Education Gender

Question 1

What has inspired greater emphasis on equal opportunities in schools since the 1980s?

Answer 1

Research carried out by a number of researchers that suggested there was systematic discrimination against females in the education system due to presentation in materials, attitudes of teachers etc.

Question 2

What did Rothermel conclude about boys’ achievement outside of the school environment compared to girls in school?

Answer 2

• Boys who were home-schooled tended to do as well, if not better, than girls within the education system. This suggests that what goes inside the school has an impact on boys’ achievement.

→ Epstein (1998)

• Identifies a poor boys discourse that blames schools for failing to cater for boys.

→ Haralambos and Holborn (2013)

• the generalisation that girls do better than boys is more applicable to working class boys. The gender gap is smaller within the middle classes.

Question 3

How can it be argued that school has become “feminised”?

Answer 3

The environment and what is expected in terms and neatness and tidiness.

→ Sukhanda et. al. (2000)

• Research found that boys feel that schools have a higher expectation of girls than boys and boys feel less supported in school. This adds to a sense of alienation.

→ Abraham (1995) and Mitos and Browne (1998)

• Deviant boys are more popular with teachers and teachers are not as critical of boys. This creates a self-fulfilling prophecy of under achievement.

Question 4

How can it be argued school has not become “feminised”?

Answer 4

→ Coffee and Delamont (2000)

• Schools have always been patriarchal, illustrated by the gender composition of school leadership teams.
• The hidden curriculum is one which is male orientated. Hierarchy, competition etc.

Question 5

How can it be argued curriculum and assessment plays a role in how well different genders achieve?

Answer 5

→ Prie (2001)

• Pre-1988, O-levels were exams geared towards boys and the final “throw of the dice” high stakes assessment mentality.

→ Machin and McNally (2006)

• Change to GCSEs coincided with greater achievement for girls.

→ Hurst (2014)

• Since 2010 and the Coalition Government / “knowledge term” boys have begun to close the gap with girls and even overtook achievement in maths where coursework was removed altogether.

Question 6

gender and subject choice?

Answer 6

→ Skelton, Francis and Valkanova (2014)

• Stereotypical trends in post-14 choice.

→ Colley (1998)

• Such trends mean that females end up in lower paid jobs than men.
• Her research found that the reasons for subject choice are partly due to factors outside the education system.

Question 7

Edwards and David (2000)

Answer 7

• Boys are allowed to be noisier at home.
• Gender-differentiated primary socialisation can give girls an advantage due to how the education system works.
• Girls are taught more to conform through their behaviour standards
• Girls are more likely to be talked to by their parents
• Boys’ behaviour was more readily shaped by peer groups and this behaviour was shaped around macho values.

Question 8

“genderquake”

Answer 8

→ The Wilkinson argument

In the last two decades of the 20th century, young women experienced profound changes in their attitudes and expectations about their futures.

Repeat research carried out by Sue Sharpe in the 1970s and 1990s seems to support this.

Question 9

crisis of masculinity

Answer 9

→ Mac and Ghali (1994)

• Masculinity crisis.

→ Peterson (2018)

• Men have to shape a role for themselves and it is getting harder for young men to shape that role.