Educational attainment and gender
- Created by: chlopayne
- Created on: 17-04-19 16:07
View mindmap
- Educational attainment and gender
- Gender is a social construction.
- 1940-50s = boys tended to do better than girls.
- 1960s-70s = feminists challenged this.
- Now = girls are outperforming boys.
- 1960s-70s = feminists challenged this.
- Helen Wilkinson (1994) created the term gender quake, describes shifts that were taking place in gender patterns.
- Legal and policy reforms
- Sex discrimination act 1975. Gender discrimination in employment illegal.
- Impact in schools - illegal to filter students into subjects by gender. Introduction of national curriculum (1988).
- Certain subjects mandatory for all students.
- Shifting expectations
- More opportunities for girls means more is expected of them.
- Aspirational presentation of women in the media.
- Research by Stanworth (1983) found girls were marginalised in the classroom.
- Parents may have fewer aspirations for their songs to achieve academically.Less pressure to work hard and less support.
- Expectations of teachers may be importantin determining achievement and lead to differing treatment of boys and girls.
- Changing aspirations
- Aspirations of girls may have increased with more opportunities
- Girls want University and a career - increased engagement with school.
- Sue Sharpe (1976) found working class girls aspirations were focused on family and motherhood.
- She repeated her research in 1944, girls were more career orientated.
- Aspirations of girls may have increased with more opportunities
- Feminism
- One of the strongest arguments to explain changes is feminism.
- Increased opportunities mean women no longer have the expectation of finding a husband to support her.
- More jobs were demanding communication skills and ability to get along with people, attributes associated with women.
- School organisation + feminisation of education
- Changes to government policy and examination favour girls.
- Introduction of coursework (1980-1990s) benefits girls learning styles more.
- Teaching profession is dominated by women.
- Boys have few male role models in school.
- Males feel the need to reject educational success to assert their masculinity.
- Emphasis tends to be on helping girls do better and take up male subjects, less has been done to encourage boys to challenge stereotypes.
- Boys behaviour is seen as more challenging by teachers.
- Changes to government policy and examination favour girls.
- Gender socialisation
- Sue Sharpe (1976) gender differences at school reflects the creation of gender identity.
- Begins in primary socialisation at home and reinforced in secondary socialisation in education.
- Accounts for boys and girls opting 'masculine' and 'feminine' subjects in options.
- The national curriculum attempted to break down these gendered subjects but some still are associated with boys/girls.
- Clarricoats has pointed that social class is a factor in subject choice.
- Middle class girls are more likely to opt for male dominated subjects.
- Sue Sharpe (1976) gender differences at school reflects the creation of gender identity.
Comments
No comments have yet been made