Gender and Education Flashcards
(17 cards)
Trends in Gender and attainment:
Girls consistently out-perform boys in KS2 tests. The
percentage gap is on average 7%
GCSE - Girls doe better on average by around 8%
A-levels Girls average grade: C+
A-Levels Boys average grade C
Early socialisation impact on educational attainment:
Early socialisation – girls encouraged to become housewives and lower aspirations.
Gender stereotyping in schools lowering aspirations of girls.
Girls treated differently and behaved differently – lower confidence.
What did Stanworth argue?
Teachers’ attitudes favoured boys. Teachers had lower
aspirations for even academic girls. Boys got more attention. Boys overestimated ability, girls underestimated. Boys dominated classroom.
What did Francis 2000 argue
Francis (2000): found schools still male dominated, girls quieter, boys demanded more attention, curriculum still patriarchal. Not all classes had differential treatment. She found girls aspirations and expectations were higher.
Impact of feminism on gender attainment:
Improved the rights of women as well as raising expectations & self-esteem/ motivation of women.
Women now more likely to achieve better in education for better careers.
Changes in the economy impact on gender attainment:
Mitsos & Browne (1998) highlight how the growing Service Sector/ Economy has created more ‘feminised’ career opportunities for women e.g. in Health Care, Hospitality, Teaching, Clerical, Childcare professions.
Francis 2001 Interviewed girls about their career aspirations & concluded that, due to increased employment opportunities, females have become extremely ambitious & aim for ‘high professions’ such as Doctors & Solicitors.
-1970 Equal Pay Act
-1975 Sex discrimination act.
Changes in the family structure impact on educational attainment:
The decline in marriage means that more women are focussing on careers and education rather than family / marriage.
Beck Individualisation thesis:
Society characterised by risk and uncertainty and
individualisation.
Everything is less predictable – marriage, employment.
This means people are less reliant on others – more
individualised.
Women more likely to focus on their education and careers.
Why do girls achieve better on coursework:
Francis (2000)
Suggests that girls have better working habits, and more supportive attitude to school-work, organisation /time management / planning. Therefore they are more likely to do better.
What do Oakhill and Petrides (2007) argue?
Found that boys’ interest in the content of what they are reading influence their ability to understand a text, and therefore their grasp of and motivation and development in that subject.
Whereas the content of what was being read did not seem to have much of influence on girls’ understanding or performance in a subject.
What does Spender 1982 argue?
Teacher’s time is spent mostly on the troublesome boys rather than the girls who are keen to learn.
What does Sewell 2006 argue?
Argues that education has become ‘feminised’ & do not nurture masculine traits - boys feel marginalised.
External factors that lead to girls achieving well:
Many girls will grow up seeing their mothers in paid employment – providing a role model for them and incentivising them to do the same.
-Women’s movement and feminism
-Equal Pay Act (1970)
-Increase in job opportunities for women.
Internal factors that lead to girl achieving well:
-Equal Opportunities Policies
-GCSEs & Coursework
-Reading in School
-Teacher labelling and attention
-Positive Role Models in Schools
Jackson- Laddish behaviour 2006:
Interviewed 200 boys in 8 different schools and found
that across all-classes. Being “laddish” is key to being cool, and this means rejecting school.
Laddish behaviour = Hegemonic Masculinity: Heterosexuality, toughness and competitiveness.
“Laddish” masculinity = rejection of effeminate school =
under-performance.
Failure = threat to masculinity = rejection of school as a way to avoid/excuse failure.
Changes in the labour-market = traditional avenues of masculinity are not available to boys = alternative avenues are sort.
Supported by Forde et. Al (2006)
-Peer-pressure encourages boys to maintain a dominant
masculine identity.
Boys can develop “street-cred” by not working,
Mac an Ghalil (1994) Study findings:
Rapid decline in traditional working-class jobs =
limited prospects for working-class boys = unable
to provide for a family = low self-esteem/ low
self-image.
They do not know how they will gain a sense of
masculinity, leading to an identity-crisis (crisis of
masculinity).
The alternative/solution for boys is to gain a sense
of masculinity and positive-status through laddish
behaviour, aggressive macho posturing and
anti-school activity.
What is the relationship between gender and subject choice?
Skelton 2007 – science (more popular with boys) seen as higher status and more difficult.
WISE and GIST enables and energises people in business, industry and education to increase the participation, contribution and success of women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
