Boys underachievement

• Boys' underachievement


  • Attention has focused on reasons for it
  • Sociologists have identified several factors that may be responsible
• Factors leading to boys' underachievement

  Opposite of factors that have led to girls' performance improving
• Literacy


  One reason for boys lagging behind is their poorer literacy skills
• Reasons for boys' poorer literacy skills

  1. Parents spend less time reading to sons

  2. It is mainly mothers who read to young children, so reading is seen as a feminine activity

  3. Boys' leisure interests (e.g. sport and computer games) don't encourage language and communication skills, whereas girls' 'bedroom culture' does
• Because language and literacy are important in most subjects, boys' poorer skills have a wide ranging effect on their achievement
• Globalisation and decline of traditional 'men's jobs'


  • Globalisation has led to much manufacturing industry relocating to developing countries, leading to a decline in heavy industries like shipbuilding, mining, and manufacturing in the UK
  • Some argue that the resulting decline in male employment opportunities has led to a male identity crisis, with a loss of motivation and self-esteem
  • Many boys now believe they have little prospect of getting jobs and so cease trying to get qualifications
• Feminisation of schooling


  • Schools no longer nurture masculine traits, e.g. competitiveness and leadership
  • Some argue that assessment has been feminised by the introduction of coursework and this disadvantages boys
  • Lack of male primary school teachers - only 1 in 8 primary school teachers are men and about 40% of 8-11 year old boys have no lessons with a male teacher, which may give boys the idea that education is a feminine activity
• Read (2006) criticises the claim that only male teachers can exert the firm discipline boys need. She studied the kinds of language teachers use and found that female teachers also used a disciplinarian discourse, disproving the claim that only male teachers can provide the stricter classroom culture boys are said to need
• Lack of male role models at home

  • The increase in the number of female-headed lone parent families (around 1.5 million) means that now many boys grow up lacking a positive male role model who goes out to work to support a family. These boys may thus be less likely to see the value of employment and therefore also of qualifications
• 'Laddish' subcultures


  • Studies show there is peer pressure on boys to demonstrate their masculinity by being anti-school
  • Working-class culture sees non-manual work (including schoolwork) as effeminate and inferior
  • As girls move into traditional masculine areas such as field work, boys become more laddish in an effort to identify themselves as non-feminine and this leads to underachievement
• Concern about boys' under-achievement relative to girls has led to the introduction of a range of policies that often use boys' leisure interests (e.g. sport and famous male role models) and are aimed at improving boys' literacy skills and motivation to achieve
• Ringrose (2013) argues that the moral panic about failing boys has led to neglect of problems faced by girls e.g. sexual harassment and stereotyped subject choices
• DCSF (2007)


  Achievement gap is caused by boys' poorer literacy/language skills
• Boys' leisure activities like sports


  Do little to help their language development
• Girls have a 'bedroom' culture of staying in and talking with friends


  Helps their language development
• Boys underachieving in school

  Policies like The Reading Champions give boys male role models in reading
• Due to globalisation, much of the manufacturing industry has moved overseas, leaving the UK with a decline in manual labour jobs
• Mitsos & Browne


  Decline in male employment opportunities causes boys to believe they have no job prospects, which undermines their motivation/self-esteem and causes educational underachievement
• The decline has been in WC labour jobs that didn't need qualifications, so it's unlikely that this has affected boys' motivation & achievement
• Moral panic about boys


  Those who criticise feminism say we don't need policies like GIST because girls are succeeding at the expense of boys
• Ringrose (2013)


  The moral panic reflects the fear that WC boys will become an unemployable underclass that threaten social stability
• Ringrose says this panic has influenced educational policy- it narrows down equal opportunities policies to just 'failing boys', which ignores the problems WC and minority ethnic pupils have as well as ignoring female pupils' problems such as sexual harassment
• Osler (2006)-focusing on underachieving boys neglects girls, like excluded girls being less likely to go to a Pupil Referral Unit
• Research suggests less men in teaching isn't a factor of underachievement
• Francis (2006)


  2/3 of 7-8 year olds believed the gender of teachers doesn't matter
• Read (2008)


  Disciplinarian discourse (teacher makes authority explicit & visible, via shouting, sarcasm or an exasperated tone) is seen as masculine, liberal discourse (teacher's authority is implicit and invisible, teacher speaks to child like an adult and expects them to be kind, sensible and respectful of the teacher) is seen as feminine
• Read found teachers mostly used the masculine discourse to control pupils behaviour, and that female teachers doing so proves that it's not just men who can control boys' behaviour, and disproves that primary schools are feminised
• Sewell


  Boys are falling behind because education is feminised - Schools don't nurture masculine traits like competitiveness and leadership, instead they celebrate traits more aligned with girls, like methodical working and attentiveness in class
• Sewell


  Coursework as a reason for the gender gap, and that it should be replaced with final exams and an emphasis on outdoor adventure in the curriculum
• Shortage of male primary school teachers


  Underachievement is because of lack of male role models boys have in school and at home
• Yougov (2007)-39% of boys 8-11 have no lessons whatsoever with a male teacher, even though 42% of the boys surveyed said a male teacher makes them work harder
• This could be due to the culture of primary schools becoming feminised by being staffed by women, who can't control boy's behaviour suggesting that primary schools needs more male teachers
• Laddish subcultures


  Have contributed to boys' underachievement
• Epstein (1938)


  WC boys are more likely to be labelled as gay/sissies if they appear to be 'swots'
• This supports Francis (2001) findings that boys are more concerned about being labelled than girls are as it's a threat to their masculinity
• WC boys become more "laddish"


  Reject schoolwork as it's 'feminine' and goes against WC culture of being tough & doing manual work