Gender Differences In Education

Question 1

Statistics proving gender differences at several stages in education

Answer 1

KS1 - 3 = girls do better especially on English where the gap is wide. In science + maths the gap is much narrower but girls still do better

GCSE = gender gap is around 10 percentage points

A level = girls are more likely to get higher grades but narrower than GCSE

Vocational courses = more girls get distinctions

Question 2

4 external factors

Answer 2

Impact of feminism

Changes in the family

Changes in women’s employment

Girls changing ambitions

Question 3

1) Impact of feminism

Answer 3

Feminism = social movement that strives for equal rights in all areas of life
Feminists argue we haven’t fully achieved equality but getting there through laws
Feminism has raised women’s expectations and self esteem

Question 4

Impact of feminism pt. 2

Answer 4

Can see changes in media images and messages

McRobbies study of girl magazines
In 1970s they emphasised the importance of getting married
But now they show independent women

Changes encouraged by feminism might affect their ambitions and self image making them improve in education

Question 5

2) Changes in the family

Answer 5

Since 1970s there’s been

An increase in divorce rate

Increase in cohabitation and decrease in number of first marriages

Increase in number of lone parent families

Have smaller families

Question 6

Changes in the family pt. 2

Answer 6

These change girls attitudes like having a lone parent mother gives a good role model

To achieve well paid jobs need good qualifications

High divorce rate shows shouldn’t rely on husbands so they might want their own qualifications to make a living

Question 7

3) changes in women’s employment

Answer 7

1970 Equal Pay Act
Since 1975 the pay gap halved from 30% - 15%

1975 Discrimination Act

In 42 years the proportion of women in employment has risen by 14%. The growth of flexible part time work gives them more opportunities

Some women are breaking through and going into high level professional and managerial jobs

Girls now see their future as paid work instead of housewife
Better career opportunities for them
More female role models giving incentive to get qualifications

Question 8

4) Girls’ changing ambitions

Answer 8

Sharpe’s interviews with girls shows a change in the way girls see their future

In 1974 they had low aspirations and wanted to seek attractive to marriage. Wanted kids, jobs and viewed careers as the bottom

In 1990s girls had a career as a priority rather than depending on husbands income

Question 9

Girls changing ambitions pt. 2

Answer 9

Beck links these changes to the trend of individualism where independence is valued more now

To get that independence need a good education

In Fuller’s study girls thought education success was a part of their identity

They thought they created their own future and believed in meritocracy

High aspirations need educational qualifications

Question 10

Class differences in girls ambitions

Answer 10

Working class girls still have stereotypical aspirations and think they’re going to go into low paid work

Reay is junk this reflects the reality of their position. They have limited aspirations because of limited job opportunities available to them

But a couple identity is doable and offers status

E.g in Fuller’s study most w/c girls didn’t express an interest in staying on in school

Question 11

6 internal factors

Answer 11

Equal opportunities policies 
Positive role models in schools
GCSE and coursework 
Teacher attention 
Challenging stereotypes in the curriculum
Selection and league tables

Question 12

1) Equal opportunities policy

Answer 12

Policymakers are aware of gender issues so more sensitive

The idea of same opportunities is mainstream thinking which influences educational policies

Question 13

Equal opportunities policy pt. 2

Answer 13

GIST
WISE (women in science and engineering)
Female scientists have visited schools

Intro of national curriculum makes girls and boys study same subjects unlike the past

Boaler thinks this is the main reason in change of achievement
Many barriers have been removed and it’s more meritocratic so girls who work harder achieve more

Question 14

2) positive role models in school

Answer 14

Increase in female teachers and heads They’re in senior positions so act as role models and giving them non traditional goals

They’re more influential because to get there they have to have a successful education themselves

Question 15

3) GCSE and coursework

Answer 15

Sociologists say changes in assessment methods favours girls and disadvantages boys

Gorard found the gender gap was constant from 1975-1989 but increased the year coursework was introduced

Mitsos and Browne support this view and say girls do better because they’re more organised, take care in the way it’s presented and meet deadlines

Question 16

GCSE + coursework pt. 2

Answer 16

More use of oral exams benefit girls because they have better language skills

Early socialisation helps girls get the skills like being tidy and patient

Elwood argues that coursework has some influence but exams have more influence on final grades

Question 17

4) Teacher attention

Answer 17

Teachers interact differently with boys and girls

French found boys got more attention but francis says they’re also disciplined more and teachers have lower expectations

Swann found boys dominate class discussions but girls like pair and group work 
So teachers respond better and girls they’re cooperative but boys are disruptive 
This leads to self fulfilling prophecy and promotes girls self esteem and raises their achievement levels

