The inclusion of girls in Chilean mathematics classrooms: gender bias in teacher-student interaction networks (La inclusión de las niñas en las aulas de matemáticas chilenas: sesgo de género en las redes de interacciones profesor-estudiante)

Abstract

The gender gap in mathematics outcomes, where women are most affected, is well documented internationally and is particularly high in Chilean secondary education. This study explores the educational inclusion of girls in mathematics classrooms. The coding of videos from 79 school lessons, involving 2,295 students, allowed us to compare how and how much teachers interact with male and female students, analyse the moderating effect of academic achievement in these interactions and explore the differences among classrooms with regard to the inclusion of girls. Teacher-student interaction networks were represented via sociograms and modelled with multilevel Poisson regression. We found that girls interact less frequently with their mathematics teachers in interactions of diverse content, and this is the case in interactions initiated by the teacher as well as those initiated by the student. Academic achievement moderates these differences only in pedagogical interactions initiated by students. There is also significant variation in the inclusion of girls among classrooms, which is not consistently explained by the gender of the teacher or the gender composition of the class.