[INTERNAL] GENDER DIFFERENCES IN ACHIEVEMENT

EQUAL OPPORTUNITY POLICIES

  • policies such as GIST and WISE encourage girls to pursue careers in these non-traditional areas
    • Female scientists have visited schools, acting as role models
    • efforts have been made to raise science teachers efforts of gender issues
    • non-sexist career advice provided
    • learning materials in science reflecting girls interests have been developed
  • introduction of national curriculum in 1988 removed one source of gender inequality by making girls and boys study mostly the same subjects
  • BOALER sees the impact of equal opportunities policies as a key reason for the changes in girls achievemnt
  • many of the barriers have been removed and schooling has become more meritocratic so that girls who generally work harder than boys, achieve more

POSITIVE ROLE MODELS IN SCHOOL

  • increase in proportion od female teachers and heads
  • these women in senior positions act as role models for girls , showing them women can achieve positions of important and giving them non-traditional goals to aim for

  • women teachers are likely to be particularly important role models as far as girls educational achievement is concerned since to become a teacher, the individual must undertake a lengthy and successful education herself

GCSE & COURSEWORK

  • changes in the way pupils are assessed have favoured girls and disadvantaged boys
    • e.g Gerard found the gender gap in achievement was fairly constant from 1975-1989 when it increased sharply
    • this was the year GCSEs were introduced , bringing coursework with it as a major part of nearly all subjects
  • GORARD concludes the gender gap in achievemnt is a product of the changed system of assessment rather than failing of boys
  • MITSOS & BROWNE support this and say girls are more successful in coursework because they are better organised than boys
  • they spend more time on their work
  • take more care in the way its presented
  • better at meeting deadlines
  • bring right equipment to lessons
  • Along with GCSE came the greater use of oral exams- this is also said to have benefited girls because eof their better developed language skills

Sociologists argue these characteristics and skills are a result of early gender role socialisation in the family

  • e.g girls are more likely to be encouraged to be neat, tidy & patient
    • these qualities become an advantage in todays assessments, helping girls achieve higher

ELWOOD argues that although coursework has some finfluence its unlikely to be the only cause because exams have higher influence than coursework

TEACHER ATTENTION

  • The way teachers interact with boys and girls differ: JANE & FRENCH found that boys recieve more attention because they attracted more reprimands
  • FRANCIS found that while boys got more attention, they were disciplined more harshly and felt picked on by teachers, who tended to have lower expectations of them
  • SWANN found gender differences in communication styles- boys dominate in whole-class discussions whereas girls prefer pair-work and group work, and are better at listening at cooperating
  • This may explain why teachers respond more positively to girls whom they see as cooperative than to boys whom they see as potentially disruptive
    • this may lead to self-fulfilling prophecy in which successful interactions with teachers promote girls self-esteem and raise their achievemnt levels

CHALLENGING STEREOTYPES IN THE CURRICULUM

  • some sociologists argue that the removal of gender stereotypes from textbooks reading, reading schemes atnd other learning materials in recent years has removed a barrier to girls achievement
  • Research in the 1970s and 80s found that reading schemes portrayed women mainly as housewives and mothers, physics books showed them as frightened by science and maths books depicted boys as more inventive
  • WEINER argues that since the 1980s teachers have challenged stereotypes
  • also in general sexist images have been removed from learning materials
  • this may have helped to raise girls achievement by presenting them with more positive images of what women can do

SELECTION & 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 that the introduction of exam league tables has improved opportunities for girls: high achieving girls are more attractive to schools , whereas low-achieving boys are not - this tends to create a self-fulfilling prophecy because girls are more likely to be recruited by good schools, they are more likely to do well
  • SLEE argues boys are less attractive to schools because they are likely to suffer from behavioural difficulties and are 4 times more likely to be excluded
  • As a result boys may be seen as a liability students obstacles to the school improving its league table scores

2 VIEWS OF GIRLS ACHIEVEMENT

LIBERAL FEMINISTS

  • celebrate progress made so far in improving achievement
  • they believe that further progress will be made by the continuing development of equal opportunity policies, encouraging positive role models and overcoming sexual attitudes and stereotype
  • this is similar to the functionalist view that education is a meritocracy where all individuals regardless of gender , ethnicity or class are given an equal opportunity to achive

RADICAL FEMINISTS

  • Take more or a critical view- while they recognise that girls are achieving more, they emphasise that the system remains patriarchal and conveys the clear message that it is a mans world
  • E.G sexual harassment of girls continues at school - education still limits girls subject choices and career options
    • although there are now more female teachers, male teachers are still more likely to become heads of secondary schools
    • women are under-represented in many areas of the curriculum e.g their contribution to hisototy is largely ignored
      (Weiner describes the secondary school history curriculum as a women-free zone'