Gender Differences in Education

Question 1

What do official statistics show about gender differences in education? [3]

Answer 1

• girls have consistently achieved higher than boys
• results shot up during 2020 covid, the gap is starting to close recently
• grades have increased throughout the years

Question 2

What are the strengths in using official statistics to research the gender gap in educational achievement? [2]

Answer 2

• easy to analyse trends and patterns
• highly reliable: same grading used each year

Question 3

What are the limitations in using official statistics to research the gender gap in educational achievement? [2]

Answer 3

• data lacks validity and does not tell us why girls do better
• only focuses on certain subjects which makes us question if it’s a true measure of ability

Question 4

How does the impact of feminism (external factor) cause gender differences in achievement?

Answer 4

• second wave feminism (women’s liberation movement)
• equal pay act 1970: equal pay for both genders, nobody is superior in the job on the same role
• sex discrimination act 1975: protect against that glass ceiling or harassment

Question 5

How do changes in the family (external factor) affect girls attitudes towards education? [4]

Answer 5

• divorce has lead to single parent families
• increase in number of female bread winners
• less children / smaller family sizes
• free contraception access

Question 6

How do changes in the family affect girls’s attitudes towards education? [2]

Answer 6

• work harder to provide for children
• girls will work harder for a career / higher aspirations

Question 7

How do changes in women’s employment (external factor) affect women’s employment?

Answer 7

• since the introduction of the sex discrimination act in 1975 the pay gap between men and women has dropped from 30% to 17%
• these changes have encouraged girls to see their role in terms of paid work rather than as housewives
• greater career opportunities and better pay for women as well as increasing number of role models of successful career women provide an incentive for girls to gain qualifications

Question 8

What limitation do feminists say about the changes in women’s employment?

Answer 8

• radical feminists would argue this view as being too positive

Question 9

What did Sue Sharpe’s research prove about girls changing ambitions? (external factor)

Answer 9

• sharpe compared results of unstructured interviews
• she conducted the research with girls in 1970 and 1990
• in 1974, girls had low aspirations and associated educational success with behind unfeminine
• priorities were love, marriage, kids etc
• in 1990, girls prioritised careers and jobs to support themselves
• sharpe found girls were more likely to see future as independent with a career

Question 10

What do sociologists say about girls changing ambitions? (external factor)

Answer 10

• some WC girls continue to have gender stereotypes aspirations for marriage and children, expecting to go into traditional low paid women’s work

Question 11

What does Diane Reay say about girls changing ambitions? (external factor)

Answer 11

• reay argues that the limited aspirations amongst WC girls are reflective of their perception of the limited job opportunities available to them

Question 12

What are the limitations of Shapre’s research? [2]

Answer 12

• hard to compare the girls response because they could answer differently, they may have rambled or gone off topic
• hard to analyse the data: Sharpe will have had to interpret the girls’s point of view which may be interpreted inaccurately

Question 13

What are the strengths of Sharpe’s research? [1]

Answer 13

• it is not a structured interview with set questions meaning the girls didn’t have to lie about answers

Question 14

How do equal opportunities (internal factor) impact gender differences in achievement?

Answer 14

• feminist ideas have had a major impact on the education system
• policy makers are now much more aware if gender issues and teachers are more sensitive to the need to avoid stereotyping
• the belief that boys and girls are entitled to the same opportunities is now part of mainstream thinking and it influences the educational policies

Question 15

How has the education reform act 1988 impacted education today?

Answer 15

• the education reform act has embodied the idea of equality of opportunities by making girls and boys study the same subjects and making science a compulsory subject

Question 16

What is ‘wise’ and how does it promote equal opportunities between boys and girls?

Answer 16

• women in science and engineering
• science is a male dominated subject so encourages women to peruse in these subjects

Question 17

What is ‘gist’ and how does it promote equal opportunities between boys and girls?

Answer 17

• girls into science and technology
• male dominated: only 34% women

Question 18

How do positive female role models (internal factor) impact gender differences in achievement?

Answer 18

• female role models in school nah also have had an impact as there are now increasing numbers of female teachers and heads
• it could also be argued that primary schools in particular have become ‘feminised’ as they have predominantly female staff
• female teachers may act as role models for girls, showing then that women can achieve positions of importance through lengthy education

Question 19

What is a strength of positive female role models? [1]

Answer 19

• statistics support this idea that the majority of staff in primary schools are women, giving young girls positive role models

Question 20

How may ‘feminisation’ of primary schools affect boys’s achievement?

