Education

Functionalist views on education

what type of theory is functionalism

structural consensus - it looks at how societies functions ensure everyone follows the norms and values of society

Functionalist views on education
who proposed the organic analogy and what is it

Durkheim 

its a comparison between the human body and society. In order for society to function at its best and consensus be achieved, all institutions must work together in socialising people into what society expects from their behaviour

Functionalist views on education

How does education help to create consensus?

education further teaches or reinforces norms and values via rewards and punishments (sanctions), which helps stop or encourage the behaviour. Results in consensus

Functionalist views on education

what are the 4 key functions that education performs and who proposed them

social solidarity - durkheim

social control through secondary socialisation - durkheim

skill provision - durkheim

role allocation - davis and moore 

Functionalist views on education

What is social solidarity

people work together to prevent selfishness within society

by working together, we gain a collective conscience and learn that we should put a groups needs over our own individual needs

the education system helps share societies norms and values from one generation to the next

social solidarity is taught within schools because it helps society run smoother, those skills need to be used in adulthood

Functionalist views on education

What is social control through secondary socialisation

secondary socialisation reinforces societies norms and values through rules

the rules we are taught also teach us about the consequences both positive and negative

this leads to consensus, it teaches society to do what is expected, allowing society to work together

Functionalist views on education

what is skill provision

learning skills and knowledge formally through a timetable.

The timetable teaches children skills that theyll need when theyre in work 

contributes to the specialist division of labour 

Functionalist views on education

What is role allocation

exams teach/help children know what they need to work on and what they are good at

this helps ‘sort and sift’ people into the correct jobs for them and society

E.G. if someone is bad at maths they wont be able to become a maths teacher

leads to consensus

Functionalist views on education

Who came up with meritocracy and what is it

Parsons

an educational or social system where everyone has the same chance to succeed and where an individuals rewards and status are achieved by their own efforts rather than ascribed by their gender, class or ethnicity

Any student who takes the opportunities available to them at school and works hard will gain good exam results

Functionalist views on education

What is some evidence that education is meritocratic

majority of subjects have one exam

everyone gets to choose subject options

everyones taught the same

Functionalist views on education

Evidence that education is not meritocratic

tiered subjects have many exams

may not have a good teacher, so you have a higher chance of failing

relationships with teachers can impact your work

Functionalist views on education

Functionalists such as parsons suggest that education is a meritocracy. By this they mean that all pupils have the same chance of succeeding 

a teacher who is racist or sexist - prejudice against a certain group and may not allow them to answer questions in class or they may be overly strict when managing their behaviour

rose-tinted, ignores the negative aspects of education

Functionalist views on education

Functionalism assumes that a ‘shared culture’