Topic 4- Education

Question 1

What is the current gender gap in achievement?

Answer 1

Girls have overtaken boys in education

Starting school- at the end of year 1, girls were ahead of boys by 7%-17% in all 7 areas of learning
Key stage 1-3 : girls excel at literacy but are still ahead of boys by a narrower gap in maths and science
GCSE: theres is a 10% difference
As/ A level- more narrow but girls still do better
Vocational subjects- girls achieve distinctions more

Question 2

What are the external factors to girls achievement?

Answer 2

1) the impact of feminism
2) changes in family
3) changes in womens employment
4) girls changing attitude

Question 3

How does the impact of feminism affect gender differences in education?

Answer 3

Feminism has improved womens rights and opportunities
McRobbie- study comparing magazines from 1970s and 1990s and found a change from the importance of marriage to strong independent women.

Question 4

How does changes in the family affect gender differences in education?

Answer 4

Changes in family structure has allowed for strong independent women as role model for girls, resulting in them wanting to achieve educational success

Rise in divorce has made girls realise it is unwise to rely on husbands to provide

Question 5

How does changes in women’s employment affect gender differences in education?

Answer 5

1970- illegal to pay women less than men for the same work
Women in paid work has increased from 53% to 67% from 1971 to 2013
Women are ‘breaking through the glass ceiling’ obtaining high level and managerial jobs

Question 6

How is changing girls attitude affect gender differences in education?

Answer 6

Sharpe- interviewed girls in the 1970s and 1990s and saw a shift in how they see their future
1974- low expectations, prioritised love, marriage and children
1990s- girls prioritised their career

Fuller- found educational success became apart of girls identity

Beck and Beck-gernsheim - linked the change in attitude to a trend in individualism, it is apart of our self project

Question 7

What is a criticism of external factors to why girls achieve?

Answer 7

Reay- limited aspirations of w/c girls as they perceive jobs available being limited.

Question 8

What are the internal factors to why girls achieve more in education?

Answer 8

1) equal opportunities policies
2) positive role models
3) GCSE and course work
4) teacher attention
5) challening stereotypes in education
6) selection and league tables

Question 9

How does equal opportunities policies link to girls achievement in education?

Answer 9

Feminist ideas have impacted the education system and policies.

GIST ( girls into science/ technology) and WISE ( women into science/ engineering encourage girls in these fields.
Boaler- sees the impact of equal opportunities policies as a key reason for changes in girls achievement.

Question 10

How does positive role models link to girls achievement in education?

Answer 10

An increase of female teachers and head teachers, showing women can achieve positions of importance
This influences girls.

Question 11

How does GCSE and coursework link to girls achievement in education?

Answer 11

Gorard- claims the gender gap is due to the change is assessments as the gap changed at the time of the introduction of GCSES and coursework.

Question 12

How does teacher attention link to girls achievement in education?

Answer 12

They interact with boys and girls differently
Francis- boys were disciplined more harshly and felt picked on by teachers who has low expectations of them

Swann- boys dominate class discussions, girls are better at listening, teachers respond more positively to girls

Question 13

How does challenging stereotypes in the curriculum link to girls achievement in education?

Answer 13

Removal of gender stereotypes from learning material has removed a barrier to girls learning

Weiner- sexist images and stereotypes have been removed giving girls more positive images of what women can do

Question 14

How does selection and league tables link to girls achievement in education?

Answer 14

Jackson- high achieving girls are more attractive to schools, they are recruited by good schools and more likely to do well

Slee- boys are less attractive to schools due to behaviour difficulties, they are 4x more likely to be excluded

Question 15

What are feminist views on girl’s achievement?

Answer 15

Liberal- celebrate the process so far, believe further progress will be made and view education as meritocratic

Radical- the system is still patriarchal and conveys the message it is a ‘mans world’. Sexual harassment of girls, girls subject choice, male head teachers in secondary schools

Weiner- secondary school history is a ‘women free zone’.

Question 16

How does identities, class and gender achievement link together?

Answer 16

Archer- there is a conflict between working class girls identity and the ethos of school

W/c Girls create a sense of self through :
1) hyper-hetrosexual feminine identity - girls spend time effort and money into making their feminine identity. These girls were grouped together and suffered symbolic violence through ‘othering’.

2) having a boyfriend- this was symbolic capital to girls, but got in the way of school work.

