Boy's achievement in education Flashcards
According to the DCSF (2007) what is the main reason for the gender gap in achievement?
Boys’ poor literacy and language skills because of not getting read to often enough (seen as feminine activity) and playing sports.
Why do girls effectively communicate their thoughts better?
Bedroom culture - staying indoors and talking to friends develop their communication and language skills
State two policies the government has introduced in order to improve boys’ literacy skills
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
How has globalisation and the decline of traditional manual jobs in the UK affected boys’ attitude towards school?
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
What is the feminisation of education?
Sewell - school doesn’t nurture stereotypically masculine traits such as competitiveness and leadership but feminine ones such as methodical working and attentiveness
What does Sewell think should replace some coursework?
Final exams and outdoor activities.
What percentage of teachers are male in primary and secondary school?
14% and 35% (2023) Gov.UK
How does the shortage of male teachers affect boys’ achievement?
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
What percentage of lone-parent households in 2022 are headed by mothers?
84% (2.5 million/ 2.9 million)
Why did 42% boys state in a survey that they would work harder do better in school if they had a male teacher?
Feminisation of primary school culture - female teachers are perceived to not be able to discipline boys whilst male teachers can.
Who criticised the fact that only male teachers can effectively discipline boys?
Read
What were the two types of discourse?
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)
What was Read’s 2008 critique on the feminisation of primary school culture and the shortage of male teachers?
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
How does Haase (2008) support Read’s critique?
Primary schools are a ‘masculinised educational structure that is numerically dominated by women’
How do Laddish subcultures affect boys’ achievement?
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
Why does Francis believe that laddish subculture is spreading?
A response to girls moving into traditional masculine areas such as careers - leading boys to defend their masculinity by being more laddish
Who believes that the promotion of girls’ education should stop as boys are considered the new disadvantaged?
Critics of feminism
What is a moral panic?
Public anxiety or alarm in response to a problem regarded as threatening the moral standards of society.
What has the view of boys failing in school led to?
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
What are the negative effects of educational policy shifting to raising boys’ achievement?
- Ignores the problems girls face in school e.g. sexual harassment, bullying, stereotyped gender subjects
- Too generalised to failing boys - ignores the problem of disadvantaged w/c and ethnic minority groups
How does Osler (2006) criticise the moral panic of boys underachievement?
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
How does McVeigh (2001) criticise the gender gap of achievement in relation to class?
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)
What does Connolly (2006) state about the intersections of gender, ethnicity and class?
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
