Gender Identity and Education

Question 1

How is gender identity formed in schools

Answer 1

• peer group schools
• teacher pupil interactions
• acceptance or rejection of individuals external identity
• gendered expectations and behaviours
• subject choice and career aspirations

Question 2

Peer Groups

Answer 2

• Male peer groups reinforce ideas of hegemonic masculinity by rejecting those that do not conform to values of group
• Female peer groups reinforce hyper-heterosexual identities amongst girls
• girls can form boffin identities - Francis
• Boys can reject macho culture and adopt geek identities

Question 3

Teacher-pupil interactions

Answer 3

• Archer - teachers perceptions of pupils fall into three categories
• The ideal pupil - usually female, middle class seen as high achievers
• The pathologized pupil - usually Chinese and Indian males seen as unthreatening and asexual
• Demonised pupil - overtly heterosexual, white or black working class males

Question 4

External Identity

Answer 4

• Archer - formation of Nike identities as a form of symbolic capital
• Statis awarded for wearing branded sportwear
• clashes with school habitus - symbolic violence
• Hyper-heterosexual identity for girls with makeup, hair, clothing gains status form peers and boys but not school

Question 5

Gendered expectations and behaviours

Answer 5

• Boys monopolise discussions, equipment, space and time in classroom
• girls perceived to be invisible and docile in classrooms
• lower expectations of boys shapes their seld-efficacy for tasks
  -Higher expectations on girls increases pressure on them to achieve

Question 6

Subject choice and career aspirations

Answer 6

• Female teachers as role models shape gir,s career aspirations - education a necessity rather than an option
• Paetcher - homophobic abuse to girls who are seen as sporty
• boys are discouraged from feminine domains by peers and teachers
• Anti-schools subcultures cultivate fatalism in boys - crisis of masculinity

Question 7

Evaluations

Answer 7

• identity changes over time - it is not fixed in the early years in contemporary society
• intersectionality of identity - based on class ans ethnicity