Internal factors

• GCSE and coursework

  Mitos and Brown found that girl do better than boys in coursework beacuse they are more conscientious and better organised. Gorse found that their ambitions gender gap in achievement increased sharply when GCSE was introduced in 1988
• Equal opportunities policy

  GIST and WISE programmes to encourage girls into science and technology. National curriculum - girls and boys largely study the same subjects.
• Role models

  there are more female teachers which feminises the learning environment and encourages girls to see school as part of a female gender domain.
• Teacher attention

  Swann found that boys dominate class discussions whereas girls are better at listening and cooperating. Teachers respond more positively to girls and give them more encouragement. French and french found that the teachers paid boys and girls similar amounts of attention for academic reasons, but boys received more attention overall beacuse they were disciplined more often.
• selection and league tables

  Marketisation policies have led to increased completion between schools. Schools therefore have the incentive to recruit more able students. Girls are generally more successful than boys, so are more attractive to schools.
• Feminisation of schooling

  Boys fall behind beacuse education has been feminised, meaning schools no longer nurture masculine traits. The introduction of coursework has disadvantaged boys. Lack of male primary school teachers only 1 in 6 primary school teachers are male
• Laddish subcultures

  There is peer pressure on boys to demonstrate their masculinity by being anti school