Answer 20

• boys have no male role models to look up too

Question 21

What did Gorard find out GCSE and coursework (internal factor) causing gender differences in achievement?

Answer 21

• Gorard found that the gender gap in achievement was fairy consistent until the year that GCSE and coursework was introduced
• therefore, according to Gorard, the gender gap in achievement is a ‘product of the changed system of assessment rather than any more general failing of boys’

Question 22

What did Mitos and Brown say in response to Gorard and GCSE and coursework?

Answer 22

• Mitos and Brown also supported this view and claim that the introduction of coursework benefitted girls

Question 23

Why do girls perform better in coursework subjects according to Mitos and Brown? [5]

Answer 23

• spend more time doing work
• take more care with how it is presented
• are better at meeting deadlines
• bring the right equipment and materials to lessons
• girls mature earlier than boys and have a longer attention span

Question 24

What do sociologists argue about girls’s characteristics and skills benefiting them for GCSE and coursework?

Answer 24

• sociologists argue that girls’s characteristics and skills are the result of early gender role socialisation in the family
• for example girls are more likely to be encouraged to be neat, tidy and patient
• these qualities become a advantage in todays assessment system, thus helping girls achieve greater education success than boys

Question 25

What is a strength of GCSE and coursework benefitting girls? [1]

Answer 25

• statistics do show that girls perform better in coursework based on subjects and may opt to take coursework based subjects as an option

Question 26

What are the limitations of GCSE and coursework benefitting girls? [2]

Answer 26

• outdated
• Elwood argues although coursework has some influence, it is unlikely to be the only cause of gender gap as exams have more influence than coursework in the final grade

Question 27

What does research show about teacher attention (internal factor) impacting gender differences in achievement?

Answer 27

• research evidence shows that teachers interact with boys and girls differently

Question 28

What did Francis say about teacher attention (internal factor) between boys and girls?

Answer 28

• boys are disciplined more harshly and felt picked on by teachers who had lower expectations from them

Question 29

What did Swann say about teacher attention (internal factor) between boys and girls?

Answer 29

• observed differences in communication styles: boys dominate whole class discussions and often interrupt whereas girls prefer to do group work and display better listening skills and turn taking

Question 30

What does Francis and Swann’s findings say about teacher attention differences between boys and girls?

Answer 30

• may explain why teachers respond more positively to girls who they see as cooperative and see boys as potentially disruptive

Question 31

What may teacher attention (internal factor) lead to?

Answer 31

• self fulfilling prophecy in which successful interaction with teachers promote girls’s self esteem and raise their achievement levels whereas the opposite is likely to happen with boys

Question 32

What is a strength of teacher attention impacting gender differences in achievement? [1]

Answer 32

• levelling theorists would support this idea because if teachers have negative expectations of boys then they will live up to it (self fulfilling prophecy)

Question 33

What is a limitation of teacher attention impacting gender differences in achievement? [1]

Answer 33

• ignores free will

Question 34

How does challenging stereotypes in the curriculum affect gender differences in achievement? (internal factor)

Answer 34

• some sociologists argue that the removal of gender stereotypes from textbooks, reading schemas and other learning materials in recent years has removed a barrier to girls’ achievement (eg physics showed girls frightened by science and maths books depicted boys as more inventive)

Question 35

What does Weiner argue has happened since the 1980’s that affects gender differences in achievement?

Answer 35

• teachers = challenged stereotypes and sexiest images in science and maths books that have now been removed to use more positive images of women in learning rather than the stereotypes of women staying home and being housewives and mothers

Question 36

How have marketisation, selection and league tables affected gender differences in education? (internal factor)

Answer 36

• marketisation policies have created a more competitive climate in which schools see girls as desirable recruits as they achieve better exam results

Question 37

What did Jackson argue about marketisation policies affection gender differences in achievement? (internal factor)

Answer 37

• argues that girls being seen as desirable recruits due to better exam results has increased opportunities for girls as achieving girls are more likely to be attractive to schools, whereas low achieving boys are not
• this tends to create a self fulfilling prophecy as girls are more likely to be recruited by good schools so more likely to do well

Question 38

Why are boys less attracted to schools according to Slee?

