"Fearless Girl", Bowling Green, Financial District in Lower Manhattan
What does it take to be FEARLESS?
The defiant and exposed stance of Kristen Visbal’s cast bronze statue of “The Fearless Girl” at Wall Street was commissioned to remind us that women are not well represented on boards, university faculties or in the raw numbers of graduates in economics at a tertiary or school level.
Being "Fearless" should be a rational choice
The way that economics is taught is less palatable for young women than it is for men. It relies on a rationalist perspective that privileges a formalised way of thinking (The Economist, 2017). This is not truly an economic way of thinking. Teachers who develop an understanding of the simple but ultimately powerful concepts of knowledge in economics will expose their students to the core principles of real economic thinking. Ultimately that will lead to sustainable and cooperative systems, building social and moral capital. This is something we all need to invest in for young women and men. Structuring teaching and learning plans that help students understand the world using an economic way of thinking centre on some key ideas (Gwartney & Schug, 2011):
- incentives can change behaviour,
- our world has finite resources,
- decisions are made at the margins,
- trade is mutually beneficial,
- transaction costs are barriers to trade
- and profits act as a magnet for innovation and progress
Applying economic thinking to ethical and moral dilemmas focuses on what is missing in the curriculum: the human experience. McCloskey (article available here) speaks about humanomics. Women in economics gravitate to people-centred areas such as health and education, and as students in pre-tertiary environments, they are looking for people-centred studies. Economic conversations happen daily in every household because economics is about how we behave as individuals, households, businesses and policy makers. As teachers we can bring that realisation to our students and develop authentic and purposeful assessment that provides a relevant and connected experience for all students, but especially to the most marginalised and all our girls - fearful and fearless!
Click on the images for links
Disrupting the Gender Bias
As educators in the burgeoning knowledge economy, rethinking how talent is developed and deployed needs to happen now. The Melbourne Declaration as a visionary document recognises this in acknowledging the need for young people to accommodate change, create change and implement change in their thinking and design. For them to do this, we need a future-ready curriculum in Economics that reimagines what and how we are teaching by incorporating an ethical or humanistic perspective for economic modelling and discussion.
We need to give our young women role models in the curriculum and a learning environment that embraces change through collaboration, that fosters peer-to-peer learning and self-efficacy through challenge and engagement. The Fourth Industrial Revolution has the potential to deliver a potent digital divide that will exacerbate the gender gap. Generating economic literacy works with us to counteract this.
Aprea (2015) contends that the misconceptions surrounding economics and the prevailing apathy towards understanding complex economic phenomena stem from disconnection in education. Young people feel like economics is something that happens around them and economic events such as the GFC are inevitable and blameless. Fewer students, especially female, are choosing economics perceiving it as elitist, dry and difficult, even though “there are more female students than male students in the higher performance Bands” (NESA, 2017). It is under threat.
We need to give our young women role models in the curriculum and a learning environment that embraces change through collaboration, that fosters peer-to-peer learning and self-efficacy through challenge and engagement. The Fourth Industrial Revolution has the potential to deliver a potent digital divide that will exacerbate the gender gap. Generating economic literacy works with us to counteract this.
Aprea (2015) contends that the misconceptions surrounding economics and the prevailing apathy towards understanding complex economic phenomena stem from disconnection in education. Young people feel like economics is something that happens around them and economic events such as the GFC are inevitable and blameless. Fewer students, especially female, are choosing economics perceiving it as elitist, dry and difficult, even though “there are more female students than male students in the higher performance Bands” (NESA, 2017). It is under threat.
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A number of contributing factors have been cited in the literature to explain this trend:
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References
Aprea, C. (2015, April). Secondary School Students’ Informal Conceptions of Complex Economic Phenomena. International Journal of Educational Research 69, pp. 12-22.
Dobrescu, I., Greiner, B. & Motta, A. (2015). Learning Economic Concepts through Game-Play -An Experiment. International Journal of Educational Research 69, pp. 23-37.
The Economist. (December 19, 2017). Inefficient Equilibrium. The Economist, pp. 96-98.
Gwartney, J., & Schug, M. (2011). What Every High School Student and Teacher Needs to Know about Economics. In M. Schug, & W. Wood (Eds.), Teaching Economics in Troubled Times (pp. 11-36). New York, NY: Routledge.
NESA. (2017). Stronger HSC Standards: An Overview of the Evidence. Retrieved from NESA Initiatives: http://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/wcm/connect/fef1917e-63bc-4e27-a263-f7afdd5fde1b/stronger-hsc-standards-evidence.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=
References
Aprea, C. (2015, April). Secondary School Students’ Informal Conceptions of Complex Economic Phenomena. International Journal of Educational Research 69, pp. 12-22.
Dobrescu, I., Greiner, B. & Motta, A. (2015). Learning Economic Concepts through Game-Play -An Experiment. International Journal of Educational Research 69, pp. 23-37.
The Economist. (December 19, 2017). Inefficient Equilibrium. The Economist, pp. 96-98.
Gwartney, J., & Schug, M. (2011). What Every High School Student and Teacher Needs to Know about Economics. In M. Schug, & W. Wood (Eds.), Teaching Economics in Troubled Times (pp. 11-36). New York, NY: Routledge.
NESA. (2017). Stronger HSC Standards: An Overview of the Evidence. Retrieved from NESA Initiatives: http://educationstandards.nsw.edu.au/wps/wcm/connect/fef1917e-63bc-4e27-a263-f7afdd5fde1b/stronger-hsc-standards-evidence.pdf?MOD=AJPERES&CVID=
What can we fix?
Misinformation, Access and Communication
With simple, uncomplicated and relatively inexpensive interventions at schools that allow them to contextualise for their own needs (within a scalable model), we can challenge the prevailing dynamic.
