Gender and achievement - Girl's success internal and external Flashcards
Whats the observed trend on gender and achievement?
Girls have been doing better at school than boys at all Key Stages since the late 1980s – year 6 SATs, GCSEs, A Levels, there are more female university students than male and they are getting higher degrees.
List the external factors?
Impact of Feminism
Changes in the family
Increase in women’s employment opportunities
Girls’ changing ambitions
Explain the impact of feminism
The Feminist movement has improved the position of women in society by leading to changes in the law which have established legal equality between men and women through such laws as the Equal Pay Act and Sex Discrimination Act.
The Feminist movement has raised women’s ambitions and expectations beyond being a wife and mother.
McRobbie studied girls’ magazines from the 1970s and 1990s. She found that in the 1970s, magazines emphasised the importance of getting married, while in the 1990s they contained images of strong, independent women. This is an example of the social changes brought about by Feminism.
Explain changes in the family
The increase in divorce and in lone parent families has created a new type of positive role model for girls – a financially independent woman. To achieve this independence, women need well paid jobs which need high qualifications. This encourages girls to remain in education.
Explain the increase in women’s employment opportunities
New employment laws have been introduced to establish equality between men and women at work - Equal Pay Act 1970, Sex Discrimination Act 1975.
There has been an increase in the number of working women due to the growth of the service sector which tends to employ women. This gives girls an incentive to get qualification as there are employment opportunities for them in the job market.
Explain Changing women’s ambitions
Sue Sharpe carried out two sets of interviews with school girls. The first set she carried out in the 1970s. Sharpe found that girls’ priorities included marriage, love, husbands and children. They saw educational success as unfeminine. The second set of interviews Sharpe carried out in the 1990s. Her findings were exactly the opposite.
List the internal factors that impact Girl’s success
Equal opportunities policies
Positive role models at school
The introduction of compulsory subjects at GCSE and examination through coursework
Teacher attention and classroom interaction
Challenging stereotypes in the curriculum
Selection and league tables
Explain equal opportunities policies
There is now greater awareness of the fact that girls and boys are equally capable and teachers try to avoid stereotypes. There are initiatives such as GIST (Girls into science and technology) which aim to encourage girls to choose science related education and careers.
Prior to the introduction of the National Curriculum in 1988 girls tended to choose subjects such as English and Art, while boys tended to choose Maths and Sciences. The NC makes both girls and boys study the same subjects thus establishing gender equality.
Explain positive role models in school
In recent years there has been an increase in female teachers and head teachers. These women in positions of authority can act as positive female role models to girls.
Explain the introduction of compulsory subjects at GCSE and examination through coursework
In 1988 the NC introduced testing through coursework. Since then girls’ out performance over boys has sharply risen. Some argue that this is due to the fact that girls are better organised and tend to spend more time and greater care over their work. This in turn is the result of gender socialisation.
Explain teacher attention and classroom interaction
Teachers respond more positively to girls than to boys giving them more praise. This may lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy thus increasing the girls’ self-esteem.
Explain challenging stereotypes in the curriculum
Research in the 1970s and 1980s found that textbooks portrayed men and women in traditional, stereotypical roles. Since then these sexist images have been removed from textbooks and teachers tend to challenge prejudice. This presents girls with positive images of women can do.
Explain selection and league tables
Marketisation of education has increased competition between schools. Girls are seen as more desirable candidates as their exams results are better so they tend to be offered places at high performing schools.
What are the criticisms of internal factors
Equal opportunities policies – despite GIST girls are still choosing more ‘feminine’ subject such as Social Sciences. Challenging stereotypes in the curriculum – Feminists would say education is still patriarchal, e.g. History lessons focus on men. GCSE and coursework – CW has been replaced with controlled assessment which can’t be re-drafted, but girls are still doing better. Positive role models – most senior teachers such as Head Teachers are male so boys do have positive male role models. Teacher attention and interaction – Stanworth – research shows both male and female teachers pay more attention to boys. Selection policies – this only benefits middle class girls as working class girls get rejected by good schools.
What are the criticisms for the external factors?
Impact of Feminism –
not affected all girls, e.g. e/m still more likely to be traditional.
Changes in the family –
New Right would say that lone mothers are negative role models as they are dependent on benefits.
Increase in women’s employment opportunities -
quaternary sector prefers to employ men (google’s employees are 70% male) so there are jobs out there for boys.
Girls’ changing ambitions –
not affected all girls, e.g. e/m still more likely to be traditional and want to get married.
