The Special Schools involved in the Project are drawn from contrasting geographical and socio-economic contexts, and cover a wide range of special educational needs provision, but broadly the approaches being explored within the context of the Project are two-fold:

• The use of assessment programmes, within the context of 'P' scales, to examine data rigorously.

Gender differentials between boys and girls within individual school contexts can be identified through this process. This will enable targets to be monitored, amended and extended as appropriate. The gender component will allow the schools to consider the extent to which teaching and learning strategies can be developed with specifiable gender components within them.

In the medium term, one school is carrying out a full data analysis investigating potential interlinkages between gender, race, disabilities and age.

• Having examined performance data, the instigation of teaching and learning strategies which meet individual needs, with a particular focus on gender issues.

Thus a West Midlands school is focusing on raising self-esteem through developing strategies which attempt to dispel the notion of fixed intelligence, and raise attainment in the core subjects.

A South Suffolk school is working on teaching strategies for pupils on the autistic spectrum (e.g. focusing on visual stimuli and inputs), observing the effect of work stations for children with ASD, and identifying the positive outcomes on learning for boys (and girls).

A Peterborough school is working on an inclusion project for Year 9/10 boys with the aim of raising boys' expectations and awareness of future opportunities.

A school in North Suffolk is focusing on strategies which develop children's understanding of the writing process... studied through overall attainment levels in Year 10, together with supplementary case studies in each year group... moving from monitoring of learning through 'P' scales / target-setting through IEPs to development of teaching strategies which support learning and respond to different learning styles. This school is in the process of producing a video demonstrating teaching strategies and boys' responses.