Gender Differnces In Achivement - Boys And Achivement

Question 1

Boys and literacy

Answer 1

• according to the DCSF (2007), the gender gap is mainly the result of boys poorer literacy and language skills. One reason for this may be that parents spend less time reading to their sons or that it is mothers that do most of the reading to young children, who come to see reading as a feminine activity
• boys leisure pursuits, such as football, do little help to develop their language and communication skills. In contrast, girls tend to have a ‘bedroom culture’ centred on staying in and talking with friends
• poor language and literacy skills are likley to affect boys performance across a wide range of subjects. In response to this problem, the government has introduced a range of policies to improve boys skills

Question 2

Globalisation and the decline of traditional mens jobs

Answer 2

• since 1980, there has been a significant decline in heavy industries such as iron and steel, mining and engineering. This is partly the result of the globalisation of the economy, which has led to much manufacturing industry relocating to developing countries such as china to take advantage of cheap labour
• traditionally these sectors of the economy mainly employed men. Mitsos and Browne claim that this decline in male employment opportunities has led to an ‘identity crisis for men’. Many boys now believe that they have little motivation and slee esteem and so they give up trying to get qualifications
• while there has been some truth in this claim, the decline has largely been in manual working class jobs that require few if any qualifications. It seems unlikely that the disappearance of such jobs would have that much impact on boys motivation to obtain qualifications

Question 3

Feminisation of education

Answer 3

• Sewell is reported as claiming that boys fall behind because education has become ‘feminised’. Schools do not nuture ‘masculine’ traits such as competitiveness and leadership. Instead, they celebrate qualities more closely associated with girls, such as methodical working and attentiveness in class
• Sewell sees coursework as a major cause of gender differences in achievement. He argues that some coursework should be replaced with final exams and a greater emphasis should be placed on outdoor adventure in the curriculum.
• he argues that ‘we have challenged the 1950s patriarchy and rightly said this is not a mans world. But er have there on the boy out with the bath water’

Question 4

Shortage of male primary school teachers

Answer 4

• the lack of male role models both at home and at school is said to be the cause of boys underachievement. E.g, large numbers of boys are being brought up in the 1.5 million female headed lone parent families in the uk
• only 14% of primary school teachers are male according to yougov, 39% of 8-11 yr olds have no lessons whatsoever with a male teacher. Yet most boys surveyed said the presence of a male teacher made them behave better and 42% said it made them work harder
• commentators argue that this is because the culture of the primary school has become feminised as a result of being staffed by female teachers, who are unable to control boys behaviour. In this view, male teachers are better able to impose the strict discipline boys need in order to concentrate. If this is correct, it would suggest that primary schools need more male teachers

Question 5

Are more male teachers really needed

Answer 5

• Reasearch suggests that the absence of male teachers may not be a major factor in boys underachievement. E.g francis found that two thirds of 7-8 yr olds beloved the gender of teachers does not matter
• read is also critical that the culture of primary schools is becoming feminised and that only male teachers can exert the firm discipline that boys need to achieve
• to test these claims, read studied the type of language teachers use to express criticism or disapproval of pupils work and behaviour. She identifies two types of language or ‘discourse’:
• a disciplinarian discourse
• a liberal discourse

Question 6

What is the disciplinarian discourse?

Answer 6

• the teachers authority is made explicit and visible, e.g, through shouting, an exasperated’ tone of voice or sarcasm

Question 7

What is a liberal discourse?

