Girls internal overachieve

• Reasons why girls tend to do better


  • More mature
  • Higher expectations
  • Groups within school
  • Boys stereotypes with sports
  • Socialisation takes boys to play sports, girls more reading
  • Boys mental health
  • Most primary school teachers are female
  • Girls work harder because they know it is harder to get opportunities
  • Parental jobs
  • Subject choices
  • Girls tend to conform more than boys
• Factors contributing to girls' achievement


  • Policies - GIST (Girls into Science and Technology) and WISE (Women into Science and Engineering), National Curriculum (1989)
  • Role models - more female teachers and growing female leaders in schools
  • Coursework - girls do better in coursework, girls have a 'bedroom culture' and are taught to be more organised
  • Selection and league tables - girls to better, selective schools want girls, better position in league tables
• Feminist views on girls' achievement

  • Liberal feminist view - march of progress, policies, opportunities, less stereotypes, meritocracy
  • Radical feminist view - disproportionate male heads, sexual harassment, boys taking up more teacher attention and dominate practical lessons, women-free zone e.g. history curriculum, sociology - male stream
• Opportunity policies

  Boaler sees the impact of equal opportunities policies as a key for the changes in girls' achievement
• Many of the barriers have been removed and schooling has become more meritocratic so that girls who generally work harder than boys achieve more
• Coursework


  Girls are more successful in coursework because they are more conscientious and better organised than boys
• Girls spend more time on their work, take more care with the way it is presented, are better at meeting deadlines, bringing the right equipment and materials to lessons
• Although coursework has some influence

  It is unlikely to be the only cause of gender gap because exams have much more influence
• Teacher attention

  Boys received more attention because they attracted more reprimands
• While boys got more attention they were disciplined more harshly and felt picked on by teachers
• Boys dominate in whole class discussion whereas girls prefer group working
• When working in groups girls' speech involve turn taking and not the hostile interruptions
• Challenging stereotypes in the curriculum


  The removal of gender stereotypes from textbooks, reading schemes and other learning materials in recent years has removed a barrier to girls' achievement
• Since the 1980s, teachers have challenged such stereotypes and sexist images have been removed from learning materials
• This may have helped to raise girls' achievement by presenting them with more positive images of women
• Selection and league tables


  The introduction of exam league tables has improved opportunities for girls: high achieving girls are attracted to schools whereas low achieving boys are not
• Radical feminist


  Weiner describes the secondary school history curriculum as a woman-free zone