The aim of the research is to determine to what extent elementary schools in the Basque Autonomous Community can reduce gender differences in learning the Basque and Spanish language. This study seeks to characterize the most equitable Elementary schools in terms of performance in the Basque and Spanish language obtained by the students. The discourse of the professionals working in these schools are studied.

Even though one of the important purposes of the European Union is to promote gender equity in educational institutions (European Institute for gender equality. EIGE, 2023), there are still gender differences in performance, individual motivations, or professional aspirations (Kollmayer et al., 2018). Likewise, the existing research on the study of gender differences within the educational context is increasing, intending to respond to the need to create educational responses to narrow such differences (Quenzel & Hurrelmannb, 2013; Cervini et al., 2015; Van Hek et al., 2016). Horizontal segregation theory explains the differences that still exist in vocational options and choice of specialist subjects, with girls continuing to opt more for qualifications linked to caring for others, which enjoy a lower level of professional prestige (EIGE, 2019).

The factors that promote gender inequity in the education system are multifaceted. These factors involve the interaction of institutional environments, the social climate, motivation patterns, orientations regarding gender roles, family resources, parental decisions, school structure, and teacher evaluations and decisions (Hadjar et al. 2014). This indicates that, in addition to individual factors or contextual circumstances in education, these factors may be relevant to a person's educational achievement (Van Hek et al., 2016). School culture, teaching practices, and home and social environment can promote differences in students regarding educational achievement (Mensah & Kiernan, 2010).

Research seems to agree that one of the most prominent gender gaps is found in literacy and language, favoring girls over boys (Gustavsen, 2017; Quinn, 2018; Soto et al., 2019) also in PISA (Quenzel and Hurrelmannb, 2013; Manu et al. 2021) and in terms of attitude and motivation to reading (Artola et al., 2017). But it is necessary to identify if this trend also takes place in bilingual contexts such as BAC, , in a diglossia situation; 14.13% of the population speak Basque at home (Eustat, 2016). Other studies found that girls have a higher level of Linguistic Communicative Competence (LCC) in Basque than boys (Basque Government, ISEI-IVEI, & Soziolinguistika Klusterra, 2019), whereas boys have a marginally higher level of LCC in Spanish (Intxausti et al., 2023). That might indicate a feminization of the Basque language or the construction of masculinity through Spanish language (Altuna, 2023). Altuna (2017) argues that boys associate the minority language with the formal domain, such as the school context, with one way of challenging formal school rules being to speak in Spanish (Altuna & Hernadez, 2018). Other studies on minority language context as Wales have observed a trend among young males to use the more prestigious language (Price & Tamburelli, 2016) in informal social domains. Therefore, a deeper approach to the gender gap in LCC is required, taking the cultural-social and linguistic context into account, since, although studies have generally found that girls score higher in LCC than boys, this finding may not apply to bilingual contexts.

 This study covers a research gap on the efficiency of elementary schools in relation to the outcomes in linguistic competence in intersection with gender in specific bilingual scenario. It is important to investigate if schools are successful in achieving fair results in bilingual context regardless of the gender of the students in order to understand better language learning and its intersection with issues of gender disparity.

This study is exploratory and descriptive with a mixed methodology. For the quantitative study, data was gathered from the census sample, on average, students in the 4th grade of 529 Elementary Schools participated. The Basque Institute for Educational Evaluation and Research (ISEI-IVEI) carries out Diagnostic Evaluations (D.E.), a standardized test similar to PISA that aims to assess the mathematical and linguistic competence in Spanish and Basque which includes five different dimensions (Basque Government, 2008): oral comprehension, written comprehension, oral expression, written expression and oral interaction. The database used in this study was the D.E. carried out in 2015, 2017, and 2019. Statistical analyses were conducted with the SPSS 26 program. This study analyzes the concept of school effectiveness in terms of gender equity. Equitable elementary schools were identified using multilevel regression modeling techniques (Lizasoain, 2020). That enables contextual variables to be controlled for families' economic, social and cultural status (ESCS), the family language, and the percentage of immigrant students since it is widely accepted that contextual variables strongly influence the academic results obtained by schools. These contextual variables were controlled to calculate residual values. Two residual values are considered in this study to identify gender equity index: 1) female student: the difference between the score obtained by the female students of each educational school in the D.E. with respect to the score expected for them considering their context. 2) male student: the difference between the score obtained by male students of each educational school in the D.E. with respect to the score expected for them considering their context. The gender equality index is obtained from the difference between the residual values of girls and boys. The centers that obtain or are close to the value 0 are those identified as equitable centers. 65 elementary schools met the equitable criterion in Basque competence and 89 schools in Spanish competence. Among those equitable centers, 10 schools obtaining equitable results in the Basque language and 9 schools in Spanish gave their consent to continue in the study. For the qualitative study, interviews were conducted with 22 members of the management and teachers of those equitable schools. In these interviews, students' results about gender equity in the Basque and Spanish language were presented, and their perceptions in this regard were analyzed. A common protocol was established for the interviewers. Instrument was designed about five different areas.

