Now ‘Tiger head’ Katherine Birbalsingh claims female pupils shun physics because they are more ’empathetic’ than boys after facing backlash for saying they dislike ‘hard maths’
- Katherine Birbalsingh, defended comments made during the Stem committee
- She was slammed for saying girls don’t study physics as they dislike ‘hard maths’
- Speaking on GMB today she said girls tended to be ‘more empathetic’ than boys
- Professor Christina Pagel, a mathematician at UCL, criticised the headteacher
- ‘Why does empathy make you less likely to do physics?’ she said on the TV show
Britain’s social mobility Tsar has said girls are shunning physics in part because they are more ’empathetic’ than boys amid a row over comments suggesting female pupils dislike ‘hard maths’.
Katharine Birbalsingh was criticised by leading scientists after she claimed earlier this week that female pupils shun A-level physics as they dislike ‘hard maths’.
The ‘tiger headmistress’ and founder of the Michaela Community free school in Wembley, London, made the comments when addressing science and technology committee on diversity and inclusion in Stem on Wednesday.
Dr Jess Wade, a physicist at Imperial College London who campaigns for equality in science, called the comments ‘patronising’ and ‘infuriating’.
The 49-year-old, who is known as the country’s strictest headteacher, hit back saying her words were ‘taken out of context’, and on Good Morning Britain today stood behind her remarks.
The ‘tiger headmistress’ and founder of the Michaela Community free school in Wembley, London, was discussing why only 16 per cent of her A-level physics students were female, below the national average of 23 per cent
Katharine Birbalsingh said part of the reason fewer girls do A-level physics is because they are more ’empathetic’ than boys
Speaking on the ITV show this morning, Ms Birbalsingh said: ‘As I say I think cultural issues do play a part, but it’s wrong to have this idea that we ought to have 50 per cent girls in all subjects and 50 per cent boys.
‘What we ought to be doing is trying to create an environment where all children can fulfill their potential, and that all vulnerable groups, whether their girls or ethnic minorities or disadvantaged children, poor children and so on, are able to have equality of opportunity.
‘The idea of pursuing equity, which is this idea of 50 per cent – 50 per cent is wrong. When we have disparities, it does not mean we have discrimination.’
She added that she agreed discrimination existed and that other factors, such as ‘self-concept [how students think of themselves], lack of role models, that perhaps teachers aren’t as encouraging for girls in various ways’, play a role.
Ms Birbalsingh went on to say that ‘girls are more empathic’ than boys and this helped explain why fewer were doing physics.
‘One, girls perform well across the board so that they are spread out in terms of the subjects and I don’t want to stop them from doing the subjects they really enjoy,’ she said.
Professor Christina Pagel said she was ‘incredibly sad’ things had ‘not really improved’ in the two decades since she was a student
‘Two, the evidence shows boys on average, obviously there are brilliant women scientists, brilliant women mathematicians, but they are more systematic, they like things, and that the girls are more empathetic and they like people.
‘Doctors for example, combine the two. You have lots of empathy there, and you also have science. In fact women are taking up far more roles than men are as doctors.’
However, she was criticised on the TV show by Christina Pagel, a Mathematician and Professor of Operational Research at University College London, who said it was ‘incredibly sad’ things had ‘not really improved’ in the two decades since she was a student.
‘It’s not about the hard maths – girls and boys do equally well at GCSE maths and physics,’ she said.
‘Girls outperformed boys in maths A-level last year. In Katherine’s school 59 per cent of people doing maths A-level are girls.
Professor Pagel, a mathematician from UCL, asked ‘why does empathy make you less likely to do physics?’
‘It cannot be the case that the maths in physics A-level is harder than the maths A-level.’
She added that she was concerned by the remarks on empathy in girls and boys.
‘Setting aside the fact that any kind of gender personality trait research is extremely controversial, why does empathy make you less likely to do physics?
‘Why do you need [less] empathy to do physics than you do to do chemistry or maths, where 60 per cent of the people doing it are girls.
‘In the Committee on Wednesday Katherine said that she only looked at the gender differences in her school the day before, so how can she know what the reasons are for why girls aren’t doing it.
‘If you actually look at the Institute of Physics which has spent decades doing research into this, they highlight the cultural things that she’s mentioned but also that it’s about self-concept, it’s about somehow the girls start seeing physics as a boys subject and you can see that in the fact that in single sex schools many more girls actually pick up [physics].’
According to research by the Institute, those at mixed schools were two and half times less likely to progress to A-level physics compared to their counterparts at single sex schools
Katharine Birbalsingh, 49, was addressing the science and technology committee on diversity and inclusion in Stem (science, technology, engineering and maths), when she made the controversial remark on Wednesday
A report by the body said the statistics strongly suggested gender biases played a role in what subjects the students chose, which was compounded by gender-stereotyping by teachers, parents and the media.
