education - gender differences - boys underachievement

Question 1

gender patterns in achievement

Answer 1

in the past boys out performed girls, but since the 1980s girls have improved more rapidly and now do better than boys at all levels in most subjects
•more girls than boys go into higher education
•at as and alevel girls are more likely to pass and to get higher grades
•in key stages 1 to 3 girl do consistently better than boys especially in english

Question 2

literacy

Answer 2

one reason for boys falling behind is low literacy skills:
•parents spend less time reading to their sons and it is mainly mothers who read to young children, so reading is seen as a feminine activity
•boys’ leisure interests (e.g sport and computer games) don’t encourage language and communication skills, whereas girls ‘bedroom culture’ does

Question 3

feminisation of schooling

Answer 3

according to yougov 14% if primary school teachers are male, with 39% of 8-11 year old boys having no lessons with a male teacher at all. most boys surveyed that a male teacher made them behave better and 42% of them said it would make them work harder.
HOWEVER becky francis disagreed with this stating that two thirds of 7-8 year olds believe that gender of teachers did not matter

Question 4

‘laddish’ subcultures

Answer 4

these may lead to boys’ underachievement. studies show that there is peer pressure in hoys to demonstrate their masculinity by being anti school
•francis found that boys were more concerned than girls about being labelled as swots, because it threatened their masculine identity. working class boys see non manual work (including school work) as effeminate and inferior
•epstein found that pro school working class boys were likely to be harassed and labelled as ‘gay’ and subjected to verbal abuse