Differential Educational Achievement by Gender Summary PowerPoint

1
Differential Educational Achievement by Gender
Summary PowerPoint

• Before 1980s most of the research on gender
  looked at the underachievement of girls
•  
• Today the focus is on why girls out perform boys
  . There is something of a moral panic about the
  underachievement of boys

2
Differential Educational Achievement Gender

• 3 Main Areas Of Explanation have been put forward
  
• Changing Attitudes
• Social Policy Aiding Females
• Boys Underachievement

3
Differential Educational Achievement Gender

• Changing Societal Attitudes
• Feminists point to a greater emphasis on equal
  opportunities in schools
• Teachers and their resources have become less
  stereotyped
• Initiatives like GIST (Girls Into Science)
• Teacher training has improved
• More jobs for women in tertiary sector

4
Differential Educational Achievement Gender

• Sue Sharpe 1976 1994
• Studied girls attitudes in a school in London
  in 1976
• Found that they wanted marriage, children and
  jobs in that order
• By 1994 girls in the same school now put career
  as their top priority

5
Differential Educational Achievement Gender

• Social Policy
• The expansion of Coursework over competitive
  exams arguably helps females who are better
  organised and motivated.
• The National Curriculum means that girls cant
  avoid science and technology. They now have an
  equal educational entitlement.
• Ofsted monitor the National Curriculum and
  teaching standards

6
Differential Educational Achievement Gender

• Boys Are Falling Behind
• The Job market
• Mac an Ghaill 1994 crisis of masculinity
• Identifies the decline of many male working class
  jobs in heavy industry.
• This all curbs WC boys ambition and they may see
  education as a waste of time and seek status
  elsewhere anti school subcultures

7
Differential Educational Achievement Gender Has
education been feminised?

• Reading is regarded as unmasculine
• Teachers have lower expectations of boys and let
  them get away with more
• There is a gender imbalance in the teaching
  profession few positive role models for boys
  especially in primaries

8
Differential Educational Achievement 2.Gender

• Subject Choice
• The National Curriculum has limited the different
  subject choices, but marked gender preferences
  have remained

If my lad wants to do needlework then he will do
needlework!
9
Differential Educational Achievement Gender

• A Level
• Males outnumber females in all science and
  technical subjects apart from biology
• Females outnumber males in all other subjects
• English, Modern Languages and Social Sciences
  have a particularly high proportion of females

10
Differential Educational Achievement Gender

• Alison Kelly 1987
• Gives 2 reasons for science being seen as
  masculine
• The subject is packaged for boys texts and
  teachers use examples from boys worlds e.g.
  football, cars etc
• Boys dominate the classroom, equipment and
  teachers attention