Boy's achievement in education

Question 1

According to the DCSF (2007) what is the main reason for the gender gap in achievement?

Answer 1

Boys’ poor literacy and language skills because of not getting read to often enough (seen as feminine activity) and playing sports.

Question 2

Why do girls effectively communicate their thoughts better?

Answer 2

Bedroom culture - staying indoors and talking to friends develop their communication and language skills

Question 3

State two policies the government has introduced in order to improve boys’ literacy skills

Answer 3

Dads and Sons Campaign - Encouraged fathers to be more active in their son’s education

The Reading Champions: Uses male role models celebrating their own reading interests

Question 4

How has globalisation and the decline of traditional manual jobs in the UK affected boys’ attitude towards school?

Answer 4

Mitsos and Browne - the boys having an identity crisis since they believe they have less prospects of having a job. Decreases their motivation and self-esteem - low achievement

Question 5

What is the feminisation of education?

Answer 5

Sewell - school doesn’t nurture stereotypically masculine traits such as competitiveness and leadership but feminine ones such as methodical working and attentiveness

Question 6

What does Sewell think should replace some coursework?

Answer 6

Final exams and outdoor activities.

Question 7

What percentage of teachers are male in primary and secondary school?

Answer 7

14% and 35% (2023) Gov.UK

Question 8

How does the shortage of male teachers affect boys’ achievement?

Answer 8

No male role models for the boys to look up to - low achievement as they don’t have people to aspire to or motivate them to do well in school

Question 9

What percentage of lone-parent households in 2022 are headed by mothers?

Answer 9

84% (2.5 million/ 2.9 million)

Question 10

Why did 42% boys state in a survey that they would work harder do better in school if they had a male teacher?

Answer 10

Feminisation of primary school culture - female teachers are perceived to not be able to discipline boys whilst male teachers can.

Question 11

Who criticised the fact that only male teachers can effectively discipline boys?

Answer 11

Read

Question 12

What were the two types of discourse?

Answer 12

Two types of language/discourse:

• A disciplinarian discourse - teacher’s authority is made explicit and visible e.g. shouting or sarcasm (masculine approach)
• A liberal discourse - teacher’s authority implicit and invisible and involves the psuedo-adultification of pupils (speaking to the pupil as if they are adults and expecting the student to be kind) (feminine approach)

Question 13

What was Read’s 2008 critique on the feminisation of primary school culture and the shortage of male teachers?

Answer 13

Female teachers favouring the disciplinarian discourse proves that education has not become feminised

Female teachers being more likely to use the disciplinarian discourse disproves the claim that only male teachers can provide that discipline that male students need to do well in school

Question 14

How does Haase (2008) support Read’s critique?

Answer 14

Primary schools are a ‘masculinised educational structure that is numerically dominated by women’

Question 15

How do Laddish subcultures affect boys’ achievement?

Answer 15

Epstein (1998) W/C boys are called homophobic slurs if they are perceived to be swots (wanting to do well in school)

Francis (2001) - boys fear being negatively labelled as swots as it is a threat to their masculinity more than a girl’s femininity -

manual work is perceived as masculine and tough, whereas non-manual (schoolwork) is perceived feminine, inferior and effeminate, so w/c boys reject schoolwork in order to avoid being called gay

Question 16

Why does Francis believe that laddish subculture is spreading?

Answer 16

A response to girls moving into traditional masculine areas such as careers - leading boys to defend their masculinity by being more laddish

Question 17

Who believes that the promotion of girls’ education should stop as boys are considered the new disadvantaged?

Answer 17

Critics of feminism

Question 18

What is a moral panic?

Answer 18

Public anxiety or alarm in response to a problem regarded as threatening the moral standards of society.

Question 19

What has the view of boys failing in school led to?

Answer 19

Ringrose - A moral panic about failing boys and a fear that underachieving w/c boys will grow up to become a dangerous, unemployable underclass that threatens social stability

Question 20

What are the negative effects of educational policy shifting to raising boys’ achievement?

Answer 20

1. Ignores the problems girls face in school e.g. sexual harassment, bullying, stereotyped gender subjects
2. Too generalised to failing boys - ignores the problem of disadvantaged w/c and ethnic minority groups

Question 21

How does Osler (2006) criticise the moral panic of boys underachievement?

Answer 21

Neglects girls issues as girls are more likely to disengage from school quietly, whereas boys disengage loudly through public displays of laddish masculinity.

e.g. mentoring schemes aimed at reducing school exclusions among black boys, but ignoring how exclusions among girls are increasing rapidly

Question 22

How does McVeigh (2001) criticise the gender gap of achievement in relation to class?

Answer 22

There are more similarities between boys and girls’ achievement than differences in comparison to class e.g. class gap in achievement at GCSE is 3x wider than the gender gap

The gender gap amongst black Caribbean students is greater than among other ethnic groups (Fuller and Sewell)

Question 23

What does Connolly (2006) state about the intersections of gender, ethnicity and class?

Answer 23

Need to take into account the intersections of race, ethnicity and class in consideration of educational achievement as certain combinations of the three factors have more of an effect than others