gender and education

Question 1

trends of gender and education

intro

Answer 1

In the 1970’s boys outperformed girls in all national tests, except for the 11+ exam

Since then girls began to attain better than boys, even in subjects traditionally seen as masculine, such as Maths and Science

This relationship between gender and attainment in education can be explained by looking at inside and outside factors.

Question 2

what are the reasons for gender differences in attainment?

Answer 2

internal
- factors within the education system - teachers attitudes/labelling, sub-cultures, feminisation of education

external
- factors outside of education - impact of feminism, family background, job market and wider society, differential socialisation

Question 3

mcrobbie

impact of feminism - external

Answer 3

• analysed girls magazines in 1960’s compared to now
• in 1960’s importance placed on getting married
• nowadays Women are shown as assertive, ambitious and independent
• meaning girls are motivated to do well with different role models

Question 4

mcrobbie

bedroom culture - external

Answer 4

bedroom culture - this term refers to girls spending more time in the bedroom revising whilst boys are out on the streets after school.

Question 5

sue sharpe

external factor - gender

Answer 5

interviewed girls in the 1970s and 1990s to show a major shift in how they see their future.

• in the 1970’s girls had low aspirations believing that educational success was unfeminine and that appearing ambitious would be unattractive, wanted to get married
• however in the 1990s girls had a placed importance on a career and being able to support themselves.

Question 6

francis

external

Answer 6

• found ‘differential socialisation’, girls are socialised to be more passive/toys are related to different subjects
• said: ‘the very clear message seems to be that boys should be making things, using their hands and solving problems, and girls should be caring and nurturing’

Question 7

kelly

external

Answer 7

• Agrees with Francis on the differences in the toys given to boys and girls
• Whilst boys are given active construction toys and chemistry sets, girls are given passive caring toys such as dolls and cookery sets.
• Consequently, girls do not develop the kind of scientific aspirations and attitudes that males do

Question 8

changes in the family

external factor - gender

Answer 8

• Changes in the family such as an increase in the divorce rate, cohabitation and lone parent families have all affective girls’ and boys’ attitudes towards education.
• For example, increasing numbers of female-headed lone-parent families may mean more women need to take on a breadwinner role. This in turn creates a new adult role model for girls, the financially independent woman.
• furthermore this may explain underachievement in boys through lack of a male role model in the family unit to aspire to.

Question 9

social policy

external factor

Answer 9

The 1970 Equal Pay Act makes it illegal to pay women less than men for work of equal value

1975 Sex Discrimination Act outlaws discrimination at work.

These changes have encouraged women to see their future in terms of paid work rather than as housewives. Greater career opportunities and better pay for women provide an incentive for girls to gain qualifications

Girls now recognise that they can be financially independent and do not need the support of a male individual

Question 10

social policy - GIST and WISE

Answer 10

Policies to encourage female students to opt for science and technology, such as GIST and WISE have given girls the opportunities to follow the more traditional ‘male’ subjects, and as a result, more girls are following science, technology and mathematics.

Question 11

new right

external factors - gender

Answer 11

• Blame single parents for boys underachievement in school.
• They identify the lack of male role models and a culture of dependency on welfare benefits as some of the reasons for white working class boys poor achievement.
• Boys look up to sports stars who have achieved without working hard at school - so adopt a lazy attitude to school

Question 12

pirie

external factors - gender

Answer 12

Has argued that the old o-levels were a boys exam

By contrast the coursework in GCSEs requires organisational skills and sustained motivation which girls are better suited for

Question 13

who discusses internal factors for gender differences in attainment?

Answer 13

• mitsos and browne
• mac and ghaill
• willis
• impact of the lack of male teachers
• epstein
• sewell
• swann and graddol

Question 14

mitsos and browne

teacher attitudes

Answer 14

Teachers may be less strict with boys, tolerating a lower standard of work and the missing of deadlines

Boys are more likely to disrupt classes, be sent out of classes and be expelled

The culture of masculinity encourages boys to want to appear macho and tough - hard work in school (swots) do not fit with this image, likely to form Anti-School Subcultures.

Question 15

mitsos and browne

coursework

Answer 15

Girls succeed in coursework as they spend more time on it, meet deadlines better, and are more organised than boys.

They argue these factors mean girls have benefitted from courswork, as well as the introduction of AS, A-Level and GCSE - they therefore achieve better than boys

Supported by Gorrard (2005) - coursework increased gender gap

Question 16

gorard

Answer 16

• found that the gender gap widened in 1989
• this was the year in which GCSE was introduced, bringing with it coursework as a major part of nearly all subjects.
• he concludes that the gender gap in achievement is a product of the changed system of assessment rather than of failing of boys.

support mitsos and browne

Question 17

mac an ghaill

Answer 17

• Argued that there has been a crisis of masculinity, because of the decline in traditional manual jobs
• This has led to an identity crisis, and made it easier for some males to question the need for qualifications when the jobs they would have traditionally gone into no longer exist
• Middle class boys work hard but try to hide it as not seen as cool

supported by bbc panorama

Question 18

bbc panorama to support mac an ghaill

Answer 18

A BBC Panorama documentary screened in autumn 1995, made it clear in its suggestion that young men were now ‘losing out’ to young women, who were ‘fighting back’ against young men in the employment sphere (Panorama 1995).

Question 19

willis

‘learning to labour’

Answer 19

Studied 12 working class, undisciplined school boys and found that they had formed an anti-school subculture

Within this subculture, it was cool to mess about and to fail, they rejected authority and just turned up to have a ‘laff’.

From the perspective of this subculture, children who were viewed positively were ‘ear’oles’

subculture

Question 20

swann and graddol

Answer 20

• Teachers tend to see boys as unruly and disruptive. They spend time telling them off rather than helping them with schoolwork.
• Teachers have lower expectations of boys.
• Because of their disruptive behaviour they are more likely to be excluded. Four out of five permanent exclusions are boys.

jackson - this may be changing - ladettes

Question 21

sewell

gender

Answer 21

• Sewell claims that boys fall behind because education has become feminised
• This is when schools do not nurture masculine traits such as competitiveness and leadership.
• Instead they celebrate qualities associated with girls such as methodical working and attentiveness in class.
• As a result boys feel under valued in the education system and therefore underachieve.

feminisation of education

Question 22

epstein

Answer 22

• Argues that the growth of laddish subcultures has contributed to boys’ underachievement.
• She examined the way masculinity is constructed within a school and found that working-class boys are likely to be harassed, labelled as ‘sissies’ and subject to homophobic verbal abuse if they appear to be swots.
• This is because in WC cultures, masculinity is equated with being tough and doing manual work. Non-manual work and by extension school work is seen as effeminate and inferior. As a result, working class boys tend to reject school work to avoid being called ‘gay’

subculture

Question 23

how many primary school teachers are male?

Answer 23

1 in 6 Primary School Teachers are Male

Lack of male roles models at home and school causes underachievement of boys.

feminisation of education

Question 24

AO3 for Gender and Eduaction

Answer 24

Stanworth would disagree that teachers hold higher expectations of girls as Swann and Graddol suggest, as she noted that there were still higher expectations of boys and teachers would be more likely to recommend boys to apply for higher education than girls at the same academic level.