Some advocacy models for women are working.
With simple, uncomplicated and relatively inexpensive interventions at schools that allow them to contextualise for their own needs (within a scalable model), we can challenge the prevailing dynamic.
Some advocacy models for women are working.
Core components of the programme include:
- Career information
- Grade information and feedback
- Peer mentoring
Where to from here?
As part of her push to drive up participation numbers, Wendy Mockler, second right, is looking at assessment and teaching methods, putting the responsibility for creating change firmly on teachers.
If we lose out on women in economics, then there’s a real elitism that’s going to dominate all of those discussions around the critical influences for the next five or ten years around our economy and our social structure."
— Wendy Mockler
Mockler on a mission to address drop in economics enrolment
By Geordie Little
Published October 16, 2017
Wendy Mockler is a woman on a mission.
As part of her push to drive up participation numbers, Wendy Mockler, second right, is looking at assessment and teaching methods, putting the responsibility for creating change firmly on teachers.
The Lumen Christi Catholic College teacher is seeking to address the dramatic drop in high school economics enrolment, particularly among girls.
“If we lose out on women in economics, then there’s a real elitism that’s going to dominate all of those discussions around the critical influences for the next five or ten years around our economy and our social structure,” Mockler says.
Year 12 economics enrolments have dropped by almost 70 per cent in the last 24 years, and girls make up only 40 per cent of the remaining students.
Concerned that this clear plunge could lead to an economically illiterate generation, Mockler is taking giant steps to try and reinvent the way that we teach economics.
“Right now we’re embarking on a school-wide pedagogical framework, so we’re looking at how we can find a unique range of pedagogical principles that define us as a school and really lead us on to some significant change in the next couple of years,” she says.
As part of her push to drive up participation numbers, Mockler is looking at assessment and teaching methods, putting the responsibility for creating change firmly on teachers.
“There’s some things you can’t change and there’s some things [where] we end up blaming, sometimes we blame the curriculum, sometimes we blame the funding, we blame the schools, but there are things that we can fix, and that is in the collaborative expertise,” she says.
Ambitiously, Mockler also hopes to change the way that economics is taught in a broader sense, moving it towards a pluralist model.
“We’ve relied on a very maths and scientific treatment of economics … So when we broaden the model, when we broaden the discussions around it, pedagogy becomes very inclusive,” she says.
Her work was recently recognised by the New South Wales Government, with a $15,000 Premiers’ Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Economics Scholarship.
“It’s just incredible. It’s really quite humbling and I feel quite privileged … I really feel like there is an opportunity there for us to have a say in a national conversation of real importance,” she says.
“It’s a big brief and that’s why I’m grateful to be working with the RBA – the message is coming out to a variety of places and I think it’s getting into the media and we’re starting to recognise what we’re going to lose out on.”
Although enrolment in economics has dropped significantly, when Mockler describes her current students she paints a picture of a passionate, motivated group of young adults.
“In the classes that I’ve got, half of them are taking economics because they’re just interested, they just want to be in on that conversation…
“A class I had last year, probably about three quarters of them went to ANU and Sydney and either looked at a business or an economics course, or into commerce, so they’re going into those areas and pursuing opportunities,” she says.
This story appeared in the October 2017 edition of Australian Teacher Magazine.
Published October 16, 2017
Wendy Mockler is a woman on a mission.
As part of her push to drive up participation numbers, Wendy Mockler, second right, is looking at assessment and teaching methods, putting the responsibility for creating change firmly on teachers.
The Lumen Christi Catholic College teacher is seeking to address the dramatic drop in high school economics enrolment, particularly among girls.
“If we lose out on women in economics, then there’s a real elitism that’s going to dominate all of those discussions around the critical influences for the next five or ten years around our economy and our social structure,” Mockler says.
Year 12 economics enrolments have dropped by almost 70 per cent in the last 24 years, and girls make up only 40 per cent of the remaining students.
Concerned that this clear plunge could lead to an economically illiterate generation, Mockler is taking giant steps to try and reinvent the way that we teach economics.
“Right now we’re embarking on a school-wide pedagogical framework, so we’re looking at how we can find a unique range of pedagogical principles that define us as a school and really lead us on to some significant change in the next couple of years,” she says.
As part of her push to drive up participation numbers, Mockler is looking at assessment and teaching methods, putting the responsibility for creating change firmly on teachers.
“There’s some things you can’t change and there’s some things [where] we end up blaming, sometimes we blame the curriculum, sometimes we blame the funding, we blame the schools, but there are things that we can fix, and that is in the collaborative expertise,” she says.
Ambitiously, Mockler also hopes to change the way that economics is taught in a broader sense, moving it towards a pluralist model.
“We’ve relied on a very maths and scientific treatment of economics … So when we broaden the model, when we broaden the discussions around it, pedagogy becomes very inclusive,” she says.
Her work was recently recognised by the New South Wales Government, with a $15,000 Premiers’ Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) Economics Scholarship.
“It’s just incredible. It’s really quite humbling and I feel quite privileged … I really feel like there is an opportunity there for us to have a say in a national conversation of real importance,” she says.
“It’s a big brief and that’s why I’m grateful to be working with the RBA – the message is coming out to a variety of places and I think it’s getting into the media and we’re starting to recognise what we’re going to lose out on.”
Although enrolment in economics has dropped significantly, when Mockler describes her current students she paints a picture of a passionate, motivated group of young adults.
“In the classes that I’ve got, half of them are taking economics because they’re just interested, they just want to be in on that conversation…
“A class I had last year, probably about three quarters of them went to ANU and Sydney and either looked at a business or an economics course, or into commerce, so they’re going into those areas and pursuing opportunities,” she says.
This story appeared in the October 2017 edition of Australian Teacher Magazine.
