Gender And Education

Question 1

Achievement of males and females

Answer 1

Up until the 1980s girls were the concern as they did not achieve the grades to get them beyond GCSE level, in the 1990s girls started to outperform boys but by 2011 boys had started to catch up

Question 2

Perry and Francis

Answer 2

Despite gender, those on free school meals still perform worse than students who are not on free school meals

Question 3

Trends in achievement

Answer 3

• girls do better than boys in national curriculum tests (SATs) in English and Science and outperform boys in language and literacy
• in 2019, 4,8% of grades awarded to girls were 9s vs 3,6% of grades awarded to boys
• almost 25% of grades received by girls were a 7 or above, compared to 20% for boys
• 66% girls achieved a pass at grade 4 or better compared to 61,5% of boys
• female students currently outnumber males in almost 2/3 of degree subjects in the UK, men nevertheless remain over-represented in most STEM subjects
• female students are more likely to get a 1st and upper 2nd class degree

Question 4

Mitsos and Browne- improvement in the performance of girls

Answer 4

The women’s movement, feminism and equality in the family:
-achieved considerable success in improving the rights and raising the self-esteem of women
-challenged the view of women as housewives with more awareness of the patriarchy
-Young and Wilmott claim there is now equality within the family and joint conjugal roles
AO3:
-women still under minded in the workplace and many have to work harder than men to achieve the same roles
-women are still more likely to take on care roles (double burden)
-women are more likely to be single mothers
-women from certain cultures living in the UK may be expected to perform to traditional roles

Question 5

Mitsos and Browne- improvement in the performance of girls

Answer 5

Changes in women’s employment:
-Equal Pay Act, makes it illegal to pay women less than men for equal work
-Sex Discrimination Act, outlaws gender discrimination at work
-pay gap between men and women has halved and the proportion of women in paid employment has risen
-some women now breaking through the glass ceiling
AO3:
-higher paid jobs are often still male dominant

Question 6

Mitsos and Browne- improvement in the performance of girls

Answer 6

Girls changing ambitions:
-growing opportunities for women in the service sector
-many girls now grow up with mothers in paid full time employment
-Sharpe found in 1976 girls priorities were love, marriage, husband, children, jobs and careers in that order, when repeated in 1994 she found they had changed to be s job, career and supporting themselves
AO3:
-not all girls have role models

Question 7

Mitsos and Browne- improvement in the performance of girls

Answer 7

Equal opportunities policy:
-policies implemented in education such as removing gender bias from reaching resources, thus removing stereotypes in the curriculum
-campaigns such as WISE (women in science and engineering) and GIST (girls in science and technology) challenge gender bias in subjects
AO3:
-STEM is still male dominated
-women are more likely to take art-based subjects

Question 8

Mitsos and Browne- improvement in the performance of girls

Answer 8

Positive role models within schools:
-now positive role models on school, female teachers play an important role in shaping young girls education
-female teachers show girls they can achieve positions of importance
AO3:
-there are still negative representations of women in schools

Question 9

Mitsos and Browne- improvement in the performance of girls

Answer 9

Selection and league tables:
-marketisation policies have created a more competitive climate in which schools see girls as desirable recruits because they achieve better exam results
-Jackson notes the introduction of league tables has improved opportunities for girls, high achieving girls are more attractive to schools
AO3:
-ignores and excludes girls who underachieve

Question 10

Perry and Francis

Answer 10

Girls still tend to choose subjects which are considered to be feminine
Women are still less likely than men with similar qualifications to achieve similar levels of success in employment

Question 11

Liberal feminists

Answer 11

-celebrate the progress made so far by improving achievements
-believe further progress will be made by positive role models and equal opportunities

Question 12

Radical feminists

Answer 12

-period poverty
-education reinforces patriarchal values, the education system is patriarchal
-sexual harassment faced by girls in school
-education limits females career choice
-women are underrepresented in areas of the curriculum

