Metal technology and design was the least preferred design and technology subject by fourth form girls when the national fourth form girls' percentage enrolment is compared with three design and technology subjects from 1990 to 2001 (see table 6.5 or appendix xxvii). For example, while girls' metal technology and design enrolment in
1 990 was 1 10(0.2%), wood technology enrolment was 1 8 1(0.3%), building technology and design was 245(0.4%) and technical graphics and design was 161(0.3%) from the same population of 64 407.
Table 6.5.
Metal technology and design enrolment
(English language has been used as an indicator of total enrolment)
Year 1 990 1 992 1 994 1 996 1 998 2000 2001
NElfotal N Elfotal NElfotal NElfotal NElfotal NElfotal NElfotal
National 1 1 0/64407 48/68098 1 8/67464 2 1178395 86/95 1 77 1 2 1 1 1 02220 200/95 1 77 girls % 0.2% 0 . 1 % 0.02% 0.02% 0. 1 % 0. 1 % 0.2% National 3762/97669 2496/99835 27 1 8/95454 3003/ 1 0397 1 3977/1 1 8342 4063/ 1 25808 3872/1 1 8342 boys % 3.9% 3.0% 2.80% 2 .90% 3.4% 3.2% 3.3% Harare girls 2/1 3797 391 1 5480 5711 6496 97/1 7266 % 0.0 1 % 0.3% 0.3% 0.6% H arare boys 1 2 1 1 1 1 6594 1 72511 7745 1 59 1 1 1 8795 1 666/ 1 9294 % 7.3% 9.7% 8.5% 8.6% Masv girls 4/1 1 2 1 1 5/ 1 38 1 1 1 1 1 42 1 9 611 3509 0.03% 0.03% 0.007% 0.04% Masv boys 871 1 5 1 57 2 1 51 1 8043 226/ 1 8459 259/ 1 7732 % 0.6% 1 .2 % 1 .2%
NE: Number Enrolled, Masv - Masvingo
In 1992, 1994, 1996, 1998, 2000 and 200 1 , girls' enrolment in metal technology and design continued to be lower than in the other three design and technology subjects. The 0.2 percent girls' national metal technology and design enrolment represented a ratio of
1 :244.5 of girls' mathematics enrolment, 1 :379 of girls' integrated science enrolment and 1 : 90 of girls' fashion and fabrics enrolment.
In 1 992, only 48(0. 1 %) fourth form girls enrolled nationally (see table 6.5). Metal technology and design's lack of appeal to fourth form girls is clear when seen when the 48(0. 1 %) girls' enrolment is compared with the mathematics enrolment of
3 1 273(45.9%), the integrated science enrolment of 53 669(78.9%) and the fashion and fabrics enrolment of 1 1 585(1 7%). Fourth form girls' 1994 national enrolment in the
Chapter Six: National and provincial participation and achievement results
subject was only 1 8(0.02%) girls. There were far more fourth form girls enrolled in mathematics (34 401 or 5 1 %), integrated science (55 857 or 82.8%) and fashion and fabrics ( 1 1 435 or 16.9%) than in metal technology and design.
123
The 2 1 (0.01 %) fourth form girls enrolled nationally in metal technology and design in 1996 meant that there were 41 287 more girls enrolled in mathematics, 63 466 more girls in integrated science and 1 5 536 more girls in fashion and fabrics. In 1998, 86 fourth form girls were enrolled representing 0. 1 percent of fourth form girls' English language enrolment of 95 1 77. This fourth form girls' percentage enrolment was 1 : 528 to girls' mathematics enrolment of 52.8%, 1 :798 to the integrated science enrolment of 79.8% and 1 :243 to the fashion and fabrics enrolment of 24.3%. In 2000, fourth form girls' enrolment in metal technology and design was 0. 1 percent of total fourth form girls' enrolment. The 0. 1 percent enrolment for girls was 539 times lower than girls' mathematics enrolment of 53.9%, 860 times lower than their integrated science of 86% and 255 lower than their fashion and fabrics enrolment of 25.5%. Two hundred fourth form girls or 0.2 percent of the total fourth form girls' English language enrolment of 95
1 77 took metal technology and design in 200 1 . This percentage was 1 :241 to fourth form girls' mathematics enrolment of 48.2%, 1 :485 to the integrated science enrolment of 97% and 1 : 146 to the fashion and fabrics enrolment of 29.2 %.
Provincial enrolment statistics reflected similar trends to national statistics with girls seriously under-represented in metal design and technology from 1996 to 200 1 . In Harare province, only two girls took metal technology and design in 1 996. This was 0.01 percent of the fourth form girls' English language provincial enrolment of 13 797.
