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GENDER AND EDUCATION - Coggle Diagram
GENDER AND EDUCATION
boys and achievement
boys and literacy
- gap is mainly the result of boys poor language skills
- parents spend less time reading to them, mothers usually do it so may be seen as feminine
- boys usually take part in leisure pursuits
- likely to affect achievement across the board
globalisation and the decline of traditional mens jobs
- decline in industries such as iron and steel
- decline in mass made employment led to identity crisis for men
- many boys have little hope of getting a proper job and this undermined their motivation and self-esteem so they give up on qualifications
feminisation of education
- sewell - boys fall behind because education has become feminised
- schools no longer nurture masculine triats such as competitiveness and leadership. instead they favour traits girls typically have such as discipline and attentiveness
- he also sees that coursework is a huge source of difference in achievement, some coursework should be replaced with exams and a greater emphasis on outdoor activities
shortage of male primary school teachers
- lack of male role models at school and home
- increase in lone parent families means no male figures
are more male teachers really needed?
- absence of male role models = not a major factor in boys achievement
- francis - 2/3 boys 7-8 year olds believed gender teachers dont matter
laddish subcultures
- boys are concerned about being labelled as swots, and see this as a threat to their masculinity
- therefore reject school work to avoid being called gay
moral panic about boys - critics of feminism state polices to promote girls achievement are no longer needed as girls possess 'girl power' and take men's jobs
gender, class and ethnicity - boys are a lost cause - performance of both sexes has improved recently. boys are now lagging behind girls but they're achieving more than in the past
internal factors
equal opportunities policies
- feminist ideas have had a major impact on the education system
- boys and girls are entitled to same opportunities -mainstream thinking
- this influences educational policies
- GIST and WISE encourage girls to pursue careers in these non-traditional areas. female scientists visited schools to act as role models for young girls
- efforts have been made to raise science teachers' awareness of gender issues
- non-sexist career advice has been provided and learning materials in science reflecting the development of girls' interests
- the national curriculum was introduced in 1988 - this removed one of the sources of gender inequality by making girls and boys study mostly the same subjects which was not the case before.
positive role models in school
- in the last 20 years there has been an increase in the number of females taking up head teacher and superior teacher roles which acts as role models for girls, showing them they can achieve positions of power and importance
- women teachers are likely to be particularly important role models of girls since, to become a teacher, the individual must undertake a lengthy and successful education herself
- liberal feminists - celebrate progress but believe there is still more work to be done. still a need for equal opportunities polices, positive role models and education against sexist attitudes and stereotypes
GCSE coursework
- some sociologists argue that changes in the way pupils are assessed have favoured girls and disadvantaged boys
- Gorard (2005) found that the gender gap in achievement was fairly constant from 1975 until 1989 where it increased sharply. this was the year in which GCSE was introduced, bringing with it coursework
- Mitsos and Browne conclude that girls are more successful in coursework because they are more conscientious and better organised than boys
- girls: spend more time on their work, take more care with the way it is presented, are better at meeting deadlines, bring the right equipment and materials to lessons
- these characteristics and skills are the result of early gender role socialisation in the family. for example, girls are encouraged to be neat, tide and patient.
- these qualities become an advantage which means girls achieve greater success than boys
teacher attention
- peter and jane french analysed classroom interaction, they found that boys received more attention because they attracted more reprimands. they found that the way teachers interact with boys and girls differ
- Francis also found that while boys get 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 and cooperating
- when working in groups, girls speech involved turn taking, and not hostile interruptions that often characterise boys' speech
- 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 a SFP in which successful interactions with teachers promote girls self-esteem and raise their achievement levels
challenging stereotypes in the curriculum
- some sociologists argue that the removal of gender stereotypes from textbooks, reading schemes and other learning materials in recent years has removed a barrier to girls achievement
- reading schemes portrayed women mainly as housewives and mothers
- physics books showed them as frightened by science
- maths books depicted boys as more inventive
- the active and dominant males in reading schemes may be reflected in the behaviour of boys and girls in the classroom
- the classroom stereotypes tend to put girls at an advanatge over boys through unconscious bias in that if the teachers have the preconception that girls will do better than boys, then they are more likely to focus more on the girls. but this can also work the other way
- however, despite this, there are far less historically significant women represented in corridors and on display boards than men, creating the idea that men are smarter than women
selection and league tables
- introducing league tables made girls more desirable for schools as they are more likely to achieve better grades - improve the schools image in the public eye
- marketisation policies - schools have to compete with each other in order to attract the highest achieving pupils
- on the other hand, boys may be seen as 'liability student' - viewed as obstacles to improving league table scores, as they may be seen as students who are 'holding back' the full potenial of the school
- boys make the school appear as 'rough and tough', which in turn means they are less likely to attract high-achieving girls
- Jackson links this desire for high achieving girls to a SFP, take on this status of greater achievement
- the introduction of exam league tables has improved opportunities for girls
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identity, class and girls achievement
- only 40.6% of girls from poorer families achieved 5 a*-c grades as GCSE whereas over 2/3 of those not on FSM did so
- archer - conflict between working class girls feminine identities and the values and ethos of the school
- in her study of working class girls, archer found that by performing their wc feminine identities, the girls gained symbolic capital from their peers. this brought them into conflict with school, preventing them from acquiring educational and economic capital. identities serve strategies for girls creating a valuable sense of self
hyper-heterosexual identities - many of the girls invested considerable time, effort and money constructing 'desirable' hyper heterosexual feminine identities. identities combined black urban american styles with unisex sportswear and 'sexy' clothes, makeup and hairstyles. brought status from female peer group and avoided being ridiculed as 'tramp' for wearing the wrong brand
boyfriends - having a boyfriend brought symbolic capital but got in the way of schoolwork and lowered girls aspirations. including losing interest in uni, studying 'masculine' subjects etc. instead they aspired to 'settle down', have children and work locally in wc jobs
being 'loud' - led them to be outspoken, independent and assertive. this failed to conform to the school's stereotype of ideal female pupil identity as passive and submissive to authority and brought conflict with teachers
working class girls dilemma - either gained symbolic capital from their peers by conforming to hyper heterosexual feminine identity or gaining education capital by rejecting their wc identities and conforming to schools mc notions of a respectable, ideal female pupil. some girls try to cope with this dilemma by defining themselves as 'good underneath' - reflects girls' struggle to achieve a sense of self worth within an education system which devalues their wc feminine identities. educational success and wc feminine identities conflict with one another is a major cause of underachievement.