3) being loud- loud feminine identities didn’t meet the ideal pupil, resulting in conflict between the teachers and students

However evans found some w/c girls wanted to go university to help their familes, their motivations reflects their caring identities

Question 17

What are external factors to boys achievement?

Answer 17

Boys and literacy-
1)mothers spend less time reading with boys, reading is seen as feminine, boys done have ‘bedroom culture’ the way girls do.
2) globalisation and decline of traditional mens jobs- manufacturing has relocated overseas which were dominated by men.
Mitsos and browne- argue this led to an identity crisis for men.

Question 18

What are criticisms to external factors to why boys underachieve?

Answer 18

Policies have been introduced to try improve boys achievement- national literacy strategy, reading champions using male role models

Decline in manufacturing jobs ( working class manual jobs), needed no qualifications therefore is unlikely it has impacted boys achievement

Question 19

What are internal factors to boys achievement in education?

Answer 19

1) feminisation of education
2) shortage of male primary school teachers
3) Laddish subculture

Question 20

How does the feminisation of education link to boys achievement in education?

Answer 20

Sewell- boy fall behind because of the curriculum is feminised. School doesn’t nurture masculine traits such as competitiveness or leadership. Coursework benefits girls

Question 21

How does shortage of male primary school teachers link to boys achievement in education?

Answer 21

A lack of male role models is said to be a cause of boys underachievement.
Yougov- 39% of 8-11 year old boys hav no lessons with a male teacher

Question 22

How does laddish subculture link to boys achievement in education?

Answer 22

Epstein- looked at how much masculinity is constructed and found w/c boys were labelled as sissies and subjected to homophobic abuse.
Schoolwork is seen feminine and as a result they reject it.

Question 23

What are criticisms of feminism?

Answer 23

Argue policies that promote gender equality are no longer needed, girls are no succeeding at boys expense

Question 24

What does ringrose say?

Answer 24

She argues that these views have contributed to a moral panic about boys achievement.

Question 25

What are trends in gender subject choice?

Answer 25

1) In regards to DT girls are more likely to pick food tech and boys are more likely to pick graphics
2) at A level, boys pick maths/ physics and girls pick english/ sociology
3) only 1 in 100 childcare apprentices are boys

Question 26

What is gender role socialisation?

Answer 26

Internal- byrne- teachers encourage boys to be ‘tough’, whilst girls are encouraged to be quiet and helpful

Murphy and elwood- this leads to differen subject choice as boys read hobbies books and girls read stories.

Question 27

What are gender domains?

Answer 27

Browne and ross- kids are more confident to do tasks that fit their gender domain, doing a maths test on cars or cooking

Question 28

How are subject choices gendered?

Answer 28

Kelly- argues science is seen as a male subject as science teachers are more likely to be men, boys dominate the lab in lessons

Question 29

How does gender identity and peer pressure link to subject choice?

Answer 29

Paechter- sport is seen as the male domain, girls who are sporty have to cope with an image that contradicts stereotypes.
Dewar- studied an American college and found male pupils called girls ‘bitch’ or ‘lesbian’ if they engaged in sport

Question 30

How are career opportunities gendered?

Answer 30

1) Women are concentrated in a narrow range of occupations
2) there are preconceived notions on what jobs are acceptable for boys and girls

Question 31

Explain pupils sexual and gender identities

Answer 31

Lees- identifies a double standard of sexual morality, boys boast about sexual exploit and girls get called ‘slag’. Promiscuity amongst girls attracts negative labels.

Connell- identifies vocab as a way to reinforce gender identities. Boys name calling.

The male gaze
Mac and ghaill- the way male teachers and pupils look at girls, seeing them as sexual objects, this coincides with boys boasting about it to reinforce masculinity .

Teachers
Haywood, mac, ghaill - male teachers told boys off for acting like girls and blamed girls for attracting verbal abuse
Askew and ross- male teachers rescued female teachers from disruptive pupils

Question 32

Explain male peer groups

Answer 32

They use verbal abuse to reinforce masculinity

Willis- boys who wanted to do well were labelled as feminine and gay

Mac and ghaill- macho w/c lads ignored the boys who worked hard

Question 33

Explain female peer groups

Answer 33

Archer- w/c girls gain symbolic capital from their female peers by having a hyper-heterosexual identity

Ringrose- being popular was crucial to w/c girls
Idealised identity- loyalty to friends and being non competitive
Sexualised identity- competing for boys in the dating culture