Gender and achievement

Question 1

Which gender does better in education?

Answer 1

Girls

Question 2

What are the external factors affecting gender achievement?

Answer 2

Impact of feminism
Changes in the family
Changes in women's employment
Changing girls ambitions
Class, gender and ambition

Question 3

What impact has feminism had?

Answer 3

It has raised women’s expecations and self-esteem so they have bigger ambitions for a career.

McRobbie found women’s magazines in the 70’s emphasized marriage but in the 90’s they showed strong role models

Question 4

What did McRobbie find about the impact of feminism?

Answer 4

McRobbie found women’s magazines in the 70’s emphasized marriage but in the 90’s they showed strong role models

Question 5

How have changes in the family affected gender achievement?

Answer 5

An increace in divorce rate and lone parent families mean that girls have more role models of female bread winners. To acheive this independance themselves they must do well in school

Question 6

What impact have changes in employment had on gender achievement?

Answer 6

Equal pay and sex discrimination acts mean employment is more equal.
Better pay and opportunities give girls more incentive to do well in school

Question 7

What laws have helped to equalise employment for women?

Answer 7

1970 Equal Pay Act

1975 Sex Discrimination Act

Question 8

What impact do girl’s changing ambitions have on gender and acheivement

Answer 8

Sharpe found a shift where careers were now becoming priority over traditional goals.
Beck linked this to individualisation as careers give recognition.
Fuller found educational success was a key part of girl’s identity.

Question 9

What did Sharpe find about girl’s changing ambitions?

Answer 9

Between the 70s and the 90s girls ambitions shifted away from traditional goals to their careers.

Question 10

What did Beck and Beck- Gernsheim find about girl’s changing ambitions

Answer 10

Linked it to individualisation as a career provides recognition and self-sufficency. To do this, they recognise the importance of education.

Question 11

What did Fuller find about girl’s changing ambitions?

Answer 11

Fuller found educational success was a key part of girl’s identity.

Question 12

How are class, gender and ambition linked?

Answer 12

Working class girls still have gender-stereotyped aspriations for marriage and children, expecting to be in low-paying jobs as it's seen as more attainable. 
Biggart found that working class girls are more likely to face uncertainty in the labour market so there's less point in acheiving

Question 13

What did Biggart find about the link between gender, class and ambition?

Answer 13

Biggart found that working class girls are more likely to face uncertainty in the labour market so there’s less point in acheiving

Question 14

What are the internal factors affecting gender and achievement?

Answer 14

Equal opportunities policies
Positive role models in school
GCSE and coursework
Teacher attention

Question 15

How have equal opportunities policies affected gender and achievement?

Answer 15

GIST and WISE give girls positive role models in male-dominated careers. They also get non-sexist careers advice.
Boaler: Girls previously had to work a lot harder to acheive educational sucess so now that the barriers have been removed, they over achieve.

Question 16

How does Boaler say that equal opportunities policies have affected gender and achievement?

Answer 16

Boaler: Girls previously had to work a lot harder to acheive educational sucess so now that the barriers have been removed, they over achieve.

Question 17

How have positive role models in schools affected gender and achievement?

Answer 17

There has been an increace in female teachers which show students that females can acheive positions of importance

Question 18

How has GCSEs and coursework affected gender and achievement?

Answer 18

Gorard: The gender gap was constant until 1989 when GCSEs and coursework were introduced
Mitsos and Browne: Girls are better at coursework as they are better organised and meeting deadlines
There is a greater use of oral exams which is good for girls as they have more developed language skills

Question 19

How does Gorard say coursework has affected gender and achievement?

Answer 19

Gorard: The gender gap was constant until 1989 when GCSEs and coursework were introduced

Question 20

How does Mitsos and Browne say coursework has affected gender and achievement?

Answer 20

Mitsos and Browne: Girls are better at coursework as they are better organised and meeting deadlines

Question 21

How does teacher attention affect gender and achievement?

Answer 21

French: Boys get more attention as they get reprimanded for behaviour. They are diciplined more harshly and teachers have lower expectation
Swann: Boys dominate whole class discussions and girls work better in pairs. Teaches respond better to girls so this creates a self-fufilling prophecy

Question 22

How does French say teacher attention affects gender and achivement?

Answer 22

French: Boys get more attention as they get reprimanded for behaviour. They are diciplined more harshly and teachers have lower expectation

Question 23

How does Swann say teacher attention affects gender and achivement?

Answer 23

Swann: Boys dominate whole class discussions and girls work better in pairs. Teaches respond better to girls so this creates a self-fufilling prophecy

Question 24

What effect have legue tables had on gender and achievement?

Answer 24

Jackson: Girls get into better schools as they are seen as more attractive as they outperform boys.
Slee: Boys are less attractive as they are more likely to suffer behavioural problems.

Question 25

What factors are linked to identity, class and acheivement?

Answer 25

Symbolic capital
Hyper-heterosexual feminine identity
Boyfriends
Being loud
Working class girld dilemma
Sucessful working class girls

Question 26

How is symbolic capital affected by class and identiy?

