With the introduction of GCSE’s came coursework with the majority of subjects studied in schools. Girls seem to be more successful in coursework because they spend more time on their work, are more conscientious of the way their work is presented and are more organised and better at meeting deadlines. All these factors can be seen as an advantage for girls in terms of final
SATs are test given to children in year 6 and year 9 to see their progress. These policies were introduced to education market in UK in order to improve equalities so minority groups could integrate into dominant culture. In 2002 labour revealed their plans introduce new schools, new technology and change to ethos of school which could result in better achievement from students. EMA’s was introduced by labour in after 1997 to improve equality between working class group and ethnic minority group. EMA are paid weekly to students that come from low income background.
Gorard found that the gender gap in achievement was stable from 1975 up until 1988 when it increased rapidly. This was when GCSE and with it coursework was introduced. Mitsos and Browne support the view that GCSE’s favoured girls as they were more successful in coursework due to the fact that girls are seen to be more careful with their work, more likely to spend longer on their work and meet deadlines. However, Ellwood argues that although coursework has had some influence, exams themselves have a greater influence in the final grade. Therefore this does not create a significant gap between gender differences.
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.
In the 20th century, women in most nations won the right to vote, this in return increased their educational and job opportunities. Which is a good thing compared to tests that were done in the 1960s that showed that women’s scholastic achievement were higher in early grades than in high school because the teachers and families of girls did not expect them to peruse anything but being a wife and mother (wic.org). I would say that that we have come a long way from the early 20th century. Women in positions of power or women who want to work their way to a position of power still tend to have a glass ceiling over them. This is because history tells us that men hold these types of positions women are gaining and proving that they can do just as well as a man in a position of power.
The research also showed how these issues can be corrected or even prevented. Most often it is easy to spot girls who battle with low self-esteem and low self confidence, by their body language and conversations. Most girls experience insecurity or low self-esteem around the middle school years. The need to focus on the elementary and middle school years is far more important today than it was twenty years ago. Ashes for Beauty there are only gainers and no losers.
Also, parents and teachers pay much attention to children’s academic achievement. Once their children’s academic achievement are lower than others’, they may look for for the reasons. However, birth order is quite possible one of the reasons. For instance, Zajonc (1976) reported that first born siblings scored higher on intelligence tests than their later born siblings. Thus, it is important to study the relationship between birth order and children’s academic achievement.
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’.
- What are the factor structure of girls’ education, girls’ self-esteem and women’s leadership? Hypothesis - Girls’ formal education can effectively influence women to become leaders - Girls’ formal education increases girls’ self-esteem - Self-esteem has an influence on their leadership - Girls’ formal education gives them skills and exposure that increases their self-esteem and helps them embrace their influencing power as women and become leaders 7. Scope of the
Along with the growing emphasis on education, reduction in class size has become a trend in a considerable number of countries, especially those with highly-developed educational system, like America, Canada and the UK (Ehrenberg and Brewer et al., 2001) The issue of the role of class size in deciding the achievement of students has been widely debated. The debate concerning class size helps evaluate the worth of large investment in staff-student ratio. It is true that limiting class size can produce benefits in teaching, but it is obviously not the only factor. In this essay, I will argue for the impacts of small classes, and put forward other essential factors that can influence academic success. Recent research (Ward, 2006 ) demonstrates that separating students into small size classes by their different levels is better for literacy instruction in elementary schools.