Gender

Question 1

General Differences in Achievement in Girls

Answer 1

Girls outperform boys on most levels in educational success
But other social factors could affect this
eg. WC girls do not do as well as MC girls
B girls tend to be slightly behind W girls in academic achievement
Gender gap increased to 9.2% points for girls (2020) which was the 1st year of teacher-awarded grades before narrowing again in 2021

Question 2

Feminist perspective on girls’ achievement

Answer 2

Liberal: celebrate progress made + positive further progress will be made by continuing development of equal opportunities
Radical: more critical, recognise girls achieving more but emphasise the system remains patriarchal
eg. education still limits girls’ subject choices and career options

Question 3

What external factors affect females in achievement? [4]

Answer 3

The Impact of Feminism
Changes in the Family
Changes in Women’s Employment
Changing Ambitions

Question 4

What internal factors affect females in achievement? [5]

Answer 4

Equal Opportunities Policies
Positive Role Models
GCSE and Coursework
Teacher Interactions
Challenging Stereotypes in the Curriculum

Question 5

Females, External: The Impact of Feminism

Answer 5

1960s+: challenged strereotypes of a women’s role within a patraiarchal family, raised girls’ expectations and ambitions in career and family, partly reflected in the media
McRobbie: comparison of magazines
70s - importance of getting married
90s - emphasis on career and independence

Full equality has not been reached yet, girls get better results but less likely to get top jobs and girls still experience patriarchy in school

Question 6

Females, External: Changes in the Family

Answer 6

last 30 yrs: increase in divorce rate/cohabitation/no. of lone parent families
means more women need to take on major income-earner role
Creates new financially independent, career-minded role model for girls (instrumental role), increasing need for good qualifications

However research shows more still aspire to a form of traditional nuclear family as most experienced during childhood
Girls not from single parent family still work hard in education

Question 7

Females, External: Changes in Women’s Employment

Answer 7

Rise: under 53% in 1971 to over 67% in 2013
Some breaking through invisible barrier of ‘glass ceiling’ to high-level professional jobs previously denied
eg. more female doctors had headteachers etc.
Greater opportunities provide incentive for girls to take education seriously: more hope and encouragement

However research shows most of top jobs still dominated by men
Glass ceiling is not fully broken
eg. MPs and ceos

Question 8

Females, External: Changing Ambitions

Answer 8

Changes in family + employment are producing changes in girls ambitions
Sue Sharpe: compared results of interviews with girls
70s - low aspirations, educational success is unfeminine, gave priority of love + family before careers
90s - more likely for futures featuring independent women with a career, not dependent husband and his income
O’Connor (2006): studied 14-17 yr olds
found marriage and children not a major part of their life plans

However not all females have same opportunities for an independent career - class differences, some WC girls continue to have gender stereotyped aspirations
Biggart - found WC girls more likely to face a precarious position in labour market, seemed motherhood as only viable option so less point in achieving an education

Question 9

Females, Internal: Equal Opportunities Policies

Answer 9

National Curriculum: study same things, same opportunities in school (mainstream belief)
GIST (Girls In Science and Technology) and WISE (Women In Science and Engineering) encourage girls to pursue careers in non-traditional areas
Female pupils are more desirable for top performing schools: achieve better academically + behaviour
Marketisation policies: cream skimming + silt shifting

However policies only have limited effect, still big gap in number of girls and boys taking sciences

Question 10

Females, Internal: Positive Role Models

Answer 10

Increase in female teachers + headteachers: positions of power and authority = possible for them to achieve important positions
Reinforces importance of education in gaining such positions

However leadership positions are in feminine areas which reinforce stereotypes rather than challenging them
eg. pastoral care
Secondary schools, male teachers still more likely to become heads

Question 11

Females, Internal: GCSE and Coursework

Answer 11

Changes in way students are examined favours girls, disadvantages boys
Mitsos and Browne: girls more successful in class work
Better organised, more conscientious, spend more time and care, and better at keeping up to deadlines
Benefits girls from intro of coursework in GCSE,AS and A Levels so better standard leads to overachievement

However: gender gap in achievement increased after intro of coursework which suggested it is an important explanation for gender gap
Elwood: exams have more influence on final grades so C only has a limited effect
Way students examined have changed
eg. A Levels causes now linear so future figures will show girls underachieving

Question 12

Females, Internal: Teacher Interactions

Answer 12

Teachers respond more positively to girls (more cooperative) than boys (more disruptive)
may lead to a soft fulfilling prophecy as positive interactions raise girls’ self-esteem and levels of achievement
Abraham: teachers perceive boys as more badly behaved so expect bad behaviour
Francis: found that while boys get more attention, disciplined more harshly + felt picked on by teachers who tended to have low expectations of them

However Fuller: shows not everyone follows their label, B girls went against negative labelling, pro-school subculture/self-negating prophecy

