Gender And Acheivement

Question 1

Gender gap in achievement

Answer 1

Results for both genders have improved at all levels over the years, the girls rate of improvement has been more rapid and a significant gap has opened up particularly at GCSE. 

Question 2

External factors and gender differences in achievement

1. Impact of Feminism

Answer 2

Feminism is a social movement that strives for equal rights, since the 1960s the feminist movement has challenged traditional stereotype of a woman’s role in society as solely the mother and housewife and inferior to men.
— these changes are reflected in media images and messages, McRobbies stufy of girls magazines in the 1970s they emphasised the importance of getting married and ‘not being left on the shelf’ whereas now they contain images of independent women.

Question 3

External factors and gender differences in achievement

2. Changes in the family

Answer 3

There have been major changes in the family since the 70s, these include
— Increased divorce rate
— Increase in cohabitation / decrease in first marriages 
— Increase in number of LPF
— Smaller families
These changes affect girls attitudes towards education in a number of ways
— increased numbers of female-headed lone-parent families may mean more women need to take on the breadwinner role this then creates a new role model for girls — The financially independent woman.

Question 4

External factors and gender differences in achievement

3. Changes in womens employment

Answer 4

There have been important changes in women’s employment in recent decades. These include the following:
— the 1970 equal pay act makes it illegal to pay women less than men for work of equal value.
— since 1975 to pay gap between men and women has halved from 30% to 15%.
— some women are breaking through the ‘glass ceiling’ - the invisible barrier that keeps them out of high-level professional and managerial jobs.

These changes have encourage girls to see the future in terms of paid work rather than as housewives. 

Question 5

External factors and gender differences in achievement

4. Girls changing ambitions

Answer 5

Sharpe’s (1994) interviews with girls in 1970s and 1990s show a major shift in the way girls see their futures.
— in 1974 the girls had low aspirations they believed educational success was unfeminine and that appearing to be ambitions would be considered unattractive.
— By the 1990s girls ambitions have changed and they had a different order of priorities : careers and being able to support themselves Sharpe found the girls are now more likely to see the future as independent woman with a career rather than as dependent on their husbands income.

Question 6

Class, Gender and Ambition

Answer 6

They are class differences in how far girls ambitions have changed 
— some working class girls continue to have gender-stereotyped aspirations for marriage and children expect to go in to additional low-paid womens work.
— Biggart (2002) found that working class girls are more likely to face a precarious position in the labour market and are likely to see motherhood is the only viable option for their future, they see less point in achieving in education.

Question 7

Internal factors and Gender differences in achievement

1. Equal opportunity policies

Answer 7

Feminist ideas have had a major impact on the education system policymakers are now much more aware of gender issues and teachers are more sensitive to the need to avoid stereotyping.
— Policies such as GIST and WISE
— female role models such as scientists visit schools acting as role models
— nonsexist career advice has been provided and learning materials in science reflecting girls interests have been developed.

Question 8

Internal factors and Gender differences in achievement

2. Positive Role Models in school

Answer 8

There has been an increase in proportion of female teachers and head. These women in senior positions may act as role models showing then we can achieve positions of importance and giving them non-traditional goals to aim for.
— Women teachers are likely to be particularly important role models as far as girls education achievement is concerned since to become a teacher the individual must undertake a lengthy and successful education herself.

Question 9

Internal factors and Gender differences in achievement

3. GCSE and coursework

Answer 9

Gorard found The gender gap in achievement was very constant from 1975 until 1989 — when it increased sharply this was the year GCSE was introduced bringing along with it coursework is a major part of nearly all subjects.

Mitsos and Browne support this — they conclude the girls are more successful in coursework because they are more conscientious and better organised than boys.
- they spend more time on the work
- they take more care in the presentation
- they’re better meeting deadlines
- then what efficient in bringing the right materials to lessons
Mitsos and Browne argue these factors allow girls to benefit from the introduction of coursework and GCSEs AS and A-level. 

Question 10

Internal factors and Gender differences in achievement

4. Teacher attention

Answer 10

The way teachers interact with boys and girls differs.
SWANN phone gender differences in communication styles boys dominated in whole-class discussions meanwhile girls preferred paired-work and group-work they are better and listening and cooperating. 
— This may explain like you to respond more positively to girls, whom they see as cooperative them to boys whom they see as potentially disruptive, this may lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy in which successful interactions with teachers promote girls self-esteem and raise their achievement.

