1.1.3 Education: Gender differences in Achievement Flashcards
Boys - Internal Factors
What are Francis’ finding about ‘laddish’ subcultures?
Boys were more concerned then girls to be labelled as ‘swots’ as it is a threat to their masculinity
Boys - Internal Factors
What were the findings and conclusions from Read’s study of the language used by teachers?
Read identified two types of discourse -Disciplinarian or liberal
* Disciplinarian - The teacher’s authority is made explicit and visable through shouting -masculine
* Liberal - The teacher’s authority is made implicit through ‘pseudo-adultification’ were the teacher speaks to the child as if they are an adult with respect, and expects them to do the same. -feminine
Read found that most teachers used the masculine disciplinarian approach.
Conclusions
- As most teachers used masculine disciplinarian approach, Sewell’s argument that education has become feminised is contradicted.
- The fact that female teachers were just as likely to use the disciplinarian approach disproves the argument that only male teachers can create a stricter classroom environment.
Boys - Internal Factors
What is the impact of a shortage of male teachers?
- Fewer role models from boys in the home and in school
- Could be argued that female teachers don’t discipline boys as well as a male teacher would.
Boys - Internal Factors
How does Sewell argue that the ‘feminisation of education’ has effected boys?
- Education has been feminised to respect and desire ‘feminine traits’ such as attentiveness and hardworking.
- Schools don’t nurture ‘masculine traits’ such as competitiveness and leadership.
- Therefore, boys don’t thrive in education
Boys - External Factors
What do Mitsos and Browne claim about the effect of the decline in traditional men’s manual labour jobs?
- Decline in manual labour jobs such as mining, iron and steel, shipbuilding due to globalisation and a move to cheaper labour.
- Led to an ‘identity crisis for men’ which undermines their motivation.
- However, these jobs needed little qualifications so shouldn’t have affected schooling.
Boys - External Factors
In what ways are boys socialised to have poorer literacy?
(3)
- Often girls are read to, not boys.
- Often mothers read to children - portrayed as a feminine activity.
- Hobbies such as football don’t improve social skills.
Gender and subject choice
How do gendered career opportunities influence subject choice?
- Jobs tend to be sextyped as either male or female.
- Women’s jobs involve work similar to housewives e.g. childcare, cleaning, nursing.
Gender and subject choice
How does peer pressure influence subject choice?
Boys and girls may apply pressure to those whose subject choice falls outside of the norm. For example, girls who do sports have to contend with students calling them ‘lesbian’. This may explain why in same sex schooling, subject choice is normalised, as the other gender doesn’t influence choices.
Gender and subject choice
What did Leonard find when studying subject choice of students in same sex schooling?
In same sex schooling, there seemed to be less of a split in genders for subject choice.
For example, girls in girls schools were more likely to take maths and physics whereas boys in boys schools were more likely to do English and social sciences.
Gender and subject choice
How does Kelly argue that science is portrayed as a male subject?
(3)
- Male teachers
- Examples used in textbooks and by teachers are more likely to be aimed at boys and their interests
- In science lessons, boys tend to dominate the equipment
Gender and subject choice
What does Murphy argue about the differences in the way boys and girls look at things?
found that boys and girls pay attention to different details even when tackling the same task.
- Girls focus more on how people feel
- boys focus on how things are made and work.
- This helps to explain why girls choosehumanities and arts subjects, while boys choose science.
Gender and subject choice
What is a gender domain?
Tasks, activities, or areas that are seen as ‘territory’ of a certain gender. For example, mending a car would be a male domain.
Gender and subject choice
What are the main reasons / explanations for differences in subject choice due to gender?
- Gender role socialisation
- Gendered subject image
- Gender identity and peer pressure
- Gendered career options
Gender and subject choice
What is the pattern for gender differences in subject choice at A-level?
Boys often choose subjects such as maths and physics whilst girls choose subjects such as English language and social sciences
Identity and class differences in girls’ achievements
What is the ‘working class girls dilemma’?
- Either gaining symbolic capital from their peers by adopting a hyper-heterosexual, feminine identity
- Or gaining educational capital by rejecting their working class identity and conforming to the middle class notions of an ideal, respectable female pupil.