Question 13

Identity, class and girls achievement- Archer

Answer 13

-Archer argues there is a conflict between working class feminine identities and the values and ethos of the school
-Archer uses the concept of symbolic capital, which refers to the status and self-worth we get from others
-Archer found that by performing to working class feminine identities girls gained symbolic capital from their peers yet this prevented them getting educational capital

Question 14

Identity, class and girls achievement- Archer

Answer 14

1) hyper sexual feminine identities
-many girls invest considerable time and money into constructing a desirable and sexual feminine identity
-this gained them status from their peers and avoided them being branded as a “tramp”
-leads to problems in schools as girls are often punished for having the wrong appearance, this leads to schools “othering” these girls as outsiders
-Bourdieu described this as symbolic violence, this is the harm done by denying someone symbolic capital

Question 15

Identity, class and girls achievement- Archer

Answer 15

2) boyfriends
-while having a boyfriend brought symbolic capital it got in the way of school work and lowered girls aspirations for academic success
-girls may get pregnant and drop out of school

Question 16

Identity, class and girls achievement- Archer

Answer 16

3) being loud
- some working class adopt a loud feminine identity- this leads to them being outspoken, independent, and assertive
- they may question the teachers authority and this does not fit into the view of the ideal submissive pupil

Question 17

Renold and Allan

Answer 17

Some girls lacked confidence in their ability and felt undervalued in the classroom. The researchers used high-achieving girls in 2 primary schools in South Wales and found that they played down their academic ability to appear more attractive to boys

Question 18

Boys and achievement

Answer 18

2022-23 academic year, boys performed worse on the following:
- exclusion: boys were nearly 2x as likely than girls to be suspended and more than 2x as likely to be permanently excluded
- end of reception year: just under 2/3 of boys has a ‘good level of development’ around 5, compared to 3/4 of girls
- end of primary schooling: 63% of girls met expected standard in all of English and maths compared to 56% of boys. However, in maths boys did slightly better, 73% met expected standard, compared to 72% of girls
- 2023, 68% of girls in state-funded education achieved both English and maths GCSEs grade 4 or above, compared to 63% of boys

Question 19

Boys and achievement

Answer 19

Globalisation and the decline of traditional manual jobs
- since the 80s there has been a decline in heavy industries such as steel, shipbuilding and mining
- Mac and Ghaill argue this has led to an identity crisis for men as they believe there is little prospect of getting a proper job, which undermines their self esteem and motivation to work
AO3:
- middle class boys can achieve and earn higher paying jobs, middle classes have economic capital
- those jobs don’t require high levels of education

Question 20

Boys and achievement

Answer 20

Lower expectations and discipline
- there is little evidence to suggest that teachers are not as strict with boys as they are with girls and thus allows boys to get ways with being disruptive, this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy
AO3
- schools usually have the same set of rules for both
- boys are two times more likely to be excluded

Question 21

Boys and achievement

Answer 21

Masculinity and the anti-social subculture
- Mac an Ghaill suggest that peer pressure encourages boys to maintain a masculine identity, which is partly developed through a resistance to school, they see hard work as feminine
A03
- anti-school subculture and labelling
- tends to be a class issue and some working class boys are hard working

Question 22

Boys and achievement

Answer 22

Feeling and behaving differently
- boys and girls feel differently about their ability- boys usually overestimate their ability and girls underestimate theirs
- Barber found that boys don’t try as they feel bright and capable, if they do not achieve success they blame the teachers
A03
- girls are consistently doing better than boys in education, including resukys wise
- socialisation, boys are more praised by their parents than girls

Question 23

Boys and achievement

Answer 23

Different leisure activities
- boys run around playing football and stay indoors playing computer games and girls are more lirkly to socialise with friends and read, girls are more developed linguistically and have more reasoning skills
AO3
- girls can play football and women in sport is becoming more common

