Gender

• Gender attainment gap

  2024 - gender attainment gap at GCSE = 6.8%

  this has widened from the 2023 figure of 5.8%
• Gender changing aspirations external

  McRobbie

  in the 70s girls were more concerned with getting married and not being 'left on the shelf'

  by the 90s girls were depicted more assertive and independent and soaps now highlighted the importance of self esteem and personal choice for girls
• Gender changing aspirations

  Sharpe

  compared interview results - found in the 70s girls had low aspirations and saw educational success as unfeminine - priority to children, marriage

  90s - girls saw future as independent women with a career rather than being dependent
• Gender changing aspirations

  Francis

  2000 found that girls aged 14-16 seeking higher professional careers like medicine and law rather than the 'traditional' female jobs like hairdressing
• Gender unrealistic ambitions

  Francis and Eptstein

  points out that boys often have unrealistic career aspirations that require few formal qualifications e.g footballer

  girls aspirations tended to require academic effort- therefore have a commitment to schoolwork
• Gender equal opportunity

  Girls into Science and Technology (GIST)

  includes policies such as developing curriculum that reflect female interest, non-sexist career advice, raising awareness for teachers on gender role stereotyping
• Gender equal opportunity

  WISE women in science and engineering

  STEM encourages girls to go into employment areas not usually inhibited by girls
• Gender equal opportunity

  Kelly

  argues that making science a compulsory subject for all pupils helps to equalise performance
• Gender equal opportunity

  Machin and Mcnally

  found that 'Numeracy Hour' had the effect of reducing the gender gap in maths in KS1
• Gender positive role models

  Pascal

  more positive role models, growing ambition and more employment opportunities are key to explain female educational success- young women less likely to see a home and a family as a priority
• Gender lack of role models

  male teacher make boys behave better

  2023/24 - 14% of primary schoolteachers in England were male

  polls by YouGov show that 39% of 8 to 11 year old boys have no lesson with a male teacher yet the majority of boys surveyed said the presence of a male teacher made them behave better
• Gender feminised curriculum

  Gorard

  the changes in the way students are examined have favoured girls and disadvantaged boys- gender gap increased after introduction of coursework and GCSEs - girls are better organised and present work in a neater way that impresses assessors
• Gender feminised curriculum

  Sewell

  boys fall behind because school has been 'feminised'

  schools do not nurture 'masculine' traits like competitiveness and leadership and instead celebrate qualities such as methodical working and attentiveness in class
• Gender feminised curriculum

  Mitsos and Browne

  argue that girls are more successful at coursework because they are better organised such as keeping to deadlines and more conscientious
• Gender criticism of Gorard and Mitsos & Browne

  Ellwood

  although coursework has some impact on results, exams have more influence on grades so coursework has a limited effect in the gender gap in achievement
• Gender teacher feedback

  Barber

  for girls, feedback focuses more on their work whereas for boys feedback focuses more on behaviour
• Gender ideal pupil

  Becker

  girls equate to what Becker calls the 'ideal pupil' however this is too deterministic- not all ideal pupils do well
• Gender values

  Abraham

  relationships between girls and teachers are generally better than those enjoyed by boys and teachers - a reason for this could be that a higher percentage of girls share the values of the teacher

  these differences are difficult to operationalise
• Gender boys behaviour

  Debbie Epstein

  found wc boys are likely to be labelled as sissies and subjected to homophobic verbal abuse if they appear to be 'nerd' or a 'swot'
• Gender toxic masculinity

  Francis

  boys were more concerned about being labelled by peers as 'swots' as this is a threat to their masculinity

  wc boys tend to reject schoolwork for fear of being called 'gay'
• Gender challenging stereotypes

  Weiner

  sexist images have been removed from learning materials and this may have helped to raise girls achievement by presenting positive images of what girls can do
• Gender league tables

