GSA President's address to conference
9 November 2005
Good morning everyone. May I begin by extending a very warm welcome to you all, both to London and to the Thistle Tower (Guoman) Hotel. The Girls' Schools Association is delighted to be hosting this conference in partnership with the National Coalition of Girls' Schools, USA, as together we welcome delegates not only from our own associations but from around the world.
Whatever our own particular professional context, there couldn't be a more appropriate time for us to come together to celebrate, affirm and carry forward our commitment to the education of girls: this is truly a global issue. The success of girls' education in our own countries is well documented; we will be hearing much over the next few days about achievement and progress in our schools. But those of us working in the developed world, you might say, have it easy. The story is not the same worldwide and in many countries, the opportunities available to girls still fall far short of what is needed .The United Nations has given this matter high priority by establishing as one of its millennium goals to end gender disparity in education on a global scale by 2015. At this conference, I hope that we will be able not only to advance and share good practice for the benefit of our own schools, but also to identify ways in which we, and the fortunate girls in our care, can make a difference in parts of the globe where there is still so much to be done.
Our themes will reflect the internationalism of our thinking and will place our discussions in a worldwide context. We shall be hearing today about the emerging role of women as leaders, pace setters and agents of global change ; tomorrow we will hear from leading women in the fields of science, technology, business and philanthropy, and on Saturday, our focus will be the physical: health, nutrition and sport. Our speakers, whose experiences span both sides of the Atlantic, are all exemplars of the significant and lasting contribution women are now making in diverse areas of public, academic and business life. They will be telling us their stories, and sharing with us their thoughts on the qualities and skills girls need as they emerge from our schools into today's challenging society. I know that these remarkable women will inspire us to lift our thinking to embrace the bigger picture: at the same time, the value of this conference will be as much in our fruitful exchange of ideas with one another. I do encourage everyone to use both the formal and informal opportunities of the next few days for this purpose too.
Our delegates this year comprise both those leading girls' schools as well as those involved in the education of girls in a variety of other contexts. Whatever our own school setting, we are here to engage in sharing best practice about the education of girls today, as well as to set the agenda for the future. In doing this we would do well to remember that we are all inheritors of the short but radical and revolutionary history of women's education, which began in a serious way when a number of far sighted individuals established the first schools for girls in the early and mid 1800's. I hope NCGS colleagues will allow me to mention here their own Emma Willard, founder of the Troy Female Seminary and now remembered in the school which bears her name. It's a pleasure to welcome Trudy Hamner, of Emma Willard School, to our conference. Emma Willard personifies for me exactly the kind of courageous perseverance which was needed 200 years ago to bring such a project to fruition; but it was not easy to be such a woman. Her father, writing in a letter to her future husband, said of her: "The enterprising turn of mind that has actuated Emma from her early youth has been a source of considerable anxiety to my mind ..... I was not without fears that her uncommon boldness and confidence in her own abilities would precipitate her into some extravagances that might terminate in disgrace ...."
I like to think that the spirit of Emma, and others like her, will be hovering over our deliberations this week, reminding us of the debt that we, and the girls in our care, owe to those pioneering individuals of the past. I would also like to think that their courage and imagination, their willingness to go against the popular grain and to take risks, still actively inform the way we educate girls.
For all our efforts and those of Emma Willard, there is still much to be done worldwide in closing the gap between the fortunes of men and women. A recent survey of 58 countries by the World Economics Forum reveals that while the gap is closing, gender disparity persists more or less everywhere in economic status, political empowerment, health and schooling. ( Although I'm pleased to say that the UK ranks 8th best).Not surprisingly, the key barometer of equal engagement in adult life is the emphasis placed on girls' education, especially at secondary and higher level. However, if we are to educate women not only to participate but to lead, the challenge is greater still. British authors Peninah Thomson and Jacey Graham, in their newly published book, A Woman's Place is in the Boardroom, tell us that women still see ambition as essentially a male quality, associated with aggression and the pursuit of self interest. Perhaps not surprisingly, they account for only 3.7% of the board members of FTSE100 companies. Yet all of us here know that women have unique gifts to bring to the leadership of our businesses, universities and public institutions. It is up to us to educate them to be confident, articulate and independent but also to be responsible risk takers, if they are to be as comfortable in the boardroom as their brothers.
While acknowledging the diversity of experience represented at this conference, you would not expect me to stand here today without paying tribute to the particular role of girls' schools in carrying forward the modern vision of women's education. We have done so much in recent years, thanks to the work of our associations, to re-image girls' schools in the public mind and to throw off the idea that, with all due respect to Emma, we are still wearing our lace gloves and represent no more than a rather attractive but ultimately anachronistic relic from the 19th century. Nothing is more powerful than the endorsement of our own alumnae, pursuing their lives as modern women, often combining career and family. GSA is now building its own database of advocates, 300 strong so far and representing all ages from 20 to 90, who are prepared to champion their girls' school education as a full and enriching preparation for the lives they have gone on to lead. I believe that NCGS have just conducted a major survey of their own "alums" which will reveal equally positive responses, and we look forward to hearing about that.
