Sociology-Education-Gender Flashcards
(136 cards)
What are statistics for gender in achievement on starting school?
In 2013, teacher assessments of pupils at the end of year one showed girls ahead of boys by 7-17% points in all severn areas of learning assessed, girls were better at concentrating, and boys were 2 and 1/2 times more likely to have statements of special educational needs
What are statistics for gender in achievement at key stages 1 to 3?
Girls consistently do better than boys, especially in English where the gender gap steadily widens with age. In science and maths the gap is narrower but girls still do better
What are statistics for gender in achievement at GCSE?
Gender gap stands at around 10 percentage points
What are statistics for gender in achievement at AS and A-level?
Girls more likely to sit, pass and get higher grades than boys, though the gap is narrower than at GCSE, but even in ‘boys’ subjects, such as maths and physics, girls were more likely to get grades A-C
What are statistics for gender in achievement on vocational courses?
Preparing students for a career, results show a similar pattern. Larger proportion of girls achieve distinctions in every subject, including those such as engineering and construction where girls are a tiny minority of students
What are the external factors that cause girls to achieve more than boys?
The impact of feminism, changes in family, changes in women’s employment, and girls changing ambitions
What is feminism?
Social movement that strives for equal rights for women in all areas of life, since 1960s, they challenged traditional stereotype of a women’s role as solely that of mother and housewife
What did McRobbie 1994 find?
Magazine study, comparison from 1970s to today, which used to emphasise the importance of marriage, but today contain images of assertive, independent women
How does feminism lead to achievement in girls?
The changes encouraged by feminism can affect girls self image and ambitions wit regard to families and careers
What are some of the major changes in the family since the 1970s?
Increased divorce rate, increase in cohabitation/decrease in first marriages, increased lone parent families, and smaller families
How do changes in the family lead to achievement in girls?
Affect girls attitudes to education, eg female lone parent families mean mother may be the breadwinner, giving girls higher aspirations and sense of independence which would come with higher education and careers, and increase in divorces, shows girls you don’t have to rely on husbands
What are some important changes in women’s employment?
Equal pay act 1970, sex discrimination act 1975, since 1975 the pay gap halved from 30-15%, proportion of women in employment rose from 53-67% from 1971 to 2013, and some women are breaking through ‘glass ceiling’-invisible barrier keeping them out of higher level professional jobs
How do changes in employment lead to achievement in girls?
Encourages girls to see their future in terms of paid work, rather than as housewives, because they have greater career opportunities and better pay, plus they have role models of successful career women now giving incentive to gain qualifications
What did Sharpe 1994 find?
Girls changing priorities from 1970s to 1990s, 1970s = love, marriage, husbands, children jobs, careers. 1990s=prefer a career over relying on husbands income
What did O’Connor 2006 find?
Study of 14-17 year olds showed marriage and children weren’t major parts of their life plans
What did Beck and Beck-Gernsheim 2001 say?
Link the trend towards individualisation in modern society where independence is valued and so careers become part of a woman’s life project as it promises recognition and self-sufficiency
How do girls changing ambitions lead to achievement in girls?
They recognise that in order to achieve independence and self sufficiency, they need a good education
How does class link to gender and ambition?
There are class differences in how far girls ambitions have changed. Some working class girls continue to have gender stereotyped aspirations for marriage and children, and expect to go into traditional low paid women’s work
What does Reay 1998 argue?
Girls ambitions reflect the reality of the girls class position. Limited aspirations reflect limited opportunities they perceive as being available to them, and the traditional gendered identity is both attainable and offers a source of status
What did Biggart 2002 find?
Working class girls more likely to see motherhood and marriage as only viable future option, have low aspirations, and so see less point in achieving in education
What are the internal factors of gender differences in achievement?
Equal opportunities policies, positive role models in schools, GCSE and coursework, teacher attention, challenging stereotypes in the curriculum, and selection and league tables
How have feminists had internal effects on education?
Policymakers are much more aware of gender issues and teachers are more sensitive to the need to avoid stereotyping, and the belief that boys and girls are entitled to the same opportunities, is now mainstream thinking and influences educational policies
What are examples of educational policies?
GIST (girls into science and technology) and WISE (women into science and engineering) that encourage girls to pursue careers in these non traditional fields, where female scientists visited schools to act as role models, efforts raised to raise science teachers’ awareness of gender issues, and no sexist career advice and learning materials
What did the introduction of the national curriculum 1988 do?
Removed one source of gender inequality by making girls and boys study mostly the same subjects, which often wasn’t the case before this