In English the construction of educational disadvantage can be seen at work through the notion of ‘free choice’. Teachers investigating the area of ‘free choice’ and who had assumed that ‘free choice’ writing was an inclusive teaching strategy found, on close examination of the content of girls’ writing, that ‘free choice’ did not mean variety. Girls are rewarded for producing gendered content, form and structure and thus, free choice does not appear to lead to the development of a range of skills; nor do girls appear to be offered opportunities to learn to write in a variety of forms for a variety of audiences.
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