Gender: Internal Factors

Question 1

What are the internal factors? (6)

Answer 1

1. Equal opportunities policies.
2. Positive role models in school.
3. GCSE and coursework.
4. Teacher attention.
5. Challenging stereotypes in the curriculum.
6. Selection and league tables.

Question 2

1. Equal opportunities policies. What are three points that explain equal opportunities policies?
   (Feminists’ ideas, policymakers and opportunities for boys and girls)

Answer 2

• Feminists’ ideas have majorly impacted the education system.
• Policymakers are more aware of 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 a part of mainstreaming thinking and it influences educational policies.

Question 3

How do these policies encourage girls and what are two examples of policies?

Answer 3

• They encourage girls to pursue careers in these non traditional areas. E.g. female scientists have visited schools, acting as role models.
• GIST (Girls Into Science and Technology) and WISE (Women Into Science and Engineering).

Question 4

How have efforts have been made to raise science teachers’ awareness of gender issues?

Answer 4

Non-sexist careers advice has been provided and learning materials in science reflecting girls’ interests have been developed.

Question 5

How did the introduction of the National Curriculum in 1988 removed one source of gender inequality?

Answer 5

It made girls and boys study mostly the same subjects (not the case before).

Question 6

What did Jo Boaler (1998) say about the impact of equal opportunities policies and meritocracy?

Answer 6

• Sees the impact of equal opportunities policies as a key reason for the changes in girls’ achievement.
• Many of the barriers have been removed and schooling has become more meritocratic (based on equal opportunities). This is so girls, who work harder than boys, achieve more.

Question 7

2. Positive role models in school. There’s been an increase in the proportion of female teachers and heads. How do these female teachers and women in senior positions act as role models for girls?

Answer 7

• Female teachers are likely to be particularly important role models as far as girls’ educational achievement is concerned since, to become a teacher, the individual must overtake a lengthy and successful education herself.
• Women in senior positions show them that women can achieve positions of importance and giving them non-traditional roles to aim for.

Question 8

3. GCSE and coursework. Some sociologists argue that changes in the way pupils are assessed have favoured girls and disadvantaged boys. What did Stephen Gorard (2005) find?

Answer 8

• Found that the gender gap in achievement was fairly constant from 1975-1989, when it increased sharply.
• This was the year in which GCSEs were introduced, along with coursework as a major part of most subjects.

Question 9

What does Gorard conclude about the gender gap in achievement?

Answer 9

The gender gap in achievement is a “product of the changed system of the assessment rather than any more general failing of boys”.

Question 10

How does Eirene Mitsos and Ken Browne (1998) support this view?

Answer 10

They conclude that girls are more successful in coursework because they are more conscientious and better organised than boys. Girls…
- Spend more time on their work.
- Take more care with the way it is presented.
- Meet deadlines better.
- Bring the right equipment and materials to lessons.

Question 11

What does Mitsos and Browne argue about how these factors have impacted girls?

Answer 11

These factors have helped girls to benefit from the introduction of coursework in GCSE, AS and A level.

Question 12

How do oral exams (in a spoken form) benefit girls?

Answer 12

Girls have better developed language skills.

Question 13

What is argued about girls’ characteristics and skills benefiting them in the education system?

Answer 13

• It is argued that these 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 are an advantage to today’s assessment system, helping girls achieve greater success than boys.

Question 14

However, what does Jannette Elwood (2005) argue about coursework in relation to the gender gap?

Answer 14

Although coursework has influence, it is unlikely to be the cause of the gender gap because exams have much more influence than coursework on final grades.

Question 15

4. Teacher Attention. How did Jane and Peter French (1993) show that the way teachers interact with boys and girls differs?

Answer 15

Jane and Peter French (1993) analysed classroom interaction, they found that boys received more attention because they attracted more reprimands.

Question 16

What did Becky Francis (2001) find that supports the statement that the way teachers interact with boys and girls differs?

Answer 16

Becky Francis (2001) also found that while boys got more attention, they were disciplined more harshly and felt picked on by teachers, who tended to have lower expectations of them.

Question 17

What did Swann (1998) find about gender differences?

Answer 17

Swann found gender differences in communication styles…
- Boys dominate in whole-class discussion, whereas girls prefer pair-work and group-work, and are better at listening and cooperating.
- When working in groups, girls’ speech involves turn taking, and not the hostile interruptions that often characterise boys’ speech.

Question 18

What does the gender differences in communication styles demonstrate?

Answer 18

• Teachers respond more to girls → seen as cooperative, and not boys → seen as potentially disruptive.
• This may lead to the self-fulfilling prophecy in which successful interactions with teachers promote girls’ self esteem and raise the achievement levels.

Question 19

5. Challenging stereotypes in the curriculum. What do some argue about the impact of the removal of gender stereotypes?

Answer 19

Some argue the removal of gender stereotypes from textbooks, reading schemes and other learning materials in recent years has removed a barrier to girls’ achievement.

Question 20

What did research from the 1970s and 1980s find about gender stereotyping in reading schemes?

Answer 20

Research in the 1970s and 80s found that reading schemes displayed women as mainly housewives and mothers, that physics books showed them as frightened by science, and that maths books depicted boys as more inventive.

Question 21

What does Gaby Weiner (1995) argue about teachers challenging stereotypes since the 1980s?

Answer 21

• Since the 1980s, teachers have challenged such stereotypes.
• Sexist images have been removed from learning materials.
• This may have helped to raise girls’ achievement by presenting them with more positive images of what women can do.

Question 22

6. Selection and League Tables. What have marketisation policies created?

Answer 22

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

Question 23

What does David Jackson (1998) note about exam league tables?

Answer 23

• The introduction of exam league tables have improved opportunities for girls: high achieving girls are attractive to schools, whereas low-achieving boys are not.
• This tends to create a self-fulfilling prophecy because girls are more likely to be recruited by good schools = they are more likely to do well.

Question 24

What does Roger Slee (1998) argue about boys being less attractive to schools and what image do they give schools?

Answer 24

Roger Slee (1998) argues that boys are less attractive to schools because they are more likely to suffer from behavioural difficulties and are 4x more likely to be excluded.
- As a result, boys may be seen as ‘liability students’ - obstacles to the school improving its league table scores.
- They give the school a ‘rough, tough’ image that deters high-achieving girls from applying.