Internal

• Equal opportunities policies


  Policies that aim to provide the same opportunities for all, regardless of gender, ethnicity, or class
• Feminism now has a major impact on the education system
• Policymakers are now much more aware of gender issues and teachers are more sensitive to the need to avoid stereotyping
• The belief that boys and girls are entitled to the same opportunities is now part of mainstream thinking and it influences educational policies
• Initiatives to encourage girls into non-traditional areas


  • GIST (girls into science and technology)
  • WISE (women into science and engineering)
• Female scientists have visited schools acting as role models, efforts have been made to raise science teachers' awareness of gender issues, non-sexist careers advice had been provided and learning materials in science reflecting girls' interests have been developed
• The introduction of the national curriculum in 1988 removed one source of gender inequality by making girls and boys study mostly the same subjects which was often not the case previously
• Boaler sees the impact of equal opportunities policies as a key reason for the change in girls' achievement
• Many of the barriers have been removed and schooling has become more meritocratic – girls who work harder than boys achieve more
• Positive role models in schools


  An increase in the proportion of female teachers and heads, which may act as role models for girls showing them that women can achieve positions of importance and giving them non-traditional goals to aim for
• The gender gap in achievement was constant from 1975 until 1989. When GCSEs were introduced, it increased sharply
• Gorard's conclusion


  The gender gap in achievement is a product of the changed system of assessment rather than any more general failing of boys
• Girls are more successful in coursework because


  • They spend more time on their work
  • They take more care with the way it is presented
  • They are better at meeting deadlines
  • They bring the right equipment and material to lessons
• These characteristics and skills are the result of early gender role socialisation in the family, girls are encouraged to be neat, tidy and patient
• Elwood argues that although coursework has some influence it is unlikely to be the only cause of the gender gap because exams have much more influence than coursework on final grades
• Teacher attention


  • Boys receive more attention because they attract more reprimands
  • Boys are disciplined more harshly and feel picked on by teachers who tend to have lower expectations of them
• Boys dominate in whole-class discussion, whereas girls prefer pair-work and group-work. When working in groups girls' speech involves turn taking and not the hostile interruptions that often characterises boys' speech
• Teachers respond more positively to girls whom they see as cooperative than to boys who they saw as disruptive, which may result in a self-fulfilling prophecy in which successful interactions with teachers promote girls' self-esteem and raise their achievement levels
• The removal of gender stereotypes from textbooks, reading schemes and other learning material has removed barriers to girls' achievement
• Research in the 70s and 80s found that reading schemes portrayed women mainly as housewives and mothers, but since the 80s teachers have challenged such stereotypes and sexist images have been removed from learning materials
• The introduction of exam league tables has improved opportunities for girls, as high achieving girls are attractive to schools, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy as girls are more likely to be recruited by good schools as they do well
• Boys are less attractive to schools because they are more likely to suffer from behavioural difficulties and 4x more likely to be excluded – this results in boys being seen as liability students
• Liberal feminism


  They celebrate the progress that has been made so far and believe that further progress can be achieved through equal opportunities policies, encouraging positive role models, and overcoming sexist attitudes and stereotypes. They see the education system as meritocratic where all individuals regardless of gender, ethnicity or class are given an equal opportunity to achieve.
• Radical feminism


  They are more critical of the progress made, arguing that sexual harassment of girls continues at school, education still limits girls' subject choice and career options, males are more likely to be heads of secondary schools, and women are under-represented in many areas of the curriculum, with their contribution to history largely ignored.