Question 18

5) Challenging stereotypes in the curriculum

Answer 18

Removing stereotypes from textbooks and learning materials have removed the barrier to girls achievement
Research into 1970s - 80s found that women were portrayed as housewife’s and mothers,
physics books showed them as scared of science
Maths showed boys as inventive

Weiner argues since 1980s teachers have challenged those stereotypes

Sexist images have also been removed
This shows a positive image of what women can do

Question 19

6) Selection and league tables

Answer 19

Marketisation has created competitive environment where girls are more desirable because they get better results

Jackson argues this has improved opportunities for high achieving girls because they’re seen as more attractive compared to low achieving boys
Creates self fulfilling prophecy

Slee argues boys are seen less attractive because they’re more likely to have behavioural problems and 4 times more likely to be excluded

Boys are seen as liability students, obstacles to improving league table scores. They give schools a rough image deterring high achieving from applying

Question 20

Two views of girls achievements

Answer 20

Liberal feminists celebrate the progress made. More progress will be made through Equal opportunities policies and overcoming stereotypes
Similar to functionalist view and meritocracy

Radical feminists are more critical. System is still patriarchal E. Sexual harassment
Even though there are more female heads males are still more likely to become heads

Question 21

Identity, class and girls achievement

Answer 21

Whilst girls achieve more on average some girls are still unsuccessful like social class differences

Only 40.6% of girls eligible for FSM achieved 5 GCSEs A-c whilst 67.5% of those that don’t get FSM did

Question 22

Symbolic capital

Answer 22

= the status and recognition we’re able to get from others
Archer argues one thing that causes conflict is w/c girls feminine identities and the values and ethos of the school conflicting

W/c got their symbolic capital from peers meaning they had to go against school rules which prevented them from getting qualifications

Included:
Hyper heterosexual feminine identities 
Boyfriends
Being loud
Working class dilemmas

Question 23

Hyper heterosexual feminine identities

Answer 23

Lots of girls tried to look glamorous E.g one girl spend £40 she earned a week from babysitting on her appearance

If they dressed up nice they avoided by called a tramp by female peer group for wearing wrong brands

Put they were punished by school for wearing too much makeup wearing wrong clothing
Teachers thought this prevented them from engaging with education

So other girls thought they were incapable of educational success and didn’t respect them. Symbolic violence = defining their culture as worthless

Archer says the ideal female pupil excludes many w/c girls

Question 24

Boyfriends

Answer 24

For symbolic capital
But got in the way of school work
Lowered their aspirations
They lost interest in uni and studying masculine subjects
They aspire to have feminine jobs and settle down

Some girls even get pregnant and have to drop out

Question 25

Being loud

Answer 25

They adopted loud outspoken assertive identities like questioning teachers authority

Teachers though behaviour was more aggressive and bought them into conflict with ideal female pupil

Question 26

Working class dilemma

Answer 26

They could either gain symbolic capital by conforming to hyper heterosexual feminine identity

Or gain educational capital by rejecting it and confirming to ideal female pupil

Archer says this is a major cause of their underachievement

Question 27

Successful working class girls

Answer 27

Some do succeed and go onto higher education

But evans found that some girls just went to uni to help their family and so stayed at home through economic necessity
This limits choice of uni and excludes them from elite unis which limits their success

Question 28

Boys and achievement

Answer 28

Boys are falling behind as we can see in gender gap

Included external and internal factors

Question 29

Boys and literacy

Answer 29

DCSF found they hanger poor literacy and language skills
A reason is parents spend less time reading to their sons and because mostly mothers read to children it’s seen as a feminine activity

Their activities like football don’t help communication skills but girls grabbed bedroom culture socialising with friends

To combat this govt has introduced policies to improve boys skills

Question 30

Globalisation and decline of traditional male jobs

Answer 30

Decline in manual labour like mining
Lack of jobs in engineering, shipbuilding has led to men having an identity crisis
So they give up getting qualifications because their motivation is low

But manual work only requires a little qualification so these jobs disappearing wouldn’t have much impact on their motivation to get qualifications

Question 31

Feminisation of education

Answer 31

Sewell says boys fall behind because education is feminised
So schools don’t nurture masculine traits like leadership
But celebrate feminine qualities like attentiveness in class

Sewell also says coursework causes differences in achievement and should be replaced with final exams
And should have greater emphasis on outdoor adventure in the curriculum

Question 32

Shortage of male primary school teachers

Answer 32

Lack of male role models at school and home