Question 24

Lack of male primary school teachers

Answer 24

• some theorists argue that boys lack role models in schools as there is a shortage of male primary school teachers
• 2021 data finds that only 15% of primary school teachers are male
• previous research found that 39% of 8-11 year olds have no lessons with male teachers yet 42% of boys studied said male teachers make them behave better and work harder
  AO3: research suggests the gender of the teacher does not matter. Francis found 2/3 of 7-8 year olds believed gender of the teacher didn’t matter
  AO3: Read challenged the idea that primary education has been feminised and argued both males and females can apply an authoritarian discourse or a liberal discourse. She found although some people regard the authoritarian discourse as masculine most teachers still favour this approach
  AO3: Jones found women have only a one in four chance of getting a headship

Question 25

Moral panics about failing boys

Answer 25

- there have been several policies to tackle boys underachievement - Ringrose argued there is now a moral panic surrounding the underachievement of boys. She argues that this has led to policy shifts that have narrowed equal opportunity policy by focusing solely on gender rather than ethnicity or class - Osler also notes that by focusing on boys we are overlooking girls as most are doing better

Question 26

Reading Champions 2007 (POLICY)

Answer 26

Schools recruited boys, particularly those who have a high profile among students to become Reading Champions. These Reading Champions encourage other boys to get into reading by running positive reading activities and promotions. Schools can nominate the boys for bronze, silver and then gold awards, which provide recognition for their achievements.

Question 27

Engaging Fathers initiative 2004 (POLICY)

Answer 27

A push for all educational staff to focus more on the home-school policy. To ensure that schools engage effectively with fathers as well as mothers, so both are aware of what is happening in their child’s life. A detailed and regularly updated database on fathers (particularly non-resident fathers) that identifies contact information, interests, engagements with the school and ways in which fathers may be able to help their child

Question 28

Gender differences in subject choice

Answer 28

- the introduction of the national curriculum reduced students freedom to choose or drop subjects - when students choose they usually follow ‘gender routes’ and there are clear differences as A level, GCSE and vocational courses - during A levels males are more likely to do Business, Economics, Politics, Chemistry, Physics and Design Technology, whereas, females are more likely to choose Social Sciences, MFL, Humanities, English and Drama

Question 29

Skelton- gender identity and subject choice

Answer 29

Argues that males and females are drawn to different subjects based on their gender identity. For example, English is seen as feminine so girls choose this as it reaffirms their feminine identity and boys may find it challenges their masculine identity

Question 30

Connell - schools reinforce pupils gender identities

Answer 30

Argues that schools help construct individuals gender and sexual identity. Schools may contribute towards what Connell calls “hegemonic masculinity”- this is the dominance of heterosexual masculine identity and the subordination of female and homosexual identities

Question 31

Double standards- Lees

Answer 31

Lees identified a double standard when looking at make and females sexual exploits, if a girl dresses provocatively and speaks a certain way they are labelled ‘slags’ by their peers, however, males are seen as heroes is they have many sexual experiences

Question 32

Verbal abuse- Connell and Lees

Answer 32

Connell argues there is a rich vocal of abuse that reinforces gender identities Lees argues that girls are labelled ‘slags’ if sexually available and ‘drags’ if they are not

Question 33

The male gaze- Mac an Ghaill

Answer 33

There is the visual way that pupils control each others identities. Mac an Ghaill refer to this as the male gaze; this is the way male pupils and teachers look at girls as sexual objects, looking them up and down and making judgements about their appearance. Mac an Ghaill argues that this devalues femininity and promotes masculinity through male surveillance

Question 34

Male peer groups

Answer 34

Reinforce masculinity, this is evident in studies such as Willis and Mac an Ghaills studies. Mac an Ghaill found that the domains at view of masculine identity changes from ‘Macho lads’ in lower school to ‘real Englishmen’ in sixth form

Question 35

Teachers and discipline

Answer 35

Mac an Ghaill found that male teachers told boys off for “behaving like girls” and teased them if they got lower marks than girls in a test. This can also been seen when male teachers come to the rescue of female teachers from disruptive students

Question 36

Female peer groups and policing identity

Answer 36

Archers study on symbolic capital shows how peer groups in schools impact on students identity. Boys give girls symbolic capital, which can also lead to risks such as ‘slut shaming’ for those who chase boys and ‘frigid shaming’ for those who don’t o