Exams: Gender And Differntial Achievement

Question 1

External factos : Edwards and David

Answer 1

Boys mature more slowly than girls because primary socialisation in the family encourages boys to be more attention seeking which may lead to lack of concentration in classrooms
Boys have more of an ‘outdoor lifestyle’
Girls are taught to conform more and have better language skills

Question 2

External factors: Frosh

Answer 2

Focus group interviews and individual interviews off 245 boys and 27 girls found that :
Boy’s behaviour is often shaped and policed by their peer group. He found that many boys regarded schoolwork as ‘feminine’ and ‘unmanly’ .

Question 3

External factors: Mac an Ghaill

Answer 3

Boys underachievement is due to a ‘crisis of masculinity’. W/c boys feel they are unlikely to occupy the traditional male role of ‘breadwinner’ because they can see that globalisation has resulted in the decline of British industry which have an impact on the motivation to gain qualifications

Question 4

Internal factors: mitsos and Browne

Answer 4

Teachers have lower expectations of boys and expect their work to be late which may have a self-fulfilling effect which depresses their achievement

Question 5

( External)The wider society : Hartley and Sutton

Answer 5

Parents and the media contributed to boys under performance by routinely using phrases like ‘silly boys’

Question 6

Evaluation : how many women are in high skilled work compared to men

Answer 6

22% women / 20% men

Question 7

Evaluation : how many women are unemployed compared to men

Answer 7

582000 women between oct-dec 2019

707000 men

Question 8

‘Feminisation of schooling’ - Christine Skelton (internal factors)

Answer 8

Recruit more men into primary teaching to tackle boys underachievement
24% male teachers in primary schools 2019 / 77% female

Question 9

Trends

Answer 9

• at GCSE (2016), girls outperformed boys in gaining grades A*- C by 8.9% points
• at a level (2016), 79.7% of girls achieved A*-C grades compared with 75% of boys

Question 10

Sharpe (changing ambitions)

Answer 10

Interviews in 1970’s and 1990s where she interviewed young girls about their ambitions
1970’s- get married and have a family
1990’s - career first

Question 11

Evaluation of girls achieving

Answer 11

Radical feminists argue that most of the changes to the education system are largely cosmetic because the stain glass ceiling is still firmly in place and their job opportunities are still limited by patriarchal assumptions .

Question 12

Internal : Gorard

Answer 12

The introduction of coursework into GCSE curricula in 1989 benefitted girls because they are more conscientious and have better organisational skills than boys. The recent reduction in the coursework component at both GCSE and a-level may be partly responsible for narrowing of gender gap.

Question 13

Internal : fuller

Answer 13

Teachers see some girls as ‘ideal students’ and interact with them in a positive way improving their self esteem

Question 14

Evaluation of the feminisation of teaching

Answer 14

Skelton eat al found that 65% of children rejected the idea that the gender of the teacher mattered

Question 15

Postmodernists

Answer 15

Gender stereotypes are breaking down and are less common so we see more gender diversity in subject choice today