gender differences in achievement - internal & external factors Flashcards
How does feminism impact achievement? (external)
- Social movement, strives for equal rights
- Challenges traditional stereotypes of a women’s role in society
- McRobbie - study into girls magazines, noting in the 70s, they emphasized marriage whereas now they contain images of strong, assertive women
- These changes encouraged by feminism affect girls ambitions regarding family and careers, this explains improvements in their educational attainment
How do changes in the family impact achievement? (external)
- Since the 1970s, increase in divorce rates, increase in cohabitation - unwise to rely on a husband to be a provider
- More lone parent families, mother has a breadwinner role, positive role model of financially independent women
- Smaller families, less need to stay at home
How do changes in women’s employment impact achievement? (external)
- 1970 equal pay act - must pay men and women the same amount for the same job
- 1975 sex discrimination act - outlawed discrimination at work
- Since 1975, pay difference between men and women halved from 30% to 15%
- 1971: 53% of women worked, 2013: 67% more flexible part time working hours available means more opportunities for women
How have girls’ changing ambitions impacted achievement?
- Shape’s interviews with girls in the 1970s and 1990s show a major shift in the way girls see their future
- 1974; girls had low aspirations, believed educational success was unfeminine - main priorities were love and marriage
- 1990s; girls ambitions had changed, careers were now their top priority, wanted to support themselves, saw their future as an independent women, not dependent on a husband
How have equal opportunities policies impacted girls achievement? (internal)
- Policymakers are now much more aware of gender issues and teachers are more sensitive to the need to avoid stereotyping
- Policies such as GIST (Girls into science and tech) and WISE (women into science and engineering) encourage girls to pursue careers in these non traditional areas
- Boaler = sees the impact of equal opportunities policies as a key reason for changes in girl’s achievement - many barriers have been removed, girls have greater opportunities
How have GCSE’s and coursework impacted girls achievement?
Gorard - the gender gap in achievement was fairly constant from 1975 until 1989 when it increased sharply (the year GCSE’s were introduced)
Who criticises Mitsos and Browne?
Elwood
Argues that although coursework has some influence, it is unlikely to be the only cause of the gender gap because exams have much more influence than coursework, on final grades
How do Mitsos and Browne support Gorard’s findings?
They concluded that girls are more successful in coursework because they are more conscientious and better organised than boys.
Girls;
- spend more time on their work
- are better at meeting deadlines
-bring the right equipment and materials to lesson
Why do boys have negative classroom interactions?
French — Analysed classroom interactions and they found that boys receive more attention because they attracted more reprimands
Francis — while boys got more attention, they were also disciplined more harshly and felt picked on by their teachers who had low expectations of them
How has challenging the curriculum impacted girls achievement?
The removal of gender stereotypes from textbooks and other learning materials has removed the barrier to girls achievement
Weiner - argues that since the 1980’s, teachers have challenged such stereotypes and in general, sexist images have been removed - helped to raise girls achievement by presenting more positive images of what girls can do
Who found gender differences in communication styles in the classroom?
Swann
Found gender differences in communication styles
Boys dominate in whole class discussion whereas girls prefer pair-work and group discussions and are better at listening and cooperating, when working in groups, girls speech involves turn taking and not the hostile interruptions which characterise boys speech
hence teachers respond more positively to girls, whom they see as cooperative, leads to a self fulfilling prophecy where successful interactions with teachers boosts girls self esteem and raises their achievement levels
How are league tables an explanation for gender differences in educational achievement?
Slee
Boys are less attractive to schools because they are more likely to suffer from behavioural difficulties and are 4x likely to be excluded
(4,677 pupils excluded were male - department for education 2023)
Jackson — introduction of exam league tables have improved opportunities for girls, high achieving girls are attractive to schools whereas low achieving boys are not — self fulfilling prophecy as girls tend to b recruited by good schools and get better grades
What stat supports the fact that girls are performing better in school compared to boys?
The education committee found that in 2022/23 24.9% of girls achieved a grade 7 or A compared with 19.1% of boys
How does girls’ socialisation cause them to achieve better grades?
Edwards and David
Gender differentiated socialisation gives girls an initial advantage in both primary and secondary school
Girls have better language skills then boys because mothers talk to them more then baby boys
Girls are taught to conform more to formal standards of behaviour than boys which familiarises them with that is expected in the classroom for example, they are taught to sit still, b e quiet and to listen
By the one girls get to secondary school they are motivated enough to work independently
Who supports Edwards and Davids findings?
Burns and Bracey
Secondary school girls generally work harder and are more motivated than boys, girls put more effort into their work and are better organised and meet deadlines more successfully compared to boys