Answer 38

• boys are less attracted to schools = more likely to suffer from behavioural difficulties (4x more likely to be excluded)

Question 39

What do liberal feminists say about the changes in girls’ achievement?

Answer 39

• see this as a positive sign
• shows that the method of change through legislation goes work

Question 40

What do radical feminists say about the changes in girls’ achievement?

Answer 40

• critical of the patriarchal education system which still remains largely men’s domain due to:
  sexual harassment of girls still exists in schools

choice of subjects and career options is still limited for girls

senior positions occupied by makes

Question 41

What did Archer say about ‘symbolic capital’ in identity, class and girls’s achievement affecting gender differences in achievement?

Answer 41

• symbolic capital is status, recognition and sense of worth we obtain from others
• found that WC females gained symbolic capital from peers (eg boyfriends, being loud etc)
• all of this conflicts with school and preventing achievement

Question 42

What did Archer say about ‘hyper-heterosexuality feminine identities’ in identity, class and girls’s achievement affecting gender differences in achievement?

Answer 42

• girls spent considerable time and effort constructing ‘desirable’ identities (£40 on appearance per week)

Question 43

What did Archer say about ‘boyfriends’ in identity, class and girls’s achievement affecting gender differences in achievement?

Answer 43

• bring symbolic capital but girls lost interest in studying ‘masculine’ subjects and gaining professional career
• instead, settle down and gain working class jobs such as child care

Question 44

What did Archer say about ‘being loud’ in identity, class and girls’s achievement affecting gender differences in achievement?

Answer 44

• girls adopted loud feminine identities that lead them to be outspoken, independent and assertive which teacher interpret as aggressive
• loud = far from ideal female pupil

Question 45

What did Archer say about ‘WC girls’ dilemma’ in identity, class and girls’s achievement affecting gender differences in achievement?

Answer 45

• can either gain symbolic capital through hyper heterosexual female identities or gain educational capital (these 2 are mutually exclusive)
• girls would overcome this as labelling themselves as good underneath to attempt to maintain self worth

Question 46

What did Archer say about ‘successful WC girls’ in identity, class and girls’s achievement affecting gender differences in achievement?

Answer 46

• some succeed and go on to higher education, however some may be disadvantaged by their gender and class identities
• evans found that girls wanted to go to university to increase earning power, not for themselves but to help their families

Question 47

What factors within boys and literacy affects boys and achievement? (external factor)

Answer 47

• parents spend less time reading to their sons as they are more passionate for sport and outdoor activities (eg football), mums tend to read to kids so this activity may be viewed as feminine

Question 48

What differences do we see in boy’s socialisation compared to girls within literacy? (external factor) and why does this lead boys to underachieve in school?

Answer 48

• boys leisure activities (eg football) do little help to develop their knowledge and communication skills, whereas girls have a ‘bedroom culture’ which is centred on staying in and talking with friends, or writing in their diaries which benefits their academic development
• boys have smaller vocabulary and have to learn in school whereas girls are more likely to be able to read and write before school

Question 49

What are the strengths of the factor of boys and literacy? [1]

Answer 49

• McRobbie supports this argument stating that girls are socialised into a bedroom culture

Question 50

What are the limitations of the factor of boys and literacy? [1]

Answer 50

• cannot be generalised to all boys

Question 51

How does globalisation and the decline of traditional men’s jobs affect gender differences in education according to Mitos and Brown? (external factor)

Answer 51

• claim the decline in male employment opportunities has led to an ‘identity crisis for men’
• many boys now believe that there is little prospect of them getting a proper job and this undermines their motivation and self esteem so they give up trying to gain qualifications

Question 52

What are the strengths of globalisation and a decline of male jobs? [1]

Answer 52

• a rise in globalisation has meant that predication has shifted to other countries and caused deindustrialisation in british society

Question 53

What are the limitations of globalisation and a decline of male jobs? [1]

Answer 53

• decline in manufacturing industry has mainly affected WC jobs that require few to no qualifications
• some sociologists argue it is unlikely to affect motivation to achieve

Question 54

How does feminisation of education (internal factor) affect boys’ underachievement according to Sewell?

