Education = gender Girls achievement Flashcards
What gender in the past used to out-perform the other?
Boys used to out-perform girls in education, but since the 1980’s girls are now better than boys in most subjects.
What gender is more likely to go into higher education?
Girls are more likely and also achieve better in A-levels allowing access to higher education.
What are external factors?
Factors outside the education system e.g. home and family, job market and wider society.
What are internal factors?
Factors within schools e.g. effect of schools equal opportunities policies.
What influence has feminism had on girls’ education?
Changes in law e.g. equal pay, outlawing rape in marriage. Also affected girls’ self-image and aspirations.
Who said that women’s goals of marriage, children and family in 1970’s, switched to career and independence in 1990’s?
Sharpe (1994)
What did Francis (2001) say about girls changing perceptions and ambitions?
Girls now had high career aspirations and so needed educational qualifications.
Who argued that independence is valued more than in the past for women and career is part of women’s life project?
Beck and Beck-Gernsheim (2001)
What did Fuller (2011) say about girls aim in their career?
Girls want a career to support themselves, but those of W/C with poor job aspects still focus on marriage and children - traditional identity.
Since the 1970’s what was the percentage of increase in divorce rates compared to now?
40% of marriages now end in divorce.
What percentage of families are lone parent and female headed?
Over 90%
Is there more cohabitation since the 1970’s or first marriages?
More cohabitation, less first marriages.
Has there been an increase or decrease in women having smaller families and also staying single?
Increase in smaller families and single women.
Do women now have more independence than they did in the 1970’s?
Yes, due to the rise in career and further education opportunities for women, meaning they can be independent.
What changes in the law, helped change women’s career prospects?
The 1970 Equal pay act and the 1975 sex discrimination act. Since then the pay gap has almost halved between men and women.
Why does equal pay mean girls are more likely to gain qualifications?
There is an incentive as they are likely to earn more money than before and can become independent from it.
What programmes have been introduced encourage equal education opportunities?
GIST and WISE (encouraging girls into science and technology) and the national curriculum meaning girls and boys study the same subjects.
Is education now, more meritocratic?
Meritocracy is now seen more in education because of equal opportunity based on girls now having more equal opportunities.
What has the increase in female teacher role models provided for young girls?
They provide pro-educational role models and it feminises the learning environment encouraging school as a female gender domain. Success in education is a desirable female characteristic.
According to Mitsos and Browne (1998) what gender does better in coursework?
Girls do better than boys as they are more conscientious and organised as they mature earlier.
What sociologist found that gender gap increased when in 1988 GCSE was introduced?
Gorard (2005) this is because coursework was introduced in most subjects.
Were learning materials seen as equal in gender before the 1980’s?
Many textbooks and other learning materials unrepresented women and portrayed them as subordinate to men e.g. domestic roles and unsuited to certain subjects.
What happened in the 1980’s that brought equality in learning materials for education?
Many of the sexist images found in the materials were replaced with positive images of females, and encouraging girls to raise their aspirations.
What did Spender (1983) say about teacher attention?
Teachers spent more time with boys than girls. However recent studies suggest girls may benefit more than boys.
Who found that teachers paid girls and boys same amount of attention academically, but boys more for bad behaviour?
French and French (1993)
What did Francis (2001) find about teacher attention?
Although boys had more attention, they were punished more harshly and felt teachers had lower expectations of them.
What did Swann (1998) find about teacher attention?
Boys dominate class discussions and girls prefer group work and are better and listening. Teachers therefore respond more positively to girls.
What gender is more attractive to schools in terms of league tables?
Girls because they are usually more successful than boys.
What do schools see boys as?
Because boys are usually lower- achieving and badly behaved, schools see them as liabilities who could give them a bad image and produce poor results for league tables.
How many times more likely are boys to be excluded?
4 times more than girls.
According to Archer why do working-class girls underachieve?
Conflict between their feminine identities and schools habitus = face a choice to have symbolic capital from peers or educational capital conforming to middle class notions of ideal female pupils.
How does Hyper-heterosexual feminine identities cause W/C girls to underachieve?
Obtain glamorous identities to earn symbolic capital from peers but cause conflict with school policies.
How do schools commit Symbolic violence?
By defining the W/C girls culture of glamorous identities as worthless.
What impact do having boyfriends have on girls underachievement?
They bring symbolic capital but get in the way of schoolwork and lower girl’s aspirations.
What impact do W/C girls cause being ‘Loud’?
Adopting outspoken, assertive identities. Teachers see this as aggressive.
What impact do W/C girls have on being ‘Ladettes’?
Adopting a tomboyish, ‘Nike’ identity, being sporty, truanting and getting excluded.
What did Evans (2009) find about W/C girls being successful?
Found they may still be disadvantaged by their class and gender. Girls want to go to uni to increase earning power and help their families.
What limits W/C girls from being successful?
The cost of living away and fear of debt, limiting their choices and future earning power.
