EDUCATION - Gender - Boys underachievement Flashcards
Statistics
- At what age are boys behind girls in reading and writing
- What are the exclusion rates for boys and girl s
- How far behind, at age 11, are boys from girls in literacy and numeracy
- By the age of 6
- Young boys are more likely to be excluded from school than girls
- 9 months behind in literacy, and 6 months behind in numeracy
Boys and literacy (external)
DCSF
- What do they argue is the reason for the gender gap
- Why does this circumstance occur taking into account outside factors
WHAT: Boys’ poorer literacy and language skills
WHY: Parents read less with sons
- Mothers do reading mainly = implication its a feminine activity
- Boys’ leisure pursuits don’t involve language skills
GOV. RESPONSE: National literacy strategy for reading
- Raising boys achievement which has teaching strategies
- Reading champions scheme
- using leisure pursuits like football to boost learning and motivation
- Campaigns for fathers to be more involved in their sons education
What are the 2 external factors for boys’ underachievement
- Boys and literacy
- Changes in mens employment
Changes in mens employment
- What is the argument
WHAT: Globalisation = decline in heavy industries, and they mainly recruited men
MITSOS + BROWNE: This has caused an ‘identity crisis for men’ - boys believe they have little prospector landing a job = undermining their motivation + giving up on getting a qualification
LIMITATION: This decline is predominantly in WC jobs that require few qualifications anyway
What are the 4 internal factors for boys’ achievement
- Laddish subcultures
- Disruptive behaviour
- Shortage of male primary school teachers
- Role of teachers
Laddish subcultures (internal)
- What did Epstein find about WC boys in education
- What did Francis find about boys and labels
- What effect does girls moving into traditional masculine areas have on boys
EPSTEIN: Found WC boys are likely to be harassed and labelled as sissies and if real boys get work done, they get bullies
FRANCIS: Boys are more concerned than girls about being labelled by peers as ‘swots’ because it threatens their masculinity
in WC cultures, masculinity = being tough = rejecting schoolwork to avoid being called gay and swots
GIRLS: As they move into the male gender domain like in careers = boys becoming increasingly laddish in their effort to contrast the females
Disruptive behaviour (internal)
- What is the argument for this
- What did Yougov find about the % of male teachers in primary schools
- In a survey of boys, what was found about the difference they felt with the presence of a male teacher
WHAT: Lack of male role models = boys’ underachievement
- Primary school has a feminised culture but females are unable to control boys’ behaviour = the need for more male teachers if they’re the only ones who can control boys
YOUGOV: Only 14% of primary teachers are male
SURVEY: Said a male teacher made them behave better, and 42% said it made them work harder
Shortage of male primary school teachers (internal)
- What statistic does Francis say about children’s beliefs about the impacts of their teachers gender
- What did Read find in her study of different languages used by teachers
FRANCIS: 2/3/ of 7-8 year olds believed thee gender of teachers doesn’t matter
READ STUDY: Type of languages teachers used for criticism and found 2 types of ‘discourses’
- Disciplinarian discourse: explicit authority like shouting, associated with masculinity
- Liberal discourse: Implicit authority, pseudo adultification - speaks to the child Asia they’re an adult, associated with femininity
Shortage of male primary school teachers. 2
Read’s study - disciplinarian discourses
- Where did she conduct this study
- What did she find about the types of disciplinarians discourses used
- What did she conclude, that sociologist Sewell agrees to
- Hasse: what does he say about the construct of school
- Jones: How does jones’ statistic support Haase’s statement
WHERE: 51 Primary schools
WHAT: Most teachers, female and male used a masculine disciplinarian discourse
CONCLUSION : Disproves the claim that primary school has become feminised and that only male teachers can handle boys; disruptive behaviour
HAASE: Although women make up most primary school teachers, primary schools are actually male dominated that is numerally dominated by women
JONES: Male teachers have a 1 in 4 chance of getting a headship; women 1 in 13
Role of teachers / moral panic about boys
- What is the argument
- What does Ringrose have to say about this
- What does a moral panic turn attention to and have negative effects does it consequently have
- What does Osler say about this
- What example does Osler use
WHAT: Policies promoting girls’ education are no longer needed
RINGROSE: These views contribute to moral panic about boys that WC boys will grow up to be unemployable
MORAL PANIC: Preoccupation with raising boys’ achievements = 2 negative effects
- narrowing down to failing boys ignored disadvantaged WC and ethnic minorities
- Also ignores other problems faced by girls in school like sexual harassment and bullying
OSLER: Girls disengage from school quietly = neglection of girls as policies focus on boys’ achievement
EXAMPLE: Mentoring schemed aimed to reduce black boys exclusions = ignoring exclusion among girls
Moral panic about boys
- How does this debunk the theories above
- Mcveigh - Whats does he argue, and what example does he give
- Mcveigh - so what can we conclude from this and give another example
HOW: Boys are not a ‘lost cause’ - both sexes in recent years have been improving (though boys still lack behind girls)
MCVEIGH: Similarities in girls and boys’ achievements are greater than the differences
- GCSE class gap is 3x wider than the gender gap
CONCLUSION: Pupils of the same gender but different social classes achieve different results = class has more important influence on a pupils achievement than gender
E.g. girls from the highest social class are 44 points ahead from girlish the lowest class
Moral panic about boys.2
- Fuller about black girls’ achievement
- Sewell about black boys failure
- Connolly about combinations
FULLER: Shows many black girls are successful at school because they define their femininity in terms of achievement at school SEWELL: Some black boys fail as they define their masculinity in ways that oppose schools values CONNOLLY: Certain combinations of gender, class and ethnicity have more effect than others E.g. being a female raises performance more when 'added to' the black Caribbean ethnicity compared to white
