Internal Factors Affecting Female Achievement

Question 1

Name the six internal factors affecting female achievement

Answer 1

1. Equal opportunities policies
2. Positive role models in schools
3. GCSE and course work
4. Teacher labelling
5. Challenging step types in the curriculum
6. Selection and league tables

Question 2

Explain opportunities policies

Answer 2

Feminism = impact on government policy makers as they are more aware of the issues women face in society and aware of the need for teachers not to stereotype girls and treat both sexes equally.
STANWORTH and SPENDER: in the last boys were questioned more than girls and their work was graded higher than girls and more time and attention were given to boys as the teacher expected more
Policies e.g GIST & WISE
Run to encourage girls.
National curriculum removed some inequality by making science and technology compulsory so girls were able interest and skills in subjects

Question 3

Explain positive role models in schools

Answer 3

Increase in female teachers including in senior positions such as head teachers. They can act as positive role models and therefore motivate girls to aim for high qualifications and professional jobs. Schools try and recruited
Female staff into delivering traditionally male dominated subjects

Question 4

Explain GCSE and coursework

Answer 4

Argued that coursework benefits girls in gaining higher pass marks when compared to boys. Some argue that girls increased achievement level is largely down to the changes in assent technique. MITSOS AND BROWNE: claim coursework helps girls as:
- spend longer time re drafting
- more organised at meeting deadlines
- able to concentrate for longer than boys - presentation
- more organised in having the correct equipment needed to produce the required work
They argue these differences are due to gender role socialisation in the family which encourages girls to be tidy and patient and boys are encouraged to be active and chaotic

Question 5

Explain teacher labelling

Answer 5

FRENCH: boys receive more attention than girls within the classroom as usually they are reprimanded more. They found that boys tended to be disciplined more harshly and that teachers had lower expectations of them 
SWANN: boys try to dominate whole class discussions often interrupting other students while making contributions and girls preferred to work in pairs and small groups where they felt they could listen and cooperate without boys trying to control

Question 6

Explain challenging stereotypes in the curriculum

Answer 6

Textbooks in the 1970s = portrayed males and females doing very traditional roles especially in school reading schemes and textbooks. In traditional male/female dominated subjects mists or all of the images would have been of the sex of the student most likely to take the subject reproducing an expectation that this was a masculine or female subject. Over the years these images have been updated with most subjects covering a range of images of students from many social backgrounds and sexes to they are inclusive of all

Question 7

Explain selection and league tables

Answer 7

Marketisation has created a climate of competition between schools which has resulted in a desire ability for school in recruiting more girls as they are more likely to achieve higher grades in examinations. JACKSON: schools are less keen to select low achieving boys with potential behavioural issues when they can select high achieving girls. Boys = 4x more likely to be excluded than girls and therefore lower grades as missed work schools do not want to run a risk on a liability student

Question 8

‘Identity, class and girls achievement’ explain archers theory

Answer 8

ARCHER: working c,ass girls are more likely to underachievers in schools as their culture comes into conflict with the schools ethos. Girls = keen to gain to gain a sense of status and recognition from their peers; they used to help them overcome their class with school; it have ‘smybolic capital’
The girls use several strategies to help them gain status:
- hyper-heterosexuality - involve spending time on constructing a glamorous appearance using make, hair style and ‘sexy’ clothing. School would deem the girls as dos-interested in educational success seeing thief interests as worthless and mess worthy of respect
- have a boyfriend - a boyfriend brought symbolic coaxial and often encourages the girls to forces of settling down, gaming a traditionally feminine job and having a child.
- being loud and outspoken - status so they would often challenge teachers and other school staff. Brought conflict as seen as aggressive rather than assertive leading to a negative label from the school.
Archer concluded that girls were often battled between gaining symbolic cap rial or educational capital.