successful working class girls - some do succeed and go on to higher education. may still be disadvantaged by their gender and class identities. in her study of 21 working class sixth form girls in a south london comprehensive school, evan found that girls wanted to go to university in increase their earning power. this was not for themselves but to help their families. girls motivation reflected in their wc feminine identities. a reason for living at home was economic necessity, cost and fear of debt are major issues for many wc students in deciding which universities to apply to. while living at home made higher education more affordable, it also limited choice of university and market value of degree
external factors
the impact of feminism
- since the 1960s feminism has challenged the traditional stereotype of women as a housewife and mother and inferior to men in work, education and the law
- not yet full equality, the movement has had considerable success in improving women's rights and opportunities through changes in the law
- these chanages are reflected in media images and messages: McRobbie - studied girls magazines in the 70s, they emphasied the importance of getting married, now they contain images of assetive and independent women
- this has helped improve girls' self image and ambitions and can explain improvement in education achievement. because they can now see a point to education as they want careers - boys are not doing worse than they used to, girls have improved at a much more significant rate.
changes in the family
major changes in the family since the 1970s:
- divorce rate has increased
- increase in cohabitation and decrease in first marriages
- increase in lone parent families
- smaller families
these changes have affected girls' attitudes towards education, lone parent households have increased female breadwinners which creates new role models for girls - financially independent women
changes to employment
- 1970 equal pay act - makes it illegal to pay women less than men for work of equal value
- 1957 sex discrimination act - outlaws discrimination at work
- since 1955 the gender pay gap has halved from 30% to 15%
- the proportion of women in employment has risen from 51% in 1973 to 67% in 2013
- some women are breaking through the glass ceiling of higher professional jobs
these changes have encouraged girls t see a future in paid employment. greater career opportunities and equal pay provide an incentive for girls to gain qualifications
girls changing attitudes
Sharpe 1994 interviewed girls in the 1970s and 90s and showed a major shift in the way girls see their future:
- 70s - low aspirations,educational success is unfeminine, priorities given to love, marriage, husbands, children, jobs, careers. this job was to be a wife and a mother
- 90s - careers and being able to support themselves now was the top priority, girls saw there future as an independent women with a career. focus on being able to support themselves, be financially independent
girls underachievement
- in the 70s/80s the main focus of gender research in education was girls underachievement.
- although at GCSE the gender gap was non-existent at A level and degree level boys were outperforming girls
- in many respects the explanations for this are now redundant with girls outperforming boys - however they may still be relevant in pointing to factors which prevent girls from reaching their full potential
early socialisation
- Norman - gender socialisation has begun before children start schools, from how boys and girls are told to play and which toys to play with can lead to different developments of aptitudes and attitudes
- girls are given stereotypical toys and 'carers' boys more active and given constructional toys. this may reflect in their attitudes in the classroom. they are also influenced through the media
- a consequence of this is girls may attach less value to education. Sharpe (1976) - working class london girls had priorities that were unlikely to encourage them to attach importance to education. sharpe argues that girls have little incentive to achieve education as they see their future as marriage
- in the 1990s Sharpe repeated her research - girls priorities had changes, now focused on careers. this explains who girls achieve higher than boys in education
socialisation in schools
- sociologists claim there is bias against girls in education. Lobban (1974) found evidence of this in reading schemes. out of 179 stories, 35 had heroines compared to 71 with heroes. women were portrayed in traditional domestic roles and men took the lead
- Best (1992) - looked at 132 books from preschoolers and found little change. there were 94 heroes and 44 heroines
behaviour in the classroom - Licht and Dweck (1987) found that girls lacked confidence in their ability to carry out intellectual tasks successfully. boys were able to shrug off failures by attributing them to a lack of effort in their part or unfair assessment by teachers
Stanworth (1983) - further education
- examined A-level classes, she interviewed teachers and students from 7 classes. she suggested that attitude displayed by teachers would impede the educational progress of girls
- teachers found it difficult to remember the girls in their classes. all students whose names were difficult to recall or remember by teachers were girls. loud boys were remembered but quiet girls blended into the background
- teachers held stereotypical views of female students futures, marriage not important/successful jobs
- students named boys two and a half times more often as girls when asked which students were given the most attention by teachers, although girls outnumbered boys in every class studied. students reported that boys were four times as likely to contribute in class. twice as likely to ask for help and be asked questions
- classroom interactions disadvantaged girls. teachers played a role but students also played a role in the regeneration of a gender hierarchy
Francis (1998) - girls and achievement
- conducted research in 3 london secondary schools which has different levels of overall achievement and located in different areas with majority working class students. she visited 4 different classes three times. she also interviewed a sample of students
- she found that classrooms were gendered and boys dominated and monopolised space and girls drew less attention to themselves. in 8/12 classes boys were noisier and most teachers treated male and female students differently
- boys were disciplined more harshly and frequently than girls. this might reflect in the noisiness of boys and girls taking quiet rather than disrupting the classroom
- girls were getting less attention and schools remained largely male dominated