriculum.
Secondary schools
- Poster with tips for ensuring inclusivity in science teaching (Institute of Physics)
- Improving gender balance - Gender-friendly physics at Lomond School
- Computing Science - Gender lesson plans - Resources and activities
- Inclusive learning checklist - Designed to help physics practitioners record and extend their gender-inclusive practice in the classroom (Institute of Physics). This could be adapted for any subject.
- Equally safe at school (launched August 2021) - interactive website with tools, information and resources to support schools and teachers through a process of embedding a set of holistic measures to prevent gender-based violence
- Mentors in Violence Prevention in Scottish Schools
Resources for use with children and young people
Links to further resources for practitioners to use with children and young people in early learning and childcare, primary schools and secondary schools to help provide ongoing and sustained opportunities for children and young people to reflect on gender stereotypes, and to ensure children and young people access all areas of the curriculum and self-selection is tackled at all stages.
- This is engineering UK image bank – diverse set of images of engineers and wide variety of jobs involved in engineering
- Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood (RSHP) resource– toolkit complete with lesson plans, activities, PowerPoints, parental resources and reading recommendations
- Stride Magazine ‘What does gender equality mean?’ – Resources for embedding gender equality in classroom activities
- Breaking the mould - lesson plans, worksheets and discussion topics
- Future Nurse - lesson plan and supporting resources to address common stereotypes in Nursing
- Equality and Human Rights Commission - lesson activity ideas
- Equaliteach: Outside the box toolkit - advice and techniques for educators, as well as lesson plans and activities
- International Women’s Day School Resources – a suite of resources exploring gender stereotypes that can be used at any time of the year
Early learning and childcare
- Zero Tolerance – early years campaigns: resources, posters and advice
- Let toys be toys campaign – Early years – ways to challenge stereotypes, resources, posters
- Gender friendly nurseries - programme with nurseries in Glasgow - link to their support pack and training manual
Primary schools
- Zero Tolerance – resources for challenging gender stereotypes with children and young people
- Let toys be toys campaign – primary lesson plans and discussion materials
- SDS My World of Work – Equality lesson plan and resources
- Talking jobs – short videos of individuals discussing their work to help challenge young people’s assumptions about who does what
- Gender Equality Collective – Best books (2019) guide and lesson resources
- Diverse representation in Science: book ideas – book suggestions organised by topic
Secondary schools
- Let toys be toys campaign – lesson plan (S2/S3)
- SDS My World of Work – Stereotypes lesson plan and activities (S1- S3)
- Be what you want campaign – teacher resource (page 11 onwards contains activities)
- Gender Equality Collective – Guide to Curriculum Design (in England)
The following PSE resources can be used in addition to, and to complement the new Relationships, Sexual Health and Parenthood resource:
- Zipped file: Third and Fourth Level PSE resources (2 MB) – gender stereotypes, unconscious bias and me
- Zipped file: Senior Phase PSE resources (1 MB) – gender stereotypes in the media and stereotype threat
STEM subjects
- My skills my life – resource from Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) to see how your skills match up to STEM careers
- Doing the house work lesson plans and activities - data handling task to investigate the gender differences when it comes to household chores (S1-S3) (from STEM learning)
Other
- Girls toys vs boys toys: The Experiment - clip from the BBC documentary ‘No more boys and girls’
- Harvard implicit association test UK – test your own unconscious bias on a variety of characteristics
Research and literature
Links to research and literature for practitioners on the topics of: challenging gender stereotypes; addressing unconscious bias; improving gender balance in subject uptake and learner pathways; and promoting whole-establishment approaches to equality.
STEM: improving gender balance equity and equality – video resources
What does the research tell us and what can we do?
Part 1: Is STEM for the masculine and brainy?
Part 2: STEM and self-efficacy
IGBE literature review and webinar
This literature review gives an overview of the relevant theory and research, with points for professional discussion and ideas for practice (2019). The authors recorded a webinar, hosted by the GTCS. The presenters discuss key themes from the paper and answer questions from webinar participants (2019).
Can't view this video? You can also view this clip on Glow (log-in required).
Findings and evaluation of IGB Scotland pilot project
- Key findings and evaluation from the IGB pilot in Scotland (2018)
- A blog detailing the work from the pilot (2016)
- SDS Improving Gender Balance findings (2018) - YouTube video
Other research relating to gender, race and/or STEM
- IN SIGHT REPORT — Intercultural Youth Scotland (2020)
- Girls in Scotland 2020 (Girl Guiding Scotland, 2020)
- Reflecting realities: survey of ethnic representation within UK Children’s Literature 2019 (Centre for Literacy in Primary Education, 2020)
- Women in STEM : An intersectional analysis of multiple discriminations (Equate, 2020)
- Our careers, our future - STEM careers provision and young people (Engineering UK, 2020)
- Research briefing: Looking at gender balance in STEM subjects at school (Education Scotland, 2015)
- List of references: Looking at gender balance in STEM subjects at school (Education Scotland, 2015)
- Opening Doors – A guide to good practice in countering gender stereotyping in schools (Institute of Physics, 2015)
- Authentic Research Projects in Schools - contains links to opportunities for learners to conduct original scientific research. (Institute of Physics, Skills Development Scotland (SDS) and Education Scotland, 2017).
- SLF 2018 - Professor Louise Archer speaks about a science capital approach to improve young people’s engagement with STEM (YouTube).
- More videos are available in the IGBE video resource
- Are boys and girls equally prepared for life - A report which focuses on the gender performance gap in mathematics and some of the reasons behind it (PISA, 2014).
Note on copyright
The Institute of Physics materials are made available with the kind permission of the Institute of Physics (© Institute of Physics 2017). Re-use of these materials is subject to IOP’s copyright policy, which can be accessed here: http://www.iop.org/copyright