Assess sociological explanations of gender differences in education (20 marks) Exams results for GCSE and A level have shown that girls are doing better than boys even in the traditional male subjects like maths and science, although boys are slightly improving, they are not improving as fast as girls are and this is dues to many external and internal factors. An external factor of why girls are achieving better than boys in education is because there is now changes in the attitudes, ambitions and roles of females in society. Sue Sharpe’s (1994) did a study on working class girls in the 1970’s and found that girls main priorities were love, marriage and family. She then did the study again in 1990’s and found that attitudes of females have changed as girls now believe a career and being independent is important. Sharpe’s believe this could be because of the changing attitudes of society in general towards women and the impact of feminism.
So this has contributed to how we see society today, people notice girls doing better in school and genuinely how people see education. Sue Sharpe researched and investigated the ambitions of girls in the 1970s and the 1990s and compared them. Her results showed a major change in the way the girls saw their future. In 1974 Sharpe interviewed girls and resulted in low aspirations such as wanting children, marriage, and love as their main priorities. By the 1990s Sharpe went back to the same school and interviewed girls again and they had changed their priorities to careers and being able to support themselves by being more dependent rather than relying on a husband.
Since the early 1990’s, girls have begun to outperform boys at most levels of the education system. According to Pirie in Item A, the modular courses and continuous assessment found in education today has been seen to favour the systematic approach of girls, compared to the old O level exam which typically favoured boys. These changes within the education system are seen as the main result of gender differences in education, nevertheless, external factors such as the impact of feminism and changes in the job market may also have influenced the increase in girl’s attainment. Firstly, it may be argued that the way pupils are assessed has favoured girls and disadvantaged boys. Gorard found that the gender gap in achievement was stable from 1975 up until 1988 when it increased rapidly.
In addition to this, the introduction of the National Curriculum in 1988 removed one source of gender inequality by making boys and girls study mostly the same subjects. The impact of equal opportunities can be seen as a key reason for the changes in girls’ achievement because schools have been made more meritocratic and so girls – who generally tend to work harder than boys, achieve more. It can also be argued that the way in which pupils are now assessed favours girls more than it does boys. Stephan Gorard found that the gender gap in achievement was fairly consistent, up until 1988/9 when GCSE examinations were introduced. With the introduction of GCSE’s came coursework with the majority of subjects studied in schools.
Yet we see media encouraging the notion that you must be beautiful not smart to find a significant other. Equally, we see media encouraging that to be attractive to females you must have be masculine, strong, and handsome. Feminism currently works to defeat these standards put upon males and females by society. A beautiful reference Quindlen made to the shifting feminist agenda is that of expectations. As females, we are now able to legally do everything a male can do, yet now we are expected to do it even better.
A new study has found that girls at same-sex schools feel greater pressure to adhere to gender norms — and were bullied if they didn’t — than those at mixed-gender schools. Perhaps even more surprising, the same researchers say that girls at same-sex schools evaluated their self-worth based more on social confidence than cognitive confidence — while girls at mixed-gender schools weighed academics more heavily than social prowess. These results contradict a lot of the conventional wisdom that compels some parents to seek out an environment without boys — namely, less romantic drama, greater social acceptance and increased academic confidence. So which one is it? : Are girls more likely to empower one another or to make Burn Book–worthy comments about those who don’t fit in like in Mean Girls?
There are also a few reasons as to why boys don’t tend to do so well in education. One reason is the feminisation of education. Sewell argues that as primary schools are female dominated this puts boys off education as they see learning as being feminine. Another reason could be due to their poorer literacy skills. Parents tend to spend less time reading with their sons, and the mother is usually the reader which makes boys think that reading is feminine.
BA (Hons) in Education – Post Compulsory Education and Training Farnborough College of Technology 20056487 Mark L Brown 07 May 09 To what extent might recent changes in the educational performance of males and females challenge established explanations of gender inequalities in educational performance? The focus of much early sociological research into the effect of gender on educational achievement was generated by femininity; but, recently (the last fifteen years or so) the emphasis of the research in this area has shifted – from explaining why girls underachieve at school (for, as will be explained, they generally don’t) to why girls now cope better against perceived disadvantages and why boys are now thought to be the main educational conundrum. Garrod (2004:26) writes, ‘Statistics on performance at AS and A-level and in GCSE and SATs have revealed that boys are showing less improvement in grades and qualifications than girls. By the end of 1998 the Ofsted chief inspector for schools in England described “failing boys” as “the public burden number one”, and “one of the most disturbing problems facing the education system”. Raising the achievements of boys has become a government priority, and there are many suggestions offered regarding the reasons why boys are now lagging behind girls in educational performance’.
Although single sex education does have advantages, there are good arguments on the other side. Coeducation mirrors adult life, doesn’t promote gender segregation, and promotes a better learning environment. Although single sex education may be a credible option to certain professionals, coeducation offers more diversity and a more stimulating way of schooling to both boys and girls. Many coeducation opponents have stated that single sex schools offer a better learning environment for boys and girls separately because of the amount of distractions present in the classroom. Nonetheless, a single sex education does not mirror the adult world.
One of the arguments of co-education is the idea that it provides too many distractions for students. Several scholars have argued that these distractions have led to less attention on school work and class participation, due to girls and boys trying to impress each other. Furthermore, it has also been argued that students who are intimidated by the opposite sex may also be affected by low performance and low grades. Many educators believe that single-sex education does not enforce any type of gender-based stereotypes or adolescent subculture. Due to this, single-sex schools have been established to combat these issues.