gender and achievement - internal factors

Question 1

briefly explain why feminisation of education has lead to boys falling behind in school
- include Sewells theory

Answer 1

Sewell claims boys fall behind because education has become too ‘feminised’
- schools don’t encourage ‘masculine’ traits and instead celebrate quiet and methodical students who are attentive in class (girls) which means yet we have challenged the 1950’s patriarchy we haven’t show boys what they should change to doing now instead which leaves them in this crisis of masculinity

Question 2

briefly explain why a lack of male primary teachers has lead to boys falling behind in school
- include Yougov (2007) and Francis (2006) and Read (2008) conflicting theories on if more more male primary teachers are actually needed

Answer 2

Yougov found 39% of 8-11yr olds have no lessons with a male teacher but most boys surveyed said a male teacher would make them behave and work harder. It is believed female teachers can’t discipline boys therefore more male teachers are urgently needed.

whereas Francis found 2 thirds of 7-8 yr olds believed gender of the teacher didn’t matter.
Read also found teachers gender didn’t affect their discipline as their language was governed by the same principles of expressing criticisim or disapproval

Question 3

briefly explain why laddish subcultures has lead to boys falling behind in school
- include Epstein (1998) theory to support this

Answer 3

Epstein examine the way masculinity is constructed in class and found w/c boys are likely to be harassed and labelled as nerds which leads to homophobic abuse
- main demand on boys within their peer group is to appear to do no work, be heterosexual and dangerous/rough
- w/c masculinity is associated with being tough and doing manual work so w/c boys reject school work to avoid being called gay

Question 4

gender role socialisation

Answer 4

the process of learning the behaviour expected of males and females in society.

Question 5

briefly explain Normans ideas of gender role socialisation in early socialisation shaping children’s identities

Answer 5

from an early age boys and girls are dressed differently, given different toys and encouraged to take part in different activities.

Question 6

briefly explain Byrne (1997) ideas of gender role socialisation in schools

Answer 6

he showed that teachers encourage boys to be tough, show initiative and not be weak. Girls on the other hand are expected to be quiet, helpful, tidy and clean.

Question 7

briefly explain Murphy and Ellwood (1998) ideas on how differences in gender role socialisation lead to different subject choices

Answer 7

they found boys and girls develop different tastes in reading.
Boys read hobby books and information texts, while girls are more likely to read stories about people.
This helps to explain why boys prefer science subjects and girls prefer subjects such as English.

Question 8

gender domains

Answer 8

Tasks that girls see as their territory and what boys see as their territory.
Girls and boys are more confident when what they are doing is in their gender domain
- (e.g. mending a car is seen as being part of the male domain)

Question 9

briefly explain Browne and Ross ideas on gender domains

Answer 9

argue children’s beliefs about gender domains are shaped by their early experiences and the expectations of adults.

Question 10

briefly explain Murphy (1991) ideas on gender domains

Answer 10

found boys and girls pay attention to different details even when tackling the same task, girls focus more on how people feel and boys on how things are made and work. This explains why girls choose humanities and arts.

Question 11

give the 3 reasons why Kelly argues science is a boys subject

Answer 11

• science teachers are more likely to be men
• the examples teachers/textbooks use often draw on boys’ interests instead of girls’ interests
• in lessons boys’ monopolise the apparatus and labs.

Question 12

briefly explain why Colley (1998) views computer science as a masculine subject

Answer 12

because it involves working with machines (part of the male domain) and the way it’s taught is off-putting for females (teaching styles are formal and abstract).

Question 13

briefly explain Leonard (2006) ideas on single sex schooling influencing subject choice

Answer 13

Students who attend single sex schools tend to have less stereotyped subject images.

he found that compared to mixed schools, girls in all girls schools were more likely to take math’s and science A levels and boys were more likely to take English and languages.

Question 14

briefly explain Paechter’s ideas on peer pressure influencing gender identities

Answer 14

found that because pupils see sport in the male gender domain, girls who are ‘sporty’ have to cope with an image that contradicts the conventional female stereotype (which could be why more girls opt out of sport than boys).

Question 15

briefly explain Dewar (1990) findings from his study on american college students to do with peer pressures influence

Answer 15

found male students would call girls ‘lesbian’ or ‘butch’ if they were interested in sport and this is similar with subjects such as physics. peer pressure was found to be a powerful influence on gender identity.

Question 16

briefly explain the impact of peers policing one another subject choices based on their gender

Answer 16

girls and boys adopt an appropriate gender identity, with girls pressured to avoid subjects like physics.

This could explain why in single-sex schools, girls are more likely to choose ‘boys’ subjects because there’s less pressure to conform to their gender domain.

Question 17

briefly explain how gendered career opportunities cause differences in subject choices

Answer 17

Women’s jobs often involve work similar to that of housewives so women are concentrated in on a narrow range of occupations mainly in one of the four categories: clerical, secretarial, personal services and occupations such as cleaning.

This type of sex stereotyping of occupations indicates to children which types of jobs are seen as ‘acceptable’, so if boys get the impression that nursery nurses are female then they will be less likely to opt for a course in childcare.

Question 18

briefly explain how social and gender link to choice of vocational course

Answer 18

W/C pupils in particular may make decisions about vocational courses that are based on a traditional sense of gender identity. These ambitions may arise out of work experience placements, which are often gendered and classed.