Question 11

Internal factors and Gender differences in achievement

5. Challenging sterotypes in the curriculum

Answer 11

Some sociologists argue the removal of gender stereotypes from textbooks reading schemes and other learning materials has removed a barrier to girls achievements
— in the 70s and 80s research found that reading schemes between women mainly as housewives and mothers, physics book showed them as frightened by science and maths book depicted boys as more inventive.
— Weiner (95) Argues that since the 80s teachers have challenged the stereotypes, also in general they have been removed from learning materials this may have helped to raise girls achievement by presenting them with more positive images of themselves.

Question 12

Internal factors and Gender differences in achievement

6. Selection and League tables

Answer 12

Marketisation policies have created a more competitive climate in which school see girls as desirable recruits because they achieve better exam results.
— Jackson notes at the introduction of exam league tables have improved opportunities for girls: High achieving girls are attractive to the school while low achieving boys are not.
— This tends to create self-fulfilling prophecy due to girls being more likely to be recruited by good schools they’re more likely to do well.
— Slee argues boys are less attractive to schools due to them being more likely to suffer from behavioural difficulties and are 4x times more likely to be excluded, boys may be seen as ‘liability students’ — obstacles to the school improving its league table scores.

Question 13

Two views of girls achievement

Answer 13

1. Liberal Feminists : Celebrate progress made so far by feminists believe that further progress will be made by the continuing development of equal opportunity policies including role models and overcoming sexist attitudes and stereotypes.
2. Radical Feminists : take a more critical view, they recognise girls are achieving more yet they emphasise that the system still remains patriarchal and conveys the clear message that it is a man’s world.
   — although there are normal female teachers male teachers are still more likely to become heads of secondary schools
   — Women are under represented in many areas of the curriculum Wiener describes the secondary school history curriculum as a woman Freezone. 

Question 14

Identity, Class and Girls achievement

Symbolic capital

Answer 14

According to family such as archer one reason for these differences is the conflict between working class girls feminine identities and the values/ethos of the school.
— Archer uses the concept of symbolic capital to understand this conflict : it refers to the status recognition and sense of worth we are able to obtain from others
— by performing working class feminine identities The girls gained symbolic capital from their peers but this brought them into conflict with school preventing them from acquiring educational capital and economic capital.
— Archer identified several strategies that the girls follow to gain symbolic capital.
(hyper-hs fem identities, being loud, boyfriends)

Question 15

Identity, Class and Girls achievement

SC hyper heterosexual feminine identities

Answer 15

• many of the girls invested considerable time, effort and money in constructing desirable and glamorous hyper heterosexual feminine identities.
• one girl in the study spent all the £40 she made a week on babysitting on her appearance.
• The girls performance of this feminine identity but status from the female peer group and avoid them being ridiculed or called a tramp for wearing the wrong brands
• However it also created conflict with the school for example too often in trouble for wearing the wrong thing or too much jewellery, teacher saw the girls preoccupation with appearance as a distraction that prevented them engaging with education.

Question 16

Identity, Class and Girls achievement

SC boyfriends

Answer 16

While having a boyfriend bought symbolic capital it also got in the way of school work and lowered aspirations. 
— This included losing interest in going to university, in studying masculine subjects or getting a professional career.
— Girls aspire to settle down and have children, to work locally in working class jobs.

Question 17

Identity, Class and Girls achievement

SC Being ‘loud’

Answer 17

Some working-class girls adopted loud feminine identities that often lead to them to be outspoken, independent and assertive. This failed to conform to the schools stereotype of the ideal pupil as passive & submissive 
— bought conflict with teachers who interpret the behaviours as aggressive

Question 18

Working class girls dilemma

Answer 18

— Gaining symbolic capital through conforming to hyper-heterosexual feminine identity 
— Gaining educational capital by rejecting the working-class identity and conforming to the schools middle-class notions of a respectable ideal female people.

Question 19

Identity, Class and Girls achievement

Successful WC girls

Answer 19

Although working class girls are likely to underachieve some do succeed and go onto higher education however, even they may be disadvantaged by their gender and class identities. 
— Evans found many girls wanted to go to university to increase their earning power this was not for themselves, but to help their families.
— economic necessity was a further reason for living at home cost of fear of getting into the major issues for many working class students in deciding which universities to apply to. (LIMITS OPPORTUNITIES) 

Question 20

Boys and achievement

Answer 20

The gender gap in achievement has given rise to concern about boys falling behind.
— Several possible factors can be responsible for this these include external factors such as boys literacy skills and decline of traditional jobs as well as internal factors such as feminisation of education, shortage of male primary school teachers and laddish sub-cultures

Question 21

Boys and achievement

Boys and literacy

Answer 21

According to the DCSF the gender gap is mainly the result of boys poor literacy and language skills : one reason for this may be that parents spent less time reading to their sons, another may be that it is mothers who do most of the reading to young children who thus come to the conclusion to see reading as a feminine activity.
— Boys leisure pursuits such as football did little to help develop the language and communication skills by contrast girls tend to have a ‘bedroom culture’ centred on staying in speaking with friends

Question 22

Boys and achievement

Globalisation and the decline of traditional men’s jobs

Answer 22

Since the 80s there has been a decline in heavy industries such as iron and steel — this has been partly the result of the globalisation of the economy which has led to much manufacturing relocating to developing countries such as China to take advantage of cheap labour.

— Traditionality these sectors of the economy mainly employed men. Mitsos and Browne Claim that this decline in employment opportunities has led to an ‘identity crisis for men’ many boys now believe they have little prospect of getting a proper job, this undermines their motivation and so they give up trying to get qualifications. 
— We must note that The decline has been largely in manual working-class jobs that require few if any qualifications. 

Question 23

Boys and achievement

Feminisation of education

Answer 23

Sewell argues boys fall behind because education has become feminised. 
Schools do not nurture masculine traits such as competitiveness and leadership — they celebrate qualities more closely closely associated with girls such as attentiveness in class and methodical working.

— he sees coursework as a major cause of gender differences he argues that some coursework should be replaced with final exams and a greater emphasis placed om outdoor adventure in the curriculum.

Question 24

Boys and achievement

Shortage of male primary school teachers

Answer 24

The lack of male role models both at home and school he said to be a cause of boys under achievement — for example large numbers of boys are being bought up in the 1.5 million female headed loan parent families in the UK.

Only 14% of primary school teachers are male.
— Yougov (2007) 39% of 8 to 11-year-old boys have no lessons whatsoever with a male teacher yet most boys surveyed said the presence of a male teacher made them behave better
— 42% said it made them work harder.

Question 25

Are more male teachers really needed?

Answer 25

Research suggests male teachers may not be a major factor in boys underachievement.
— Read is also critical of the claims of the culture of primary school is becoming feminised and the only male teachers can exert the firm discipline the boys need to achieve.
— she identifies 2 types of discourse:
1. A disciplinarian discourse : The teachers authority is made explicit through shouting, an exasperated tone of voice or sarcasm.
- usually associated with masculinity
2. A liberal discourse : Teachers authority is implicit and invisible, child centred discourse involves pseudo-adultification
- usually associated with femininity

 most teachers favoured a masculine disciplinarian discourse of control this disproves the claim that the culture of the primary school has become feminised.

Question 26

Moral panic about boys

Answer 26

Critics of  feminism speak of ‘girl power’ and women taking men’s jobs they believe girls have succeeded at the expense of boys who are the new disadvantaged. 
— according to feminists such as Ringrose these views have contributed to a moral panic about failure of boys, this moral panic reflects a fear that underachieving working class boys will grow up to become a dangerous unemployable underclass that threatens social stability.
— Ostler notes of the focus on underachieving boys has led to a neglect of girls this is partly because girls often disengage from school quietly, by contrast boys disengagement often takes the form of public displays of Laddish masculinity that attract attention from teachers and policymakers.

Question 27

Gender, class and ethnicity

Answer 27

However it would be wrong to conclude that boys are a lost cause.
— in fact the performance of both genders has actually improved considerably in recent years boys may be lacking behind girls, but they do better than they did in the past.

— The similarities in boys and girls achievements are greater than the differences especially when compared with class or ethnic differences
 (The class gap at GCSE is three times larger than the gender gap) 

— we need to take the interplay of class, gender and ethnicity into account in order to gain a better understanding of differences in achievement

Question 28

Gender and subject choice

Answer 28

Still continues to be a very traditional patterns of boys and girls subjects. Boy still tend to go for subjects such as maths and physics, whereas girls are more likely to choose modern languages. 
— Regardless of little freedom to choose or drop subjects until 16 boys and girls tend to follow a different gender routes through the education system this is shown through natural curriculum options, As & A levels and vocational courses.