Answer 54

• according to sewell boys fall behind because education has become feminised
• school do not nurture masculine traits such as competitive and leadership and celebrate qualities more closely associated with girls, such a methodical working and attentiveness in class instead

Question 55

What does Sewell argue coursework affect boys’s underachievement? (internal factor)

Answer 55

• sewell sees coursework as a major cause of gender differences in achievement and suggests that some coursework should be replaced with final exams and a greater emphasis placed on outdoor adventure in the curriculum

Question 56

What is a limitation of Sewell’s argument about the feminisation of education affecting boys’ underachievement?

Answer 56

• sewell ignored the fact that schools foster competition and leadership through prefects, sports days and exams

Question 57

How does shortage of male primary school teachers affect boys’ underachievement? (internal factor)

Answer 57

• the lack of male role models both at home and at school could also be the reasons for boys’ underachievement
• at home, large numbers of boys are brought up by female headed lone parent families

Question 58

What did Yougov say about the percentages of male primary teachers?

Answer 58

• 14% of primary school teachers are male
• 39% of 8-11 year old boys have no lessons with a male teacher whatsoever

Question 59

What do sociologists say about the lack of male primary school teachers affect boys’ achievement?

Answer 59

• some sociologists argue that the culture of primary schools has become feminised as a result of the majority of staff being female teachers who are unable to control boys’ behaviour
• make teachers are better able to impose strict discipline boys needs in order to concentrate, which suggests that in order to address boys’ underachievement in education, school need to employ more male teachers

Question 60

How did Francis criticise Sewells views on the feminisation of education affecting boys’ underachievement?

Answer 60

• francis found thag 2.3 of 7-8 year olds believed teachers gender doesn’t matter

Question 61

Whag are the two types of language / discourse used by teachers according to Read? (internal factor)

Answer 61

• liberal discourse: teachers authority is implicit and invisible (eg using pseudo, adultification)
• disciplinary discourse: teachers authority is explicit and visible (eg shouting)

Question 62

How do laddish subcultures affect boys’ underachievement according to Epstein?

Answer 62

• some sociologists have argued that the growth of kaddish subcultures had contributed to boys underachieving in schools
• epstein examined the way in which masculinity is constructed within school and found that WC boys are more likely to be harassed, labelled as sissies and subjected to homophobic verbal abuse if they appeared to be ‘swots’
• she states that in schools, WC boys are concerned with three priorities (fighting, fucking and football)

Question 63

What did Epstein say about boys taking schoolwork seriously affect their achievement within laddish subcultures? (internal factor)

Answer 63

• epstein argues that when boys did take schoolwork seriously they would be referred to as gay and would get bullied
• she argues that the main demand on boys in their peer group is to appear to do little or no work, to be heavily competitive at sports and be dangerous to know

Question 64

What did Francis say about laddish subcultures affecting boys’ underachievement? (internal factor)

Answer 64

• francis found that boys were more concerned than girls about being labelled a swot because this label is more of a threat to their masculinity than it is to a girls’ femininity
• this is because in WC culture, masculinity is equated with being tough and doing manual work whereas schoolwork is seen as inferior and effeminate
• as a result, WC boys tend to reject schoolwork to avoid being called gay and to avoid being bullied

Question 65

How does the moral panic about boys affect boys’ underachievement according to feminist Ringrose? (internal factor)

Answer 65

• critics of feminists argue that the policies to promote girls’ education are no longer needed as they believe that girls have succeed at the expense of boys who are now the new disadvantaged
• ringrose argues these views have contributed to moral panic about failing bots which reflect a fear that underachieving WC boys will grow up to become dangerous, unemployable underclass that threatens social stability
• as a result, this moral panic has caused a major shift in educational policy

Question 66

According to Ringrose what are the two negative effects of the moral panic about boys? (internal factor)

Answer 66

• narrowing equal opportunities policy only to failing bots and ignoring disadvantaged WC and ethnic minority pupils
• narrowing gender policy to the issue of achievement gaps and ignoring other problems girls face as school such as sexual harassment, bullying and self esteem

Question 67

How does gendered subject images affect gender differences in achievement involving Kelly and Colley?

Answer 67

• kelly said science is seen as a boys subject because:
• science teachers are more likely to be male (eg examples used by teachers and textbooks often draw on boys rather than girls interest)
• Colley said computer science is seen as a boys subject because:
• boys act as though apparatus is ‘theirs’ during class experiments
• computer science is a male subject as it involves machines (part of the male gender domain)
• teaching styler is formal with little opportunity for group work
  (which girls prefer)

Question 68

How does gender, vocational choices and class affect gender differences in achievement involving Fuller?