Masvingo province in the same year had only four girls (0.03%) taking the subject from a fourth form English language girls' enrolment of 1 1 2 1 1 . Harare fourth form girls' high participation in mathematics (62%), integrated science (77.3%) and fashion and fabrics ( 17.3%) indicates problems with girls into metal technology and design which had only a 0.01 percent enrolment. In Masvingo province there were 4 914 more girls in
mathematics, 8 8 1 5 more girls in integrated science and 2 148 more girls in fashion and fabrics than those four enrolled in metal technology and design in 1 996.
Harare province had 39 girls or 0.3 percent of the English language enrolment taking metal technology and desjgn in 1998. Five girls or 0.03% percent of the English language enrolment took the subject in the same year in Masvingo province. The other three subjects being compared with, that is mathematics, integrated science and fashion and fabrics, all had over 20% girls' participation in their subjects that year. While Harare province recorded 0.3 percent girls' enrolment in metal design and technology in 2000, mathematics had 53.9%, integrated science had 86% and fashion and fabrics had 19.8%. Masvingo on the other hand, had only one fourth form girl or 0.3 percent enrolment in
Chapter Six: National and provincial participation and achievement results 124 metal design and technology in 2000, while mathematics, integrated science and fashion
and fabrics all had over nineteen percent girls' representations in their subjects. In 200 1 , Harare province had 97 girls in metal technology and design while only six girls were taking the subject in Masvingo province. This represented percentages of 0.6 and 0.04 of total English language enrolments respectively. In the same year, fourth form girls' representation in mathematics, integrated science and fashion and fabrics was all above 21 % (see appendix xxviii).
Results show overwhelming support that fourth form girls are under-represented in design and technology subjects when these subjects are compared with core curricula subjects such as English language, mathematics and integrated science.
6.2 Fourth Form Girls' Achievement in Design and Technology Subjects
Fourth form girls' achievement in design and technology subjects was analysed for the years 1 990, 1992, 1 994, 1996, 1998, 2000, and 2001 against their performance in academic subjects and fashion and fabrics (see table 6.6). Secondly, national and
provincial comparisons are made for each of the four design and technology subjects. Little comparison is made between girls' and boys' achievement as the focus was on fourth form girls mainly. To compare girls' performance against that of boys was perceived to pose some nuisance variables considering the varied nature of motivations and background experiences between the two genders. For example, boys may feel that metal technology and design is their traditional area of study and may have the subject background experiences from home. On the other hand, girls may suffer anxiety and feel alienated by the new experiences and may not have the intrinsic motivations that boys.
Results in table 6.6 show that among the four design and technology subjects, fourth form girls performed consistently lower in building technology and design. Their performance in this subject ranged from eight to seventeen percent in the seven years sampled compared to 14 to 40 percent for technical graphics and design, 1 1 to 56 percent for wood technology and design and 19 to 44 percent for metal technology and design. Girls' performances in the four design and technology subjects compared well with their performances in three academic subjects where percentages ranged from 18 to 34 for English language, 1 1 to 1 8 for mathematics and 14 to 23 for integrated science. Results show that girls performed lower than boys at national level in all four design and technology subjects.
Chapter Six: National and provincial participation and achievement results 1 25 Table 6.6
Girls' national percentage pass rate in eight subjects compared Year
Subject 1 990 1 992 1 994 1 996 1 998 2000 200 1
Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys Girls Boys
% % % % % % % % % % % % % % T/graphics 1 4 4 1 20 47 38 55 34 55 40 59 26 53 34 50 B uilding 9 37 8 33 1 0 37 9 44 1 7 4 1 1 3 3 1 1 2 33 W/technology 22 66 1 1 35 33 75 56 76 40 70 35 74 32 74 Mltechnology 0 26 25 46 44 54 48 55 1 9 55 33 6 1 25 59 English lang 1 8 1 9 1 9 2 1 25 22 29 26 26 24 34 27 26 24 Mathematics 1 4 29 1 7 30 1 8 29 1 3 24 I I 22 I I 20 1 2 2 1 Int/science 1 4 3 2 1 6 3 3 20 37 23 39 2 3 3 6 20 35 20 36 Fashion/fabrics 37 26 39 3 8 44 44 43 3 1 45 40 30 23 48 34
T/graphics= technical graphics and design, W/technology= Wood technology and design, Mltechnology=
Metal technology and design Int/science= Integrated science
Fourth form girls' achievement in fashion and fabrics was however, higher than in any of the eight subjects compared. This could signify their sound grounding in the subject knowledge as this is traditionally a subject for girls. However results show no gendering in this subject as boys competed slightly lower than girls. In the next sections, I focus on girls' achievement in each of the design and technology subjects.