6.4 Gender and educational attainment

The relationship between gender socialisation and educational attainment.

slay

firstly, many sociologist claim that there is a...

bias against girls in education

whose research supports the idea of bias against females?

Lobban

Lobban (1970)

found evidence of gender bias in some educational reading schemes used in Britain.

From a study of 179 stories, only 35 had a strong female heroine

Name an idea that criticises this study

However, it can be noted that geographical boundaries and culture influences representation

Asadullah (support Lobban)

studied textbooks in Indonesian, pakistan and Bangladesh

There was indications of stereotyping and women portrayed in traditional domestic roles

Clark (criticism of Lobban)

studied japans english language textbook and found an equal balance of gender roles

secondly, there is still marked gender differences in terms of...

subject choice

Charles et al

note that the representation of females in STEM varies over time and by place

his collection of cross national data proved that boys were more likely than girls to aspire for mathematically related jobs

except in Botswana, Malaysia and Indonesia

gap was 1% in the Africa but 23% in the Netherlands

However, it must be said that, educational views on gender is based on our socialisation. Name one idea that supports this?

Normans study

Norman

gender socialisation has begun before school begins

this is based on the toys they are given to play with, different sets of aptitude and attitudes may develop

Rampino

links the toys that boys are encouraged to play with to the development of spatial skills, which make them better at mathematics than girls.

Name a second reasons how gendered socialisation happens before education?

girls have less value and ideas about education

Sharpe

found in the 1970s that girls had little value on education and wanted to start families and get married

however, performed the same study in 1990 and girls priorities had changed and they wanted to have careers

criticism of socialisation

socialisation theories place too much emphasis on the way the social structure moulds people.

These theories see children as passively accepting messages about gender socialisation

Name three ways as to how females now achieve in education

changes in the expectations and attitudes-link to sharpe

the women movement and feminism

changes in the labour market

Mitsos and Browne

the women movement and feminism have achieve considerable success in improving rights and raising the expectations and self esteem of women

francis and skelton

1.) found that for most girls a job is now a career and not a stopgap before marriage. And found that many girls look forward to working

2.) feminisation of the curriculum- movement to more softer subjects which disadvantaged boys.

Beck

argued that the west is moving from modernity into a new phase of modernity

this is known second modernity

his views have been used to explain the dramatic change in women educational achievements.

Crespi (2003)

There is now a range of gender identities available to adolescent girls,

whereas previously these roles had been largely restricted to part-time or domestic work.

These changes reflect back on to the family through the socialisation process, which then in turn influences educational choices.

Carter

Parents are getting much more involved in their daughters' education than they have in the past.

Francis (2000)

changes have altered the way girls construct femininity, they no longer see it mainly in terms of the home.

what did Francis find about classroom behaviour?

found evidence that classrooms were gendered and boys dominate.

she found that boys 'tend to monopolise space in the classroom and playground whilst girls drew less attention to themselves'.

boys received a lot of teacher attention

Criticism that proves not all girls educations have improved?

Murphy and Elwood

Murphy and Elwood (criticism)

"historical improvements in female achievement are not shared by girls from low socio-economic backgrounds.

Wilkinson

The economy now "values brains more than it does brawn".

crisis of masculinity

slay king

Jackson

examined laddish behaviour

interviewed over 200 pupils and found they act this way to be cool or popular

How was laddish behaviour constructed?

within a framework of hegemonic masculinity

based on heterosexuality, toughness and competitiveness.

Laddish behaviour can also been seen as...

defensive strategy to reduce the fear of poor academic performance

Rampino and Taylor

educational aspirations and attitudes

girls seen education as more positive than boys

Lee's (1993) attitudes towards school for girls: subculture

Pro-school girls: valued and enjoyed school, but anti-education, as did not see qualifications as important.

Pro-education girls: 1: valued education as enjoyable and worthwhile.2: valued qualifications, they were a necessary means to a desired end.

Anti-education girls: Generally anti school/education. Thought school was a waste of time. Period of time to get through before escaping into the adult world of work and family.

Blackman (1995) Tensions in the school can lead to gendered subcultures:

Boffin boys: pro-school, worked hard for social mobility

Boffin girls: pro-school, conformity questionable when teachers/system did not support them.

New wave girls: Conformed academically but were sexually active and confident to question sexist practices in school.

Mod boys:Walked a fine line between conformity/deviance. Anti-school but pro-education. Wanted qualifications but did not really see the value of school.

Jackson also observed the subcultures...

lad and ladettes

females subverted tradition and acted out in order to fit in, perhaps to mask underachievement and fear of failure.

Criticism of crisis of masculinity is...

Wards study

Ward study of males

Ward examines a group of young working-class men in a de-industrialised community in South Wales.

The study suggest that the decline of traditional manual labour and de-industrialisation has led to many working class boys to place a higher value on education and to progress to further and higher education.

Ray study

study of 7 year olds in an primary school

the girls who misbehaved were referred to by teachers as 'scheming little madams'.

However, when boys misbehaved it was seen as just 'mucking about'.

teachers often have a predetermined perception of ability. what do they think?

boys are talented but lazy

girls achieve due to hardwork

this may help explain why boys often overestimate their ability while girls underestimate theirs (Francis and skeleton)

What did Spender find in her study of classrooms?

boys received 60% of teacher time

and girls were often seen as 'invisible'

Licht and Dweck

Girls lacked confidence while boys were more self-assured.

Boys shrugged off failure as unfair assessment of teachers or lack of effort while girls considered it intellectual inadequacy on their part.