Answer 68

• WC pupils in particular may make decisions that are based on a traditional sense of gender identity
• fuller said the majority of the girls in her study had ambitions to go into jobs such as childcare or health and beauty which reflects working class habitus
• fuller argued this was connected to school work experience placements and argues that schools implicitly steer girls towards certain types of jobs

Question 69

How does gender identity and peer pressure affect gender differences in achievement involving Paetcher and Dewar?

Answer 69

• paetcher says sport is masculine, girls who are sporty contradict the traditional female stereotype
• dewar says male students call girls ‘lesbian’ or ‘butch’ if they participated in sports, some consider this to be the same for science
• as a result, in single sex school, girls are more likely to choose subjects that do not conform to stereotypes

Question 70

How does gender role socialisation affect gender differences in achievement involving Norman, Byrne and Murphy&Elwood?

Answer 70

• norman says from an early age boys and girls are dressed differently and encouraged to play with different toys
• byrne says schools encourage boys to be ‘tough’ and show initiative, girls are expected to be quite, helpful, clean and tidy
• murphy&elwood say socialisation results in different tastes in reading subject choices,
  this explains why boys prefer science subjects and girls favour subjects such as english

Question 71

How does gendered career options affect gender differences in achievement?

Answer 71

-over 50% of women’s employment falls into 4 categories: clerical, secretarial, personal services, cleaning
- these jobs all require skills in line with that of a housewife
- this effects boys too as they do not believe that certain jobs are possible or acceptable (eg there are very few male nursery nurses as this is a ‘job for women’)
- this helps to explain why vocational services see greater gender divide than academic courses

Question 72

How does pupils’ sexual and gender identities have an affect on gender differences in achievement?

Answer 72

• pupils’ sexual and gender identities are constructed and reinforced within the school
• their experiences may contribute to hegemonic masculinity (the dominance of heterosexual masculine identity and the subordination of female and gay identities)

Question 73

How are double standards reinforced in school involving Lees and feminists?

Answer 73

• lees says boys gain status from sexual conquests whereas for girls this is seen as negative
• boys boast about their sexual exploits and gain respect
• girls are called ‘slags’ if they do not have a steady boyfriend f or if they dress or speak in a certain way
• feminists see double standards as social control for females and an example of patriarchal ideology that justifies male power and devalues women

Question 74

How is verbal abuse reinforced in school involving Lees, Paetcher and Parker?

Answer 74

• lees: girls are called slags if they appear sexually available and drags when they do not
• paetcher: negative labels such as gay queer and lezzer are ways in which pupils police each others sexual identities
• parker: boys are labelled as gay for having female friends

Question 75

How is the male gaze reinforced in school involving Mac and Ghaill?

Answer 75

• mac and ghaill refer to the way male pupils and teachers look girls up and down, seeing them as sexual objects and making judgements about their appearance
• the male gaze is a form of of surveillance through which dominant heterosexual masculinity is reinforced and femininity devalues

Question 76

How are male peer groups reinforced in school involving Epine&Willis and Redman&MacandGhill?

Answer 76

• epine and willis: boys in anti school subcultures often accuse boys who want to do well at school of being gay or effeminate
• redman and mac and ghill: change from ‘macho lads’ when younger to ‘real englishmen’ (an effortless achiever succeeding without trying by secretly working hard) at sixth form

Question 77

How are female peer groups reinforced in school involving Archer and Reay?

Answer 77

• archer: girls gain symbolic capital from female peer groups by performing a hyper heterosexual female identity, this involves constructing glamorous or sexy nike appearances using brands or styles
• reay: ‘boffin identity’, girls that wanted to be educationally successful conform to the schools notion of the ideal feminine pupil identity, they have to adopt an asexual identity, preventing themselves as lacking interest in boyfriends or fashion

Question 78

How are teachers and discipline reinforced in school involving Haywood&MacandGhill and Askew&Ross?

Answer 78

• haywood&macandghill: male teachers told boys off for ‘behaving like girls’, teachers often ignored boys’ verbal abuse to female classmates and sometime blamed the female for attracting it
• askew&ross: make teachers can help reinforce messages about gender (eg a male teacher coming into a female teachers’ classroom to ‘rescue’ then by threatening pupils who are being disrupted)