Gender And Achievement, Gendered Subject Choice

Question 1

External Factors: Changes in Girls’ Ambitions

Answer 1

• Have been changes in the structure of employment, increasing girls’ work ambitions
• Growth of the service sector has opened up new opportunities for women
• Changes in the law inspire their ambitions (Equal Pay Act, Sex Discrimination Act)
• Example: Sharpe found that girls’ ambitions have changed
  • 1970s - focused on marriage and family (led to greater underachievement)
  • 1990s - focused on gaining financial independence and a career
• Greater employment opportunities encourage them to work harder at school as they need qualifications to obtain successful careers

Question 2

External Factors: Changes in the Family

Answer 2

• Rising number of single parent families has affected girls’ attitudes to education
• More single mothers taking on the instrumental role, providing girls a new role model (the financially independent women)
• Need to do well at school to gain independence
• Rising divorce rate has made girls aware that it is unwise to rely on a husband for money -> motivates them to work hard at school so they can get a well-paid job

Question 3

External Factors: Leisure Time (McRobbie)

Answer 3

• Boys and girls tend to different activities outside of school
• Girls - have a ‘bedroom culture’, create their own subculture where talking, working hard and being neat is important (helps them at school), able to develop their communication skills
• Boys - spend their free time doing more physical activities, do not contribute towards their educational development

Question 4

External Factors: Gender Socialisation

Answer 4

• Boys: adventurous and competitive
• Girls: quiet, neat and passive
• Girls have been socialised with values that are more in line with education (expected to sit still for long periods of time and listen)
• Boys have limited opportunities to learn competitively, education system fails to recognise boys learning styles, may be more sports focused so less likely to do homework

AO3 - girls have always been socialised this way so it does not explain the vast improvement in girls over the last 30 years

Question 5

External Factors: Changes in the Economy

Answer 5

• Globalisation has led to a decline in traditional manufacturing jobs (mines, factory, steel industry) in the UK
• Mostly import goods because it is cheaper
• Fewer manual jobs for WC, boys do not see the point in working hard in school, do not see a future for themselves as their are no jobs available when they leave school
• Service sector has replaced traditional manual jobs, economy has placed large value on office-based jobs and interpersonal skills (more likely to suit the skills and traits of women)
• Some WC boys are experiencing a ‘crisis of masculinity’ - questioning their role and identity as a man
• Feel they no longer have a place in the workforce, so lack motivation, develop low self-esteem and do not put in the effort at school

AO3 - may try to achieve a positive masculine identity by forming anti-school subcultures to gain status and respect from their peers, join criminal groups after leaving school

Question 6

Internal Factors: Labelling and the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Answer 6

• Teachers usually respond more positively to girls (seen as cooperative and hardworking) compared to boys
• Gender stereotypes influence teacher labelling (girls = hard working, capable, boys = disruptive), leading to SFPs
• Girl is labelled as ‘smart’, internalises the label, works hard at school
• Primary school, boys and girls will mess around but only boys will be negatively labelled, leading to them losing their self-esteem and irritating their teachers over time, become aware that their teachers do not like them and become disenchanted with school
• Can also lead to misallocation of sets, girls more likely to be placed up a set whilst boys are more likely to be placed down a set (can impact their self-confidence, lead to a SFP and male underachievement)

Question 7

Internal Factors: Equal Opportunities Policies

Answer 7

• National Curriculum: all pupils must study English, Maths and Science until 16
• Policies such as GIST (Girls ) and WISE aim to challenge gender stereotypes and encourage girls to study subjects that are usually male dominated (physics, engineering)

Question 8

Internal Factors: Coursework

Answer 8

• Introduction of coursework favours girls
• They are more successful in coursework because they work harder and are better organised than boys
• Spend more time on their work, punctual, prepared (bring the right equipment to class)
• These characteristics are due to gender socialisation in the family (encouraged to be neat, tidy and patient)

AO3 - does not fully explain girls’ educational success, coursework has been removed or made a smaller percentage of the overall grade in GCSEs and A Levels, despite this, girls still continue to outperform girls

Question 9

Internal Factors: Laddish Subcultures

Answer 9

• WC boys feel pressured by their peers to conform to traditional forms of masculinity
• Influenced by peer pressure, want to fit in and look cool so do not want to work hard or study as it is seen as ‘girlish’
• Feel pressured to rebel and go against school values to avoid being bullied or humiliated
• Form laddish subculture -> a way to demonstrate their masculinity by acting tough, truanting and disrupting lessons

AO3 - wrong to assume that laddish subcultures are only formed by WC boys, MC boys also feel pressured (may hide the fact that they are doing homework so it looks like they are achieving adequate grades without putting in the effort to avoid feminine labels)

Question 10

Internal Factor: Feminisation of Education

Answer 10

• Education has increasingly become a feminine environment
• Most teachers are female in primary schools, girls have more role models (female head teachers etc.), raising their targets and goals
• Education values more feminine traits (attentive, organised, hardworking) compared to masculine (competitiveness)
• Lack of male role models with only 14% of male primary teachers being male

AO3 - Myhill and Jones question the benefit of male teachers for boys, found that a majority of 13-15 yr old boys felt that male teachers targeted boys more for punishment, may come to resent male teachers rather than viewing them as role models

Question 11

Gendered Subject Choices: External Factors

Answer 11

• Gender Socialisation:
  • Socialised from a young age into gender identities (pink and dolls for girls, blue and cars for boys)
  • Girls encouraged to be kind and caring = choose Health and Social Care etc.
  • Boys encouraged to be outgoing and adventurous = choose sports etc.
• Gender Domains:
  • Refer to real or imaginary areas that are seen as male or female
  • Physics is viewed as masculine, so boys are more likely to be encouraged to choose it
  • Beauty is seen as feminine, so girls are more likely to be encouraged to choose Hair and Beauty
• Employment is Highly Gendered:
  • Some jobs viewed as male (engineering) and others as female (nursing, teaching), influences their choice in subject
  • Women dominate caring profession whilst men dominate professions such as computer technicians, engineering, CEOs etc.

Question 12

Gendered Subject Choices: Internal Factors

Answer 12

• Peer Pressure:
• Career Advice:
• Gender of Teachers:
• Learning Resources Include Gender Stereotypes: