Internal Factors: Boys' underachievement Flashcards
The feminisation of education
According to Sewell, boys fall behind in education because schools have become feminised.
This means that schools tend to emphasise feminine traits such as methodical working & attentiveness, which disadvantages boys. Schools do not nurture ‘masculine’ traits such as competitiveness & leadership.
Sewell sees coursework as a major cause of gender differences in achievement as this favours feminine approaches to work. He argues that more coursework should be replaced with final exams & a greater emphasis should be put on outdoor adventure in the curriculum.
The feminisation of education A03:
However, most coursework has been phased out of subjects & even if it remains, exams tend to be the biggest percentage towards the final grade. Also, schools now often place a big emphasis on traits such as leadership & there has always been a need for methodical working & attentiveness which did not lead to underachievement in the past for boys.
Teacher interaction
Teacher-pupil interactions were identified by Barber as being very significant. For boys, feedback from teachers focused more on their behaviour rather than their work & how to improve; for girls the reverse was true.
AO3: Negative teacher labelling for some boys undermined their confidence & interest in school which meant that they did not push themselves to achieve. For both boys & girls, where motivation in a subject is low, achievement tends to be low.
Teachers may tend to be less strict with boys, giving them more leeway with deadlines & expecting a lower standard of work than they get from girls.
AO3: This can allow boys to under-achieve by failing to push them to achieve their potential
‘Laddish’ subcultures
Jackson found that laddish behaviour was based on the idea that it is uncool to work hard at school. She found that boys based their laddish behaviour on the dominant view of masculinity – they acted tough, messed around, disrupted lessons & rejected schoolwork as ‘feminine’.
Francis found boys are more concerned than girls about being labelled by peers as swots, because this label is more of a threat to their masculinity than it is to girls’ femininity. This is supported by Epstein who found working class boys are likely to be harassed, bullied & subject to homophobic verbal abuse if they appear to be ‘swots’ (‘real boys don’t work’).
‘Laddish’ subcultures A03
The existence of ‘laddish subcultures’ can lead to underachievement for those that belong to them & are heavily influenced by them as their very nature is against school work & deferred gratification. They can also affect those boys who want to achieve due to the fear of negative labelling & the disruption of lessons that can regularly occur.
Shortage of male primary school teachers
Only 17% of primary school teachers are male & 25% of primary schools have no male teachers.
AO3: Therefore, many boys come to view school, education & learning as a female activity & do not try hard to achieve in school. Moreover, such a view is often reinforced by the absence of a male role model at home.
