educational achievement- gender Flashcards
give one statistic in regard to the difference in achievement between girls and boys
in terms of students getting 5 GCSEs at A*-C, the gap between girls and boys grew throughout the last decade to reach nearly 9% in 2016 in favour of girls
what are some external factors that influence girls’ achievement
- impact of feminism
- changes in the family
- changes in women employment
- changes of girls’ ambitions
describe how the impact of feminism lead to girls achieving better
- challenged traditional stereotypes of a woman’s role –> Parsons
-challenged representations of women which raised girls’ ambitions - the most important factor is that greater equality for women has made educational success more worthwhile
what was the norm before the impact of feminism
- girls expected to leave school and become housewives
- only a minority of girls had career
how does McRobbie support the impact of feminism?
- she feels that the media influences society on what we should/shouldnt do
- socialises us into gender roles
- if media shows career women, girls will take on that role
how has feminism affected changes in the family
- increase in divorce rates –> 40% end in divorce
- increase in cohabitation and decrease in first marriages
- increase in number of lone parent families –> 90% of which are matrifocal
how have changes in the family affected girls achievement in school
affects girls’ attitudes towards education as more women need to take on the breadwinner role in lone-parent families
how is female socialisation more suited to education than male socialisation?
McRobbie - bedroom culture
- girls’ early play includes cooperation and role play which results in proper communication skills and extended vocab
- boys’ prefer video games and tag which doesn’t extend vocab and hard to stimulate in educationhow
how have changes in employment boosted girls achievement
- 1970 equal pay act –> since 70’s pay gap has fallen from 30% to 17%
- encourages more women to work and aspire for careers
what do Mitsos and Browne say regarding changes in women’s employment
- Mitsos and Browne highlight how the growing service sector has created more ‘feminised’ career opportunities for women
- eg. teaching, childcare
what does Sharpe say in regard to Changes in girls ambitions
- in 70s, priorities were getting married and starting a family
- Sharpe found that there had been a ‘gender quake’
- girls priorities had reversed; modern girls were more assertive and career came before love
what is an evaluation of Sharpe’s gender quake research regarding changes in Girls’ ambitions
- there is still a long way to go and women are still opressed in society
- still gender pay gap
-therefore while it is a convincing explanation for improvement in girls’ achievement, it doesn’t on its own explain why girls outperform so clearly and consistently
what are some overall A03 points of external factors influencing girls’ achievement
- some argue differences are biological rather than sociological
- PM heaton says we cannot look at gender alone
describe an A03 point of external factors influencing girls’ achievement regarding biological differences
- some argue differences are biological rather than sociological
- it has been hypothesised that girls’ brains simply mature faster than boys, and that girls behaviorally mature earlier
- this makes girls more receptive to classroom based learning
describe an A03 point of external factors influencing girls’ achievement regarding Heaton’s argument
- PM Heaton argues that gender differences cannot be understood by looking at gender alone
- we must consider gender alongside other factors such as class and ethnicity –> Archer - BAME pupils are demonised by teachers
what are some internal differences that affect girls’ achievement?
- equal opportunities policies
- positive role model
- intro of coursework
- teacher interaction
- challenging stereotypes
- league tables/ selection criteria
describe how equal opportunities policies boosted girls’ achievement
- before, parsons described expressive and instrumental role which meant teachers viewed male students as future workers and encouraged them to take STEM subjects
- now, the government is much more aware of gender issues and teachers are sensitive to need to avoid gender stereotyping
- the belief that boys and girls are equally capable and entitled to the same opportunities is now part of mainstream thinking in the ES
- GIST, National Curriculum
–> removed barriers to make school more meritocratic (girls work harder so achieve better)
describe how Positive role models have boosted girls’ achievement
- increase in female head teachers acting as role models to show that girls can achieve positions of authority
- primary school have become ‘feminised’ with mostly female staff
- this impacts how far each gender sees school as part of their gender domain
- feminised learning environment means girls see educational success as a desirable female characteristic
(also explains boys’ underachievement)
describe how the introduction of coursework impacted girls’ achievement
- coursework was beneficial to girls as girls are more motivated and organised
what did Mitsos and Browne say in regard to introduction of coursework
- educational achievement is increasingly measured against skills that girls excel in eg: organisation
how does Elwood criticise the introduction of coursework as a factor of girls axchievements
even when there was more coursework in the qualifications, exam performance was the primary indicator of final grades
how do teacher interactions impact girls’ achievement?
- research consistently shows that teachers interact differently with boys and girls in class
- may account for at least some reasons why girls achieve better
what did Croall and moses find regarding teacher interaction as a factor of girls’ achievement
- girls recieve less of teachers time than boys do
- boys more likely to be involved in negative interactions
- suggests some boys may be labelled negatively which may affect their overall achievement
what does Francis say in regard to teacher interactions as a factor of girls’ achievement
- while boys get more attention, they were also disciplined more harshly
- they felt picked on by teachers
- teachers tended to have lower expectations of them
