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Research methodology and approach

For the Re-mapping project, data will be collected from 15 year-old students in 3 EU countries, (France, Italy, and Greece). Criteria of selection: a) The age group. The age of 15 is a critical stage because in all three educational systems, it marks both the transition from the lower to upper secondary education and the most common verge of dropping out of school. b) The choice of Member states. France, Italy and Greece were chosen because of: 1) their ESL rate, 2) their results in PISA 2013, 3) the evolution of the above results & rates during the last 20 years, 4) the attested gender gaps in the benchmarks of ESL &school performance. Moreover, these three countries are also today severely socio-economically challenged, each in a different scale, because of the economic, the refugee and the security crisis. There will be 2 research areas per country (1 rural & 1 urban) and 1 school per research area. In sum: 6 focus schools & 150 15-years-old students.

The gender dimension

Girls have a) less confidence in their ability to solve math & science problems, b) unrealistic expectations, c) less than 5% contemplate pursuing a career in engineering and computing, d) the gender gap is particularly ambitious among top performing than among low performing students (OECD, 2015) .

This project explores the gender gap under the conceptual lens of representation of space, to provide a new cartography of gendered segregations. The project puts forward 2 transversal research questions:  i) Are there significant differences in the representational spaces of boys & girls? &  ii) These eventual differences can be correlated with girls’ career choices and self-concept?