牛牛资源

Deliberately being ‘nice’ instead of aspiring to be ‘cool’ is the best way for girls to avoid bullying and get through their school days peacefully, research by education experts at 牛牛资源 suggests.

Through observation and interviews with Year 5 school pupils as they moved into Year 6, researchers found that contrary to the views of 鈥榗ool girls鈥� who think everyone wants to be like them, many 9-to-11 year old girls have no desire to join the in-crowd.

Instead, they鈥檙e protecting themselves from vicious playground power relations by deliberately positioning themselves as opposite to the cool kids.

While the 鈥榗ool girls鈥� 鈥� popularly referred to as 鈥楳ean Girls鈥� after the Lindsay Lohan film of the same name 鈥� regularly engage in malicious gossip and constant vying for power and positioning in a hierarchy, other girls deliberately make themselves as nice as possible, while an intermediate group are just trying to be 鈥榥ormal鈥�.

Once the nice girls accept that their social status (as defined by the cool set) is low, they鈥檙e generally ignored by the cool girls and left to their own devices, unregarded and unmolested by the latest gossip and fighting: bullying them is not considered worthwhile.

Professor Carrie Paechter and Dr Sheryl Clark (Department of Educational Studies) immersed themselves in the lives of the girls at a south of England school for two days a week over two terms, with Sheryl even finding herself on the receiving end of one attempt by the 鈥榗ool girls鈥� to bully her as they bullied each other.

They found that the dominant girls maintained their position by openly scorning other groups, while keeping each other in a constant fear that they might be excluded from the group. While the girls were fascinating to other pupils, they were also distrusted and feared: being popular was associated more with being fashionable and attractive than with being liked, and the cool girls were seen as being unkind to others.

In contrast, the 鈥榥ice鈥� girls were much more tolerant of disagreement and difference. They deliberately made sure everyone from their group was always included in games and were concerned with being 鈥榞ood鈥� and not courting trouble. The intermediate, 鈥榥ormal鈥� girls were also far more inclusive and generally got on well with others in the class.

The researchers found that 鈥榥ice girls鈥� are not self-conscious about the unwritten rules that seem to govern everyone else, especially the 鈥榗ool girls鈥�, and particularly when it came to hair and dress. The 鈥榥ice girls鈥� didn鈥檛 feel the need to make fashionable tweaks to their uniforms, and most of them did not cut down on active physical play such as chasing games as they got older.

Unfortunately, while most of the 鈥榥ice girls鈥� avoided being bullied by 鈥榗ool girls鈥�, they had more of a problem with dominant boys in the class. Because the 鈥榥ice girls鈥� were generally well-behaved and didn鈥檛 like to complain, teachers were unaware of problems so paired them with dominant boys, leaving the girls open to sexual and other bullying.

Professor Paechter, Head of the Department of Educational Studies, Professor of Education and a former maths teacher, comments: 鈥淐ontrary to dominant cool girl discourses, our research found that not everyone aspires to be in this group. Children are forming their own ways of belonging and by doing so they鈥檙e actively resisting assumptions, and experiencing a more peaceful and stress-free school life.

鈥淣ot only did some of the girls we studied not aspire to coolness, they also didn鈥檛 operate their friendships in the competitive and surveillant manner that is seemingly ubiquitous among more dominant groups.鈥�

鈥淥ur research took place in a large 鈥榤iddle-class鈥� school in which aspiration and competition pervaded daily life and was encouraged by staff. Staff were proud of the school鈥檚 local dominance in sports, and pupils were very aware of their position in hierarchies of academic performance.

"We believe an atmosphere of competition allows groups such as the 鈥榗ool girls鈥� to flourish, but it鈥檚 important to draw attention to the way other girls are constructing an alternative.鈥�

Being 鈥榥ice鈥� or being 鈥榥ormal鈥�: girls resisting discourses of 鈥榗oolness鈥� (2015) by Carrie Paechter and Sheryl Clark was published in the September issue of Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education.

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