The multilevel regression analysis shows that very few schools in the B.A.C. are gender equitable, that is, a few schools obtain better results than expected for both, girls and boys. 65 out of 529 centers in the entire B.A.C., that is, 12.3%, manage to achieve equitable academic results in Basque competence and 89 schools (16,8%) in Spanish competence. As in other studies students’ performance in Basque differ more between boys and girls than in Spanish (Intxausti et al. 2023), this study confirms that they also continue to do when contextual factors are controlled. That is, the equity index is slightly higher in Spanish than in Basque competence, so that requires more studies on language learning in intersection with gender issues. The discourses of the schools' professionals identified as equitable vary in some dimensions studied. The results of the interviews show that the schools have not reflected on the importance of educating in equality in the dimension of LCC. Although it has seen that they have implemented coeducational plans (Basque Government, 2019b) and actions to promote gender equity, they have not initiated a reflection on the importance of reducing the gender gap in LCC. That makes it difficult to break with the sexual division in the choices of high school modalities, future university degrees and future jobs (EIGE, 2019; Emakunde, 2017). However, the equitable results were explained by the methodologies applied specially for learning Basque. These methodologies begin in the infant stage and are carried out with teachers trained for this purpose. Although the methodologies differ (cooperative learning, dialogic learning, phonological awareness), collaborative work among students and the use of heterogeneous groups can be observed. Some schools justify their equitable results with their work in coexistence and individualized tutoring and consider it crucial to address each student's academic and emotional needs.

Altuna, J. (2023). Hizkuntzaren funanbulistak. Hizkuntza sozializazioa kirol eremuan adin eta generoak ardaztuta [Tightrope walker of language. Language socialization in sport domain focused on age and gender]. Doctoral Thesis. http://hdl.handle.net/10810/62640 Artola, T., Sastre, S., & Barraca, J. (2017). Diferencias de género en actitudes e intereses lectores. Una investigación con alumnos españoles de Primaria [Gender differences in regards to reading attitudes and interests: a research based on spanish primary school pupils]. Bordon, 69(1), 11–26. https://doi.org/10.13042/Bordon.2016.37925 Basque Government. (2008). La Evaluación Diagnóstica en Euskadi. Propuesta para su desarrollo y aplicación [Diagnostic Evaluation in Euskadi. Proposal for its development and application]. Departamento de Educación, Universidades e Investigación. https://hdl.handle.net/11162/206655 European Institute for gender equality. EIGE (2023). Gender equality index. Publications office of the European Union. Intxausti, N., Rodriguez, S. Aierbe, A. (2023). Do more effective school succeed in reducing the gender gap in linguistic communicative competence in bilingual context? Culture and education, 35(3), 699-734. https://doi.org/10.1080/11356405.2022.2154560 Kollmayer, M., Schober, B., & Spiel, C. (2018). Gender Stereotypes in Education: Development, Consequences, and Interventions. European Journal of Developmental Psycholy, 15(4), 361–377. http://doi.org/ 10.1080/17405629.2016.1193483 Lizasoain, L. (2020). Criterios y modelos estadísticos de eficacia escolar [Criteria and statistical models of school effectiveness]. Revista de Investigación Educativa, 38(2), 311–327. https://doi.org/10.6018/rie.417881 Manu, M., Torppa, M., Eklund, K., Poikkeus, A., Lerkkanen, M., & Niemi, P. (2021). Kindergarten pre-reading skills predict Grade 9 reading comprehension (PISA Reading) but fail to explain gender difference. Reading and Writing, 34, 753–771. https://doi.org/10.1007/s1114502010090 Mensah, F.K. & Kiernan, K.E. (2010) Gender differences in educational attainment: influences of the family environment. British Educational Research Journal, 36(2), 239-260, DOI: 10.1080/01411920902802198 Price, A. R., & Tamburelli, M. (2016). Minority language abandonment in Welsh-medium educated L2 male adolescents: Classroom, not chatroom. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 29(2), 189–206. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2015.1136323Basque Government, 2008 Quinn, J. M. (2018). Diferential identification of females and males with reading difculties: A metaanalysis. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 31,(5), 1039–1061. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-018-9827-8 Soto, J., Cordero, M. E., & Jaraíz, F. J. (2019). Estudio de casos sobre el hábito de lectura entre los niños de 0 a 12 años en Extremadura. Didáctica, 31, 147–170. https://doi.org/10.5209/dida.65946 Van Hek, M., Kraaykamp, G., & Wolbers, M. H. J. (2016). Comparing the gender gap in educational attainment: The impact of emancipatory contexts in 33 cohorts across 33 countries. Educational Research and Evaluation, 22, 260–282. http://doi.org/10.1080/13803611.2016.1256222