The outstanding academic performance of girls in girls' schools is already well documented, but in the UK, this has been given new force and significance against the prevailing background of national decline in the take up of particular subjects, notably the hard sciences and modern foreign languages. Analysis of the Advanced level results of 2004 shows that in physics, for example, GSA girls produced 46% of the A grades achieved by all girls across the UK, while representing only 18.8% of the national cohort. In maths, chemistry, French and German, the picture was much the same. Ladies and gentlemen of the press, the 2005 figures are forthcoming. As a country, the projected decline in our linguistic versatility and our diminishing contribution to international advances in science and technology are cause for grave concern. The GSA can justly claim, therefore, not only that its girls are achieving far beyond expectation in the most difficult academic subjects, but that they are set to make a pivotal contribution to the regeneration of our national intellectual capital.
Whatever our perspective today, in measuring the success of what we do, so much depends on an awareness of context. Caught up in the day-to-day pressure of leading schools it is all too easy for our vision to narrow, causing us to forget our connection with others. I hope that during this conference, we will be firmly reminded of our place in the worldwide mission to educate young women to take their proper place in society. At the same time, we each in our different countries have a place in our respective national educational provision and we may want to take time to reflect on this, too. GSA colleagues are passionate about the value of girls-only education. We celebrate the distinctive success of girls' schools and the role they play providing training for leadership; we hold in esteem and affection our schools' individual character and heritage and we are proud and protective of the unique place they occupy in the learning landscape. At the same time, we acknowledge and celebrate our connectedness to other forms of independent education and to the principle of independence itself. Our sector is rich because it is diverse, catering for the needs of boys and girls, in small and large schools, in urban and rural settings, offering an appropriate curriculum to children of all abilities, whether they need boarding or day provision. It offers parents real choice and the opportunity to select the right school for their child.
Just as the moment is ripe for educators of girls to play their part in a worldwide mission for gender equality, so the time is equally opportune for independent schools in this country to play their part in shaping the educational agenda. Although we represent only 7% of the country's children, the potential for us to exert considerable influence is emerging as the government acknowledges openly that our schools exemplify principles and practice that can be of wider value.
Key to grasping this opportunity will be our ability to unify our own thinking as a sector, so that we are seen as speaking with a clear and unequivocal voice. Much has been achieved of a co-operative nature under the umbrella of the Independent Schools Council and the framework exists to crystallize these advances. Ultimately however, it will fall to the Heads Associations to decide if they wish to put aside territorial self interest, hallow each others' strengths and work together to play a key role in our country's wider educational future. We must choose now whether to board that train, or allow it to leave us complacent and ultimately vulnerable, upon an empty platform.
If, as a sector, we do wish to take a more integrated place in the national picture, the Prime Minister's recent announcements should give us cause for optimism. We should also be urging him to deliver his promise to remove government intervention from the day to day management of education. It is time education ceased to be a tool whereby successive governments ensure their own survival and re-election. The recent White Paper, if it can be implemented, will do much to empower schools and parents. But next year's cohort of 11+ senior school joiners will hardly have reached GCSE before the government is repositioning itself for an election. Policy decisions, however far sighted, do not have time for mature implementation before political reversal is threatened.
Mr Blair referred repeatedly in his recent speech to his government's espousal of ideas which are traditionally associated with the political right. If we are indeed at an historic turning point as he claims, let him now show the courage to demonstrate this by setting up a permanent cross party commission to determine education policy, bringing together the best political minds from all sides together with those who understand the educational process from within. There are a number of issues - national security and defence are key examples - which are already regarded as so important that they need to be dealt with on a cross party basis. Education should undoubtedly be given equal priority. In taking this step, Mr Blair would establish a mechanism by which education could be governed with real vision and statesmanship, rather than being driven by pragmatism overlaid with party political rhetoric. Our children are our future: they deserve and need no less.
In conclusion, and mindful of these many overlapping circles within which we find ourselves today, I draw you back to our conference theme of opportunity. I hope we will all thoroughly enjoy the stimulus and the fellowship of the next few days, renew old connections and discover new ones, and return to our schools with a sharper sense of the part we can play as educators in shaping young people's lives. We may feel our own contribution is small, but as the action of the late Rosa Parks should remind us, when in 1955, she refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama to a white fellow passenger, individual gestures can, sometimes in unexpected ways, change the course of history.
Once again, I welcome you all and now invite Margaret Broad, President of the NCGS, to address us.
Clarissa Farr
November 2005