Feminists Views Flashcards
What are feminist views on education?
Like Marxists, feminists reject the positive view of education that functionalists put forward.
Feminists believe that while girls are now dong much better in education than ever before, they system remains patriarchal and this must change. Girls are, therefore, doing well despite the education system.
Why did girls previously underachieve?
Micehelle stanworth (1983)
Michelle Stanworth interviewed teachers and students across seven different classes in a college humanities department.
> She found that the attitudes teachers held could be responsible for affecting girls’ progress. Quiet, well-behaved girls were often ignored.
> The teachers had stereotypical expectations abt what the girls would end up doing for a job in the future. One teacher imagined that the girl would be a personal assistant for someone important.
> Girls had low expectations of themselves and so did teachers, resulting in underachievement.
EVALUATION:
> The research may lack validity since those taking part have lied or exaggerated to appear socially desirable.
Glenys Lobban (1974)
Lobban examined 179 children stories across six reading schemes and found that in the vast majority of cases, girls and women were represented in traditional gender roles.
> Boys and men, on the other hand, were represented in a much more dominant way. Studies have been repeated in the 1990s found very similar results, with little has changed.
Heaton and lawson 1996
patriarchy
Feminist Heaton and Lawson believe that it is the hidden curriculum that transmits patriarchy through the education system.
This occurs in 5 ways:
1) Education resources tend to focus on males and not females. e.g. science textbooks feature more males and in primary school books, males were always seen as the heroes.
2) Boys continue to dominate in the classroom. They frequently call out while girls are much more reserved.
3) Teachers continue to use sex stereotyping. They will ask boys to help them move furniture and expect girls to be the ones who tidy away.
4) The curriculum continues to be patriarchal, with pupils steered into certain subjects.
5) A lack of female role models. Most head teachers are male and classroom teachers are female.
