(other Factors) Gender& Education

Question 1

What has the growing gap in achievement given rise to

Answer 1

The concern that boys are falling behind

Question 2

Factors to why boys are falling behind in education

Answer 2

1. Boys poor literacy skills
2. The feminisation of education
3. The shortage of male primary school teachers
4. Laddish subcultures

Question 3

Boys literacy

Answer 3

1. Parents spend less time reading with their sons
2. Of that reading undertaken by parents, most is done by the mother, as a result reading appears ‘feminine’
3. Boys leisure pursuits (football & computer games) do not help develop language skills
4. Girls leisure pursuits involve communication & relationship building which do help develop language skills (bedroom culture)

Question 4

The decline of traditional men’s jobs

Answer 4

Industry ‘outsourced’
Since the 1980s, big decline in heavy manufacturing, mining, steelworking

Question 5

What did Mitsos & Ken Browne (1998) argue

Answer 5

Decline in traditional men’s jobs has led to a ‘crisis of masculinity’

Question 6

Why do W/C boys lose motivation to get qualifications

Answer 6

Without a prospect of getting a job, creates low self- esteem and education becomes pointless

Question 7

Criticism of decline in traditional men’s roles

Answer 7

These jobs did not require many (if any) qualifications, as such their disappearance probably has had little impact on boys’ motivation to obtain qualifications

Question 8

What did Tony Sewell (2006) argue

Answer 8

1. Schools do not nurture ‘masculine’ traits such as competitiveness & leadership
2. Instead they celebrate traits more closely associated with girls, such as attentiveness in class & methodical working
3. Argument that coursework should be replaced with a single exam
4. “We have challenged the 1950s patriarchy… but we have thrown the boy out with the bathwater”

Question 9

Shortage of male primary school teachers

Answer 9

1. Lack of strong, positive male role models at home& in school
2. 1.5 million single-mother families in the UK

Question 10

What did DfES (2007) show

Answer 10

Only 16% of primary school teachers are male

Question 11

What did YouGov (2007) show

Answer 11

1. 39% of 8- 11 year old boys have no lessons with male teachers
2. Despite many saying they concentrate better & work harder with male teachers

Question 12

‘Laddish’ subcultures

Answer 12

“Real boys don’t work”… & if they do they get bullied

Laddishness spreading & growing as boys try to construct themselves as a ‘non feminine’

Question 13

What did Epstein (1998) show

Answer 13

1. Boys harassed, labelled as sissies, or subjected to homophobic abuse if they appear to work hard

Question 14

What did Francis (2001) argue

Answer 14

Boys are more concerned than girls about being labelled swots/nerds/geeks

Question 15

In W/C culture, masculinity is equated with?

Answer 15

‘Tough’ manual work

Question 16

Subject choice & gender identity

Answer 16

1.Boys tend to choose maths & physics

2. Whilst girls choose modern languages

Question 17

What did anne Oakley (1973) argue

Answer 17

1. Sex refers to physical differences between male & female, gender refers to learned cultural differences
2. Gender role socialisation - is the process of learning behaviour expected of males & females in society
3. Boys & girls are dressed differently, given different toys & encouraged to engage in different activities
4. Boys are rewarded for being active & girls being passive
5. Boys are rewarded at school for being tough & showing initiative, girls are supposed to be quiet,helpful &clean

Question 18

Early socialisation

Answer 18

Gender domains:

Tasks & activities which boys or girls see as their ‘territory’ & therefore relevant to themselves

Question 19

What did Patricia Murphy (1991) show

Answer 19

Gave children a task to design boats & vehicles & to write an estate agent for a house

Boys: designed powerboats & weaponry

Girls: designed cruise ships with attention given to social & domestic details

Question 20

Peer pressure in subjects

Answer 20

Boys: tend to opt out of dance & music for fear of attracting a negative response from their peers

Girls: sports are often considered more masculine - boys consider girls ‘butch’ or ‘lesbian’ if they’re more interested in sports than themselves

Question 21

Gendered career opportunities

Answer 21

1. Jobs tend to be ‘sex typed’
2. Women’s jobs often involve work similar to that performed by housewives ( childcare & nursing)

Question 22

Reinforce their gender & sexual identities

Answer 22

Verbal abuse, male peer groups, teachers & discipline, the male gaze & double standards

Question 23

What did Bob Connell (1995) argue

Answer 23

That all these experiences could lead to the creation of a ‘hegemonic masculinity’ (the dominance of heterosexual masculine identity, & the subordination of female & gay identities)

Question 24

Verbal abuse

Answer 24

1. A rich vocab of abuse is 1 way in which gender & sexual identities are reinforced
   - boys use name calling ‘slags’ or ‘sluts’ if they appear to be sexually available, & ‘frigid’ if they didn’t
   - some boys are labelled gay simply for talking to girls or being friendly with female teachers

Question 25

Male peer groups

Answer 25

1. ‘Macho’ W/C lads criticise or abuse W/C boys who work hard & aspire to M/C careers (‘dickhead achievers’) 2. M/C boys often try to appear to be ‘effortlessly achieving’- working on the quiet

Question 26

The male gaze

Answer 26

1. Male pupils & teachers look girls up & down, seeing them as sexual objects , making judgements about their appearance 2. A form of surveillance, reinforcing hetero-masculinity & devaluing feminity 3. Boys tell & retell stories of sexual conquests, those who don’t are labelled as gay

Question 27

What did Haywood & Mac an ghaill (1996) show

Answer 27

1. Male teachers tell off boys for ‘acting like girls’ & tease them when they score lower than girls on tests 2. Teachers tend to ignore boys verbal abuse of girls & tell girls of for ‘attracting it’ 3. Male teachers are often ‘protective’ of female staff, ‘rescuing’ them from disruptive classes