gender and educational opportunities (inside school) Flashcards
equal opportunities policies; boaler
sees the impact of equal opportunities policies such as GIST/WISE and the national curriculum as a key reason for the changes in girls’ achievement. Many of the barriers have been removed and schooling has become more meritocratic (based on equal opportunities) – so that girls, who generally work harder than boys, achieve more.
more female role modals in schools
There has been an increase in the number of female teachers and head teachers. In fact, in 2012, 71% of primary school teachers were female, and 86% of heads. The numbers are lower in secondary school though, with only 37% of heads being women
the introduction of gcses including corsework
Stephen Gorard (2005) found that the gender gap increased significantly in 1989: the same year that GCSEs and coursework were introduced.
Mitsos and Browne found that girls do better in coursework because they:
Spend more time on it
Take more care with presentation
Are better at meeting deadlines
Are more organised e.g. bringing material to lessons
This is a lot to do with primary socialisation, as girls are encouraged to be neat, tidy and quiet.
challenging stereotypes; lobban
conducted content analysis of 209 reading schemes in primary schools and found that females were nearly always presented in traditional domestic roles. Gaby Weiner (1995) suggests that since the ‘80s, teachers have challenged sexism in the curriculum, and sexist images have been removed from textbooks, reading books and other reading materials
teacher attention, boys
Teachers give boys more attention, but it is often negative attention, with teachers having lower expectations of boys, and disciplining them more harshly than girls
marketisation selection and league tables
As market forces have been introduced into education, schools have become keen to attract the students who are most likely to succeed, in a bid to improve their league table position. Boys are seen as ‘liability students’ as they are 4x as likely to be excluded plus less likely to achieve 5 A*-C at GCSE
feminisation of education; sewell
believes that education has become feminised: schools no longer reward masculine traits such as competitiveness and leadership, but approve more of feminine traits such as attentiveness and diligence. Sewell believes boys would benefit from replacing coursework with exams (which is starting to happen) and including more boy-friendly topics in the curriculum e.g. outdoor adventure.
lack of male role modals
Only 14% of primary and 39% of secondary teachers are male, but boys claim that they behave better and even work harder for male teachers
‘laddish’ subcultures
Debbie Epstein (1998) – w/c boys are bullied by peers if they appear to be ‘geeks’, as ‘real boys don’t work’. They are likely to be called ‘gay’ if they are seen to be ‘swots’.
gender role socialisation and gender domeins
Gender role socialisation is the process of learning the behaviour expected of males and females in society. This means that beliefs about ‘gender domains’ (Browne and Ross) are shaped by early socialisation e.g. which tasks/activities are seen as male or female ‘territory’.
Becky Francis argues that from an early age, families encourage boys and girls to act/play differently.
They are also likely to see their adult role models performing gender-stereotyped tasks e.g. mother caring for sick children, father fixing a blocked sink.
At school, teachers may treat girls and boys differently e.g. by encouraging boys to play with cars and girls to play with dolls.
gendered subject images
This links to how certain subjects are seen as ‘boys’ subjects’ or ‘girls’ subjects’, such as science, which Alison Kelly argues is seen as masculine. This may be because:
Science teachers are more likely to be male
Examples used in learning resources/lessons are often related to boys’ hobbies e.g. cars
Boys often dominate apparatus and experiments
gendered career opportunity’s
Employment tends to be gendered: there are some jobs that are seen as stereotypically male or female.
gender identities
notions about what it means to be masculine and feminine. Connell argues that schools reinforce ‘hegemonic masculinity’ – the idea that heterosexual male identities are powerful and dominant over female and gay identities.
teacher discipline
Mac an Ghaill found that male teachers told boys off for ‘behaving like girls’, and ignored boys’ verbal abuse of girls. Other research showed that male teachers ‘rescue’ female teachers from disruptive pupils.
peer groups
Working class girls gain popularity from female peers by emphasising their heterosexual, feminine identity. Boys use verbal abuse to reinforce masculinity e.g. ambitious w/c boys called ‘dickheads’ by w/c ‘macho lads (Mac an Ghaill)