Answer 26

Archer: They get symbolic capital from peers by portraying working class feminine identities
This brings them into conflict with schools so stops them getting economic capital

Question 27

What is the hyper-heterosexual feminine identity?

Answer 27

Spending time and effort on their appearance gets them positive attention from peers but is seen as a distraction by the teacher that prevents them from engaging. They then commit symbolic violence as they deem their culture less worthy of respect

Question 28

How do boyfriends affect identity, class and achievement?

Answer 28

Having a boyfriend gets in the way of schoolwork and lowers aspirations. If a girl gets pregnant, she has to drop out

Question 29

How does being loud affect identity, class and achievement?

Answer 29

Teacher interpret them being loud as questioning their authority. They are far from the ideal pupil which is quiet and passive

Question 30

What is the working class girl’s dilemma?

Answer 30

They have to choose between gaining symbolic capital or educational capital so sometimes are ‘good underneath’

Question 31

How are sucessful working class girls influanced by class and identity?

Answer 31

Evans: Girls wanted to go to university to help their families. Shows their working class identity where family is central. Many wanted to live at home while studying which excludes many unis
Archer: They show a perferance for local over distant

Question 32

What was Evans’s study into sucessful working class girls?

Answer 32

Evans: Girls wanted to go to university to help their families. Shows their working class identity where family is central. Many wanted to live at home while studying which excludes many unis

Question 33

What factors affect boys and achievement?

Answer 33

Boys and literacy
The decline of traditional male jobs
Feminisation of education
Shortage of male primary school teachers
Laddish subcultures
Moral panic

Question 34

How does literacy affect boy’s achievement?

Answer 34

Boys have less developed language and literacy skills as parents spend less time reading to their sons. It’s normally the mother that reads to them so it’s seen as a feminine activity.
Girls have a bedroom culture of reading and playing with friends which offers more development

Question 35

How does a decline of traditional male jobs affect boy’s achievement?

Answer 35

Mitsos and Bowne: Led to an identity crisis which undermines motivation and self-esteem. They give up on gaining qualifications

Question 36

How has the feminisation of education affected boy’s achievement?

Answer 36

Sewell: Schools no longer nurture masculine traits, favouring feminine traits. Coursework is the main cause for underachievement and it should be replaced by exams and outdoor activities to nurture male traits

Question 37

How is the shortage of male primary school teachers affecting boy’s attainment?

Answer 37

Boys have a lack of male role models. They say they behave better with male reachers as females can’t control ther behaviour.

Question 38

Why are male teachers better at controling the behaviour of male students?

Answer 38

They use a diciplinarian discourse where the teacher’s authority is explicit and obvious.
Females are thought to use a liberal discourse where they speak to children as adults and expect them to be respectful

Question 39

How does Francis disprove the idea that male teachers are best for boy’s acheivement?

Answer 39

Both male and female teachers use a diciplinarian discourse

2/3 of 7 and 8 year olds think the gender of the teacher isn’t important

Question 40

How do Laddish subcultures affect boy’s acheivement?

Answer 40

Boys are harassed and labelled as effeminate if they like school. Boys stay away from this to avoid negative attention as girls are moving towards more masculine areas

Question 41

How is there a moral panic about boys?

Answer 41

Ringrose: Shift in policy now preoccupied with raising boys attainment
Ignores the problem of disadvantaged working class and minority ethnic groups
Ignores problems girls face

Question 42

How do gender, class and ethnicity interact?

Answer 42

McVeigh: The class gap is wider than gender
Girls in the highest social class acheive 44% better than those in the lowest
Size of the gender gap depends on ethnicity- largest with Afro-Carribean

Question 43

What affects gender and subject choice?

Answer 43

When given options in the national curriculum, boys and girls choose different subjects. This increaces at A level

Question 44

What factors affect gender role socilisation?

Answer 44

Gender domains
Gendered subject images
Single-sex schooling
Gender, identity and peer pressure
Gendered career opportunities
Gender, vocational choice and class

Question 45

What is gender role socilisation?

Answer 45

Early socilisation affects children’s gender identities. Schools encourage boys to be tough and girls to be helpful. Boys are more likely to read non-fiction books while girls are more likely to read fiction

Question 46

What are gender domains?

Answer 46

Browne and Ross: What tasks are seen as male and female
Children are more confident in their own domain
Murphy: Boys and girls play attention to different details in the same question

Question 47

Why does Kelly argue girls are less likely to choose science?

Answer 47

Most teachers are male
Examples in textbooks draw on male interests
Boys dominate the labratory and monopolise equiptment

Question 48

How does peer pressure shape gender identity?

Answer 48

Boys opt out of music and dance to avoid a negative response from peers. The absence of peer pressure in single sex schools explains why girls are more likely to choose masculine subjects

Question 49

What factors affect gender identity?

Answer 49

Double standards
Male gaze
Verbal abuse
Male peer groups 
Female peer groups