Differential Educational Attainment by gender Flashcards
Define hegemonic masculinity.
In gender studies, hegemonic masculinity is part of R. W. Connell’s gender order theory, which recognizes multiple masculinities that vary across time, culture and the individual.
Define ‘genderquake’, a term coined by Helen Wilkinson.
Feminism is dead. Or rather, the feminist movement as it is best known — the crusade for feminine identity inspired by Betty Friedan and Germaine Greer, among others — has become mostly irrelevant. It triumphed, after all. Women have been liberated, by new economic forces as much as by any ideological awakening, to seek individuality and autonomy, to dictate the terms of their lives.
Define patriarchy.
a system of society or government in which the father or eldest male is head of the family and descent is reckoned through the male line.
Define peer group.
In sociology, a peer group is both a social group and a primary group of people who have similar interests (homophily), age, background, or social status. The members of this group are likely to influence the person’s beliefs and behaviour. Peer groups contain hierarchies and distinct patterns of behavior.
Define gendered socialisation.
A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for people based on their biological or perceived sex.
Hannan (2000) found that girls and boys relate to each other differently in their peer groups. Explain the differences.
Peer relationships play an important role in the development of a child’s self concept and have a strong impact on how children view the roles of males and females in our society. The perpetuation of gender biases and stereotypes often is begun in the home and then further reinforced by the peer group.
According to Frosh (2001), how might some boys regard school work?
Build on boys’ enjoyment and motivation through ICT, film and visual texts. Make explicit links between visual texts and a written outcome. Teach understanding/vocabulary of media structures to support the writing sequence
List two ways in which boys may interact differently with their teachers than girls do e.g. asking questions, volunteering answers.
Gender roles are the patterns of behaviors, attitudes, and expectations associated with a particular sex—with being either male or female. For clarity, psychologists sometimes distinguish gender differences, which are related to social roles, from sex differences, which are related only to physiology and anatomy. Using this terminology, gender matters in teaching more than sex (in spite of any jokes told about the latter!).
Mac an Ghaill (1994) found that some men are experiencing a ‘crisis in masculinity’. Why might this be?
Maírtín Mac an Ghaill’s The Making of Men: Masculinities, Sexualities and Schooling was published in 1994 at a time when reporting of the so called ‘crisis of masculinity’ was beginning to reach fever pitch within the British media. The publication that summer of GCSE results which proclaimed an ongoing reversal in the relative academic fortunes of boys and girls was seen by many commentators to give added legitimacy to this perceived crisis. Moreover, not only were girls purportedly outstripping boys in the academic rat race, but they were deemed guilty of outstripping their male peers in the race to find work in the diminishing youth labour market. A BBC Panorama documentary screened in autumn 1995, for example, was unequivocal in its suggestion that young men were now ‘losing out’ to young women, who were ‘fighting back’ against young men in the employment sphere (Panorama 1995). It was claimed that young men in their final years of schooling were demoralised as never before, lacked a sense of purpose in life, and were the new victims of an education system which had succumbed to the ‘political correctness’ of feminist teachers and educators (Heath 1999). Six months later, the Chief Inspector of Schools was arguing that ‘the failure of boys, and in particular white working-class boys, is one of the most disturbing problems we face within the whole education system’ (Woodhead 1996).
What did Rothermel’s research indicate about home-schooled boys? Why is this relevant?
This article reports on the performance of reception-aged, home-educated children. Media reports tend to focus on older home-educated children withdrawing from school but very little is known about younger children many of whom have never been to school. This research sought insight into the learning experience of these young children. The study involved 35 home-educated children aged between four and five years of age, from diverse socio-economic backgrounds. The children were assessed using the Performance Indicators in Primary Schools (Start and End of Reception). Whilst the home-educated children outscored their school counterparts, those from lower socio-economic groups outperformed their middle class peers. It appeared that a flexible approach to education, and a high level of parental attention and commitment, regardless of their socioeconomic group and level of education, seemed the most important factors in the children’s development and progress.
In Key Stages 1 to 3, which subject do females do consistently better?
English.
- But the gender gap of maths and science is narrower.
According to official statistics, which gender consistently performs better in school?
Females.
72% got 5 or more A* -C GCSE’s in 2013, whereas; only 64% of boys did (Official statistics).
According to Pirie (2001), what type of assessment benefits boys? Why?
Girls’ success over boys is down to the “feminisation” of the education system rather than the culture of “laddism”, the head of a right-wing think-tank has suggested.
How did Michael Gove’s curriculum reform change GCSE English Literature?
Michael Gove unveiled a symphony of major and minor reforms to the way GCSE examinations are conducted in England, saying the new exam-only qualifications with an emphasis on Shakespeare and British history would equip the nation’s children to perform in the modern world.
At the heart of the most significant package of reforms since GCSEs replaced O-levels 30 years ago is the end of marking by assessment to cure what Gove called the “structural problem” in the exam normally taken by 16-year-olds.
In its place comes a return to final examinations as the sole measure of a pupil’s success at the end of a two-year GCSE course – with the exception of science, which retains a small assessed practical element.
According to Bleach (1998), why are boys more likely to struggle with Michael Gove’s reforms to English Literature than girls?
According to all the different criteria against which I have been judged, despite the constant shifting of goalposts, I have been outstanding. I worked hard; I delivered engaging yet academically challenging lessons – despite us all being told that these two concepts were mutually exclusive; I assessed pupils in rigorous detail against ever-changing marking schemes; I completed fatuous administrative tasks within all deadlines. I was at the top of my game. I should have been seeking promotion opportunities. Instead I found myself, along with my pupils, becoming increasingly insignificant. Now the school to which I gave my twenties is haemorrhaging good and outstanding teachers.