Question 13

Females, Internal: Challenging Stereotypes in the Curriculum

Answer 13

Removing gender stereotypes from learning materials has removed a barrier to girls’ achieving
Weiner: teachers have challenged gender stereotypes since 80s
Generally, sexist images have been removed from teaching materials, may have helped to raise girls’ achievement by presenting more positive images of what women are capable

However, Girls now achieving more but radical feminists believe education system remains patriarchal
eg. sexual harassment

Question 14

General Differences in Achievement in Boys

Answer 14

Mitsos + Browne:
Girls do batter than boys in every stage of National Curriculum SAT
Girls now more successful than boys at every level in GCSE, outperform in every major subject except physics

Question 15

What external factors affect males in achievement? [3]

Answer 15

Boys’ Poorer Literacy Skills
Globalisation and the Decline in Traditional Male Jobs
Unrealistic Aspirations

Question 16

What internal factors affect males in achievement? [4]

Answer 16

The Feminisation of Education
[Stretch] Shortage of Male Primary School
Teacher Interactions -Labelling
Laddish subcultures

Question 17

Male, External: Boys’ Poorer Literacy Skills

Answer 17

DCSF: gender gap is mainly result of boys’ poor literacy + language skills
Girls’ leisure time compliments their education + contributes to educational success. Also more likely to have same-sex role models to encourage them to read
Mitsos and Browne: women more likely to read than men + mothers more likely than fathers to read to their children
Kirkby: communicative play through organized games replaced with TV and computer games. Although develop spatial and visual abilities, they do little to address language deficiency

However schemes by gov. Fathers and Sons reading campaign, suggesting it is an important reason for boys’ underachievement

Question 18

Male, External: Globalisation and the Decline in Traditional Male Jobs

Answer 18

’80s: significant decline in heavy industries (mining/engineering) partly due to the globalization of the economy (world is more interconnected), led to many of manufacturing industries to relocate to developing countries
MItsos and Browne: decline in male employment, led to a crisis of masculinity as WC boys lack motivation
Boys now believe they have little chance of getting a proper job, undermines self-esteem + motivation so give up trying in school

However unlikely that disappearance of such jobs would have impacted of boys’ motivation to gain qualifications
decline largely in traditional manual WC jobs which are unskilled or semi skilled, jobs only filled by WC boys with few, if any qualifications

Question 19

Male, External: Unrealistic Aspirations

Answer 19

Research indicates boys are often surprised when they fail exams, tend to put their failure down to bad look rather than lack of effort
Francis: boys more likely to have unrealistic career aspirations that often require few formal qualifications
eg. pro footballer
Girls aspirations tend to require effort (doctors) so have a commitment to schoolwork

However girls also have a realistic aspirations today
eg. influencer

Question 20

Male, Internal: The Feminisation of Education

Answer 20

Sewell: boys fall behind in education because school has become feminized, emphasise feminine traits which disadvantages boys (methodical working + attentiveness)
Sewell: coursework is major cause of differences in achievement, some coursework should be replaced with exams + greater emphasis should be put on outdoor adventure in the curriculum

However, action has been taken - shift towards ‘controlled assessments’ replace coursework to reduce advantages girls have

Question 21

Male, Internal: [Stretch] Shortage of Male Primary School

Answer 21

Lack of male role models at home + school = cause of boys underachievement. Only 14% of male primary school teachers
Yougav: 39% 8-11 yr old boys have no lessons with a male teacher yet 42% said presence of male teachers made them behave better + work harder

However New Right- women are more suited to be with kids (expressive role)
males have higher power/logical jobs (instrumental role)

Question 22

Male, Internal: Teacher Interactions -Labelling

Answer 22

Negative labelling: undermines boys’ confidence + interest in school
Low motivation in subject = Low achievement
Teachers less strict with boys as expect lower standard of work so less likely to be held in exams (educational triage/self fulfilling prophecy)
Allows boys to underachieve by failing to push them to achieve potential

However Fuller negative labels don’t always lead to SFP

Question 23

Male, Internal: Laddish subcultures

Answer 23

Mac an Ghaill: identifies pupil subculture ‘macho lads’ to explain why boys underachieve in education
They were hostile to school authority + learning = expected future of employment
Valued fighting, football and sex, interpreted school as threatening masculinity, bullied academic boys, dismissed as gay/girl-like
Willis: found physical work was essential to develop of sense of identity
But mid 80s - many of this work was gone. Youth training then often by unemployment became WC boys norms

However Willis who demonstrated idea that WC boys can reject values of School + Education
Study uses small sample size - lacks representativeness, doesn’t reflect everybody’s views
Male anti-school subculture was not new, existed when boys were outperforming girls, so not accurate to use as a reason to explain recent changes in male underachievement