  Jackson

  introduction of league tables which place high value on academic achievement - high achieving girls are attracted to schools whereas low achieving boys are not - this tends to create a self fulfilling prophecy- girls are more likely t be recruited by good schools because they are more likely to do well
• Gender liability students

  Slee

  boys are less attractive to schools because they are more likely to suffer from behavioural problems and are nearly 4x more likely to be excluded (2009 figures)

  they can give schools a 'rough, tough' image that may deter high achieving girls from applying
• Gender sexual harassment

  Bates and Mulvey

  both note how school can often be an arena for sexual harassment and unwelcome touching and name calling

  Mulvey argues that women are subject to the 'male gaze' in school that may reduce self worth
• Gender Nike identity

  Archer

  wc girls used symbolic capital to gain status amongst peers - wearing Nike - however this put them in conflict with teachers preventing them from gaining good qualifications
• Gender crisis of masculinity

  Mitsos and Browne

  the decline in male employment opportunities has led to an 'identity crisis' for boys - this undermines motivation and self esteem and so boys give up trying to gain qualifications

  however the decline is in male manual work which was typically filled with wc boys with few qualifications - thus the disappearance of such jobs would have less of an impact on boys motivation to gain qualifications
• Gender subject choice

  Skelton

  students are drawn to particular subject areas due to an idea of what is suitable for their 'gender identity'
• Gender subject choice socialisation

  Bryne

  teachers encouraged boys to be tough and show initiative whereas girls were encouraged to be quiet and helpful

  as a result of differences in socialisation, boys and girls developed different interests
• Gender subject choice

  Murphy and Ellwood

  Boys read hobby books and information texts whereas girls are more likely to read stories about people - helps explain why boys prefer science whilst girls prefer English
• Gender subject choice

  Murphy

  boys and girls pay attention to different details when tackling a task

  Generally, girls focus on how people feel whereas boys focus on how things are made - helps explain why girls choose humanities and art whereas boys choose science
• Gender subject choice

  Kelly

  science is seen as a 'boys' subject because

  1. science teachers are more likely to be men
  2. textbooks draw on male experience rather than female
  3. in lesson boys 'monopolise' the apparatus and dominate the lab
• Gender subject choice

  pupils who attend single sex schools tend to hold less stereotyped subject images

  Leonard found this may result in them making less traditional subject choices
• Gender subject choice - sports

  Paetcher

  because pupils see sport as mainly within the male gender domain, girls who are 'sporty' have to cope with an image that contradicts the conventional female stereotype - may explain why girls are more likely to opt out of sport
• Gender Hegemonic masculinity

  Connell

  Hegemonic masculinity is based on the 'idealised' view of masculinity - men are competitive, rich and succeed and women are the reverse
• Gender gender identity

  Lees

  found boys called girls 'slags' if they appeared sexually available and 'drags' if they did not
• Gender gender identity

  Parker

  found boys were labelled 'gay' for being too friendly with female teachers
• Gender male peer groups

  Mac an Ghaill

  Parnell school - different class based identities

  the wc 'macho' lads were dismissive of other wc boys who worked hard and wanted a career calling them 'dickhead achievers'

  the mc 'real gentleman' tried to project an image of 'effortless achievement'
• Gender sixth form identity

  Redman and Mac an Ghaill

  the dominant definition of masculinity changes from the macho lads in lower school to that of the real englishmen by sixth form

  this represents a shift from the wc definition of toughness to a mc definition based on being clever
• Gender male gaze

  Mac an Ghaill

  the way male pupils and teachers look girls up and down, seeing them as sexual objects and making judgements about their appearance

  see the male gaze as a form of surveillance where the dominant heterosexual masculinity is reinforced and femininity is devalued

  one of the ways that boys prove their masculinity to their friends - if not could be labelled 'gay'
• Gender female peer groups - popularity

  Ringrose

  study of 13-14 year old wc girls in South Wales school found that being popular was critical to a girls identity