gender differences in education

Question 1

internal reasons for male underachievement

Answer 1

• laddish subcultures
• lack of male teachers
• school is feminised
• overestimate their ability

Question 2

laddish subcultures meaning

Answer 2

w/c culture = masculinity is equated with toughness and doing manual work, non-manual work (school) is seen as inferior - Epstein found if a w/c boy works hard in school theyre likely to be harrased and recieve homphobic abuse

Question 3

lack of male teachers impact on education

Answer 3

lack of strong positive rolemodels for boys - particular problem for boys in single parent families - YouGob = 39% of 8-11 year olds had no male teachers, majority said presence of a male teacher made them behave better, 42% worked harder
BUT Francis found 2/3 of 7-8yr olds said gender doesnt matter

Question 4

feminisation of education impact

Answer 4

schools dont nurture masculine traits e.g. competitiveness - instead they celebrate qualities e.g. attentiveness in class and methodical working - puts boys at disadvantage as schools dont encourage boys in ways that favour them + teachers are predominantly females

Question 5

boys overestimating their abilities impact on education

Answer 5

Barber 1996 found boys over-estimate their ability while girls underestimate theirs = revise more
Stanworth suggests boys are more likely to blame teachers for their failure rather than themselves
Licht and Dwech say girls are less confident than boys

Question 6

socialisation of gender roles impact on subject choice

Answer 6

• process of learning the behaviour expected of males and females in society, teachers encourage boys to be tough and not weak while girls are encouraged to be quiet and help clean
• Kelly argues science is seen as a boys subject as most science teachers are men, in lessons boys dominate labs asif its theirs + teachers use examples in the boys interests
• Colley says computer studies is seen as masculine as it involves working with machines and is more independant

Question 7

gender identity and peer pressure impacts on education

Answer 7

• boys dont do subjects e.g. art and music as they fall out of their gender domain so it attracts a negative response from peers - peers police one anothers subject choices so an absence of this in same sex schools leads to students choosing whatever they want

Question 8

gendered career opportunities

Answer 8

• jobs tend to be sex-typed as mens/womens subjects - womens jobs involve work similar to housewives, theyre concentrated in a narrow status by male peers and ignored by male teachers - feminists see these double standards as an example of patriarchal ideology