Question 29

Gender and subject choice

1. Gender role socialisation

Answer 29

Gender role socialisation is the process of learning the behaviour expected of males and females in society.
— Schools also play an important part, Byrne shows that teachers encourage boys to be tough and show initiative and not be weak or behave like ‘sissies’, in contrast females are expected to be quiet, helpful, clean and tidy.
— As a result of differences in socialisation boys and girls develop different taste in Reading. Boys read hobby books and information text whereas girls are more likely to read stories about people, this helps to explain why boys prefer science subjects while girls prefer subjects such as English.

Question 30

Gender domains

Answer 30

Children’s belief about gender domains are shaped by the early experiences and expectations of adults
— gender domains are the task and activities are boys and go see as female or male territorial and therefore is relevant to themselves (mending a car is seen as falling within the male gender domain but looking after a sick child is not).
— children are more confident when engaging in tasks they see as part of their own gender domain.

Question 31

Gender and subject choice

2. Gendered subject images

Answer 31

The gender image of a subject effects who want to choose a sociologist have tried to explain why some subjects are seen as boy or girl subjects in the first place.
— Kelly argues science is seen as a boy subject for several reasons
1. Science teachers are more likely to be men
2. The examples teachers use often draw on boys rather than girls interests.
3. In science lessons boys monopolise the apparatus and dominate the lab acting as if it is ‘theirs’.

— single sex schooling
Interestingly people who attend single sex schools tend to hold less stereotypes subject images and make this traditional subject choices. 
Leonard (2006) found that Girls and girls schools are more likely to take maths and science A-level, whereas boys who went to boys schools were more likely to take English and languages.

Question 32

Gender and subject choice

3. Gender identity and Peer pressure

Answer 32

Subject choice can be influenced by peer pressure other boys and girls may apply pressure to individuals if they disapprove of his or her choice.
— The study of American college students by Deborah found that male students would girls ‘lesbian’ if they appear to be interested in sport.
— The same may be true of some science subjects especially in mixed schools. 

Question 33

Gender and subject choice

4. Gendered Career Opportunities

Answer 33

• An important reason for differences in subject choice is the fact that employment is highly gendered
  — Women are concentrated in a narrow range of occupations such as childcare&nursing and if boys get the message that nursery nurses are female there will be less likely to sign up for a course in childcare.

Question 34

Gender, vocational choice and class

Answer 34

There is a social class dimension to choice of vocational course, working-class pupils in particular may make decisions about vocational courses that are based on the traditional sense of gender identity.
— these ambitions may root out of work experience placements which often gendered and classed.

Question 35

Pupils sexual and gender identities

1. Double standards

Answer 35

A double standard exists when we apply one set of moral standards to one group but a diff set to another
— Lees (1993) males boast about their own sexual pursuits but call a girl a slag if she doesn’t have a steady boyfriend or dresses and speaks a set way.
Feminists see these double standards as an example of a patriarchal ideology that justifies male power and devalues women. 

Question 36

Pupils sexual and gender identities

2. Verbal abuse

Answer 36

Connell states A ‘rich vocabulary of abuse’ is one of the ways in which a dominant gender and sexual identities are reinforced.
— Lees found boys called girls slabs if they dressed as if they were sexually available and drags if they were modest
— Parker found boys were labelled gay for being friends with girls

Question 37

Pupils sexual and gender identities

The male gaze

Answer 37

There’s also a visual aspect of the way pupils control each other’s identities
— Mac and Ghaiil see this as a form of surveillance through which a dominant heterosexual masculinity is reinforced and femininity devalued.
— boys who do not display their heterosexuality in this way run the risk of being labelled gay. 

Question 38

Pupils sexual and gender identities

4. Male peer groups

Answer 38

Male peer groups also use verbal abuse to reinforce definitions of masculinity.

Question 39

Pupils sexual and gender identities

Female peer groups : policing identity

Answer 39

Archer shows how working-class girls gain symbolic capital from the female peers by performing feminine identities. 
— ringroses small scale study of girls peer groups in a South Wales school found being popular was crucial to the girls identity.
— girls who want to be successful educationally may feel the need to conform to the school to notion of the ideal feminine people identity.
— FACE a tension between idealised fem identity (loyal to friendship group) & sexualised identitiy (competing for boys)

Question 40

Pupils sexual and gender identities

6. Teachers and discipline

Answer 40

Research shows that teachers also play a part in reinforcing the definitions of gender identity
— Ross shows how male teachers behaviour can subtly reinforce messages about gender. Male teachers often have a protective attitude towards female colleagues coming to the class to ‘rescue’ them by threatening pupils who have been destructive thus reinforcing the idea that women cannot cope alone.