How Britain’s ‘tiger headmistress’ was sacked for an attack on Britain’s failing education system before taking on her own school where students must ‘dress smartly’ and phones are BANNED
Katharine Birbalsingh won a standing ovation at the Conservative Party conference after she delivered a damning indictment of ‘utterly chaotic’ state schools in 2010.
But soon afterwards she was sent home from her school in Camberwell, South London, after her speech, and lost her job as a deputy head teacher at the inner city academy.
The former Marxist turned conservative was the surprise star of the Tory conference when she laid bare an education system in which children were ‘lost in a sea of bureaucracy’.
She said schools were crippled by league tables, exams were dumbed down and ‘well meaning liberal’ teachers refused to discipline black children for fear of being called racist.
The Oxford University graduate also admitted that she had voted Conservative for the first time after a decade working in state schools having supported Labour.
She was born in New Zealand, the elder of two daughters of Frank Birbalsingh, an academic, and his wife, Norma, a nurse.
After leaving Oxford she began working in inner city schools in South London. After her sacking in 2010 she wrote several books before becoming head of Michaela Community School in Wembley, having founded the school in 2014 with Suella Braverman, who is now a Tory MP.
She was dubbed the ‘tiger headmistress’ for how she runs her school, where Year 7 pupils are taught how to sit properly on a chair.
New students are also shown how to walk to lessons quickly in single file and how to concentrate on the teacher and to instill good behaviour as soon as they arrive, while mobile phones are banned.
They are told to keep their shirts tucked in and to pick up crumbs from the floor after eating at a boot camp, which teaches pupils how to ‘behave in the Michaela way’.
She was voted in the top 20 most influential people in British education in 2017 and given a CBE for services to education in 2020.
In October 2021, she was appointed Chair of the Social Mobility Commission.
She has has never spoken publicly about her private life, other than about her parents, and is understood not to have any children saying previously she is ‘completely dedicated’ to her work.
Ms Birbalsingh said Wednesday she was ‘certainly not out there campaigning’ for more girls to do physics.
‘I don’t mind that there’s only 16%,’ she said. ‘I want them to do what they want to do.’
Her comments were branded ‘terrifying’ and ‘infuriating’ by leading scientists.
Dr Jess Wade, a physicist at Imperial College London who campaigns for equality in science, said: ‘I honestly can’t believe we’re still having this conversation.
‘It’s patronising, it’s infuriating, and it’s closing doors to exciting careers in physics and engineering for generations of young women.
‘Whilst girls and boys currently choose A-level subjects differently, there is absolutely no evidence to show intrinsic differences in their abilities or preference.’
Ms Birbalsingh has since claimed her comments were ‘taken out of context’.
She tweeted: ‘Once again press takes one quote of mine out of context and everyone goes mad.
‘I am not going to force our girls to do A level physics if they don’t want to do to it.
‘It is OK if we don’t have an exact gender balance in all subjects.’
But Professor Cristina Pagel, director of University College London’s Clinical Operational Research Unit, hit back: ‘It’s not about forcing girls to do physics – it’s about digging a little deeper into the reasons behind their choices that go beyond ‘they don’t like the maths’ and it’s a ‘natural thing’.’
She added: ‘Maths and physics are beautiful subjects.
‘The barriers to entry are NOT difficulty, but attitudes like this and what is still a massively male dominated field and all the challenges that come from that when girls and women consider their careers.
Ms Birbalsingh has been dubbed the ‘tiger headmistress’ for how she runs her school, where Year 7 pupils are taught how to sit properly on a chair.
New students are also shown how to walk to lessons quickly in single file and how to concentrate on the teacher and to instill good behaviour as soon as they arrive.
They are told to keep their shirts tucked in and to pick up crumbs from the floor after eating at a boot camp, which teaches pupils how to ‘behave in the Michaela way’.
The straight-talking headteacher was made chairwoman of the Government’s Social Mobility Commission in October last year after repeatedly using her platform as Britain’s most high profile school leader to attack ‘woke culture’ damaging Britain and its education system. She won a CBE in 2020.
She has also talked repeatedly about the importance of family in education, and the need for traditional values such as eating with your children each night.
In 2010, Ms Birbalsingh told delegates at a Tory party conference that educational standards have been ‘so dumbed down that even the teachers know it’ and that schools are bound by too many targets that prevent them from teaching properly.
She has since spoken out against schools teaching about ‘white privilege’, saying it gives black British children the impression that the education system and society is pitted against them.
In June last year, she said teachers should avoid talking about race to students and stick to ‘teaching them maths and English’.
Ms Birbalsingh said the secret to success for a child of ‘any colour’ is to have a family that supports their education, makes them do their homework and will force them ‘off their phones’.
Earlier last year, she also took a swipe at ‘woke culture’ for ‘mercilessly attacking’ black conservatives who ‘dare to think for themselves’.
Taking aim at those behind the abuse of race report chairman Tony Sewell, Ms Birbalsingh accused ‘leftists’ of driving their own ‘cultural racism’ by attempting to shut down opposing views.
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