Answer 7

• the teachers authority is implicit and invisible. This child centred discourse involves ‘pseudo adultification’. The teacher speaks to the pupil as if they were an adult and expects them to be kind, sensible and respectful of the teacher

Question 8

What is the disciplinarian discourse associated with

Answer 8

• the disciplinarian discourse is usually associated with masculinity and the liberal discourse with femininity. However, in her study of 51 primary school teachers, read found that most teachers, female as well as male, used a supposedly ‘masculine’ disciplinarian discourse to control pupils behaviours

Question 9

What did read conclude from her study

Answer 9

• the fact that most teachers favoured a ‘masculine’ disciplinarian discourse to control disproves the claim that the culture of the primary school has become feminised, as Sewell and others argue
• the fact that female teachers were just as likely as males to use a ‘masculine’ discourse to control pupils behaviour disapproves the claim that only male teachers can provide the stricter classroom culture in which boys are said to thrive

Question 10

‘Laddish’ subcultures

Answer 10

• some sociologists argue that the growth of ‘laddish’ subcultures has contributed to boys underachievement. Epstein examines the way masculinity is constructed within school. She found that working class boys are likely to be harassed, labelled as sissies and subjected to homophobic verbal abuse is they appear to be ‘swats’
• this supports francis finding that boys were more concerned than girls about being labelled by peers as swots, because this label is mire of a threat to their masculinity then it is to girls femininity
• this is because in working class culture, masculinity is equated with being tough and doing manual work. Non manual work, and extension schoolwork is seen as effeminate and inferior. As a result, working class boys tend to reject the schoolwork to avoid being called ‘gay’ - as Epstein observes, ‘real boys don’t work’ - and if they do so they get bullied
• according to francis, laddish culture is becoming increasingly widespread. She argues that this is because, as girls move into a traditional masculine areas such as careers, boys respond by ‘becoming increasingly laddish in their effort to construct themselves as non feminine

Question 11

The moral panic about boys

Answer 11

• critics of feminism argue that policies to promote girls education are no longer needed. These critics speak of ‘girl power’, of girls today ‘having it all’ and women taking mens jobs. They believe that girls have to succeeded at the the expense of boys, who are the new disadvantage
• according to feminists such as ringrose, these views face contributed to a moral panic about ‘failing boys’. This moral panic reflects a fear that underachieving working class boys will grow up and become a dangerous, unemployable underclass that threatens social stability

Question 12

What does ringrose agrue?

Answer 12

• ringrose argues that this moral pain has caused a major shift in educational policy, which is now preoccupied with raising boys achievements. This policy shift has two negative effects:
  1. By narrowing equal opportunities policy down simply to ‘failing boys’, it ignores the problem of disadvantage working class and minority ethnic pupils
  2. By narrowing gender policy down solely to the issue of achievement gaps, it ignores other problems faced by girls in school. These include sexual harassment and bullying, self esteem and identity issues, and stereotyped subject choices

Question 13

The moral panic about boys - olser (2006)

Answer 13

• olser notes that the focus on underachieving boys has led to a neglect of girls. This is partly because girls often disengage from school quietly. In contrast, boys disengagement often takes the form of public displays of ‘laddish’ masculinity that attract attention from teachers and policy makers
• olser gives the example of mentoring schemes aimed at reducing school exclusions among black boys. She points out that these ignore the problem of exclusions among girls, which are increasing more rapidly. Furthermore, girls eho are excluded are less likely to obtain places in pupil referral units. Unofficial exclusion rates also male a wider, hidden problem of exclusions among girls, including self seclusion and internal exclusion

Question 14

Gender, class and ethnicity

Answer 14

• boys today are achieving more than they did in the past
• McVeigh notes, the similarities in girls and boys achievement are far greater than the differences, especially when compared with class or ethnic differences. E.g, the class gap in achievement at GCSE is three times wider than the gender gap
• as a result girls and boys of the same social class tend to achieve fairly similar results. E.g, at GCSE in a typical year, the gender gap within any given social class is rarely greater than 12% points.
• in contrast, pupils of the same gender but different social classes achieve widely different results. E.g, girls from the highest social class can be as much as 44 points ahead of girls from the lowest social class.
• also the extent to which gender influences achievement itself varies depending on a pupils class and ethnic group e.g, the gender gap among black Caribbean pupils is greater than among other ethnic groups. As fuller shows many black girls are successful at school because they define their femininity in terms if educational achievement and independence. In Cointreau’s Sewell found that some black boys fail at school because they define their masculinity in opposition to education, which they see as effeminate