Gender

Question 1

Reasons for girls outperforming boys (Out of school) (5)

Answer 1

• Changing status of women in society- women are no longer focused on marriage and family
• More female role models who have gained respected qualifications and are employed in important roles
• Advice girls get from home and school changed
• Crisis of masculinity leading to boys underperforming Lack of traditional male employment lead to uncertainty in future for boys.
• Murray suggested welfare benefits lead to males leaving school without qualifications

Question 2

Reasons girls used to underperform (In school) (Stanworth)

Answer 2

• Low teacher expectations
• Resources like textbooks reinforce gender stereotypes
• Boys’ dominance of classroom and attention of teachers
• Schools pushing girls towards low paid or domestic roles
• Gender division of subjects reinforcing gender stereotypes

Question 3

Biological reasons for gender gap

Answer 3

As girls mature faster than boys physically, it has been suggested they do intellectually too. Studies show that even during the early years, girls have stronger linguistic abilities than boys.

Question 4

Female gender script for young infants

Answer 4

• Girls are told to read stories which could explain the advantage in early years in related to skills

Question 5

Feminisation of education

Answer 5

• Predominance of female teachers in the profession (Swell)
• Educational achievement is increasingly measured against skills where girls excel more; higher levels of course work at GCSE and A-levels

Question 6

Examples of projects to support girls’ education

Answer 6

• GIST to try to address gender differences
• Followed by WISE campaign
• These encouraged more girls to study science and led to more girls succeeding

Question 7

National curriculum impact on gender stereotypes

Answer 7

• Means that all students study science, so the gender division are less in society today.
• Girls now outperform boys in society

Question 8

League tables impact on gender differences

Answer 8

• Might have lead to schools focusing on the improvement of girls achievement as it was previously risking bringing down their position in the league table

Question 9

Subcultures in school

Answer 9

• Boys are more likely to form anti school subcultures
• Teachers may turn a blind eye to laddish behaviour thinking it would be hard to do anything about it so boys’ education is suffering.

Question 10

Labelling of girls today

Answer 10

• Girls are positively labeled as the ideal student.
• While some point out that teachers spend more time with boys, the conversations are more about discipline whereas they have educational conversations with girls.

Question 11

Hidden curriculum favoring boys

Answer 11

One which is male orientated . Eg. Hierarchy and competition

Question 12

Sukhanda et al

Answer 12

Boys feel that schools have higher expectations of girls and boys feel less supported in school. This causes alienation

Question 13

Edwards and David (2000) - socialisation at home

Answer 13

• Boys are allowed to be noisier at home
• Girls are taught more to conform through their behaviour standards
• Girls are more likely to be talked to by parents
• Gender differentiated primary socialisation can give girls an advantage due to nature of education system.

Question 14

Peer groups

Answer 14

• Edwards and David- Boys’ behaviour was more shaped by peer groups around macho values
• Hannan- girls relate to each other based on what they perceive inside and outside the home. They relate more to one another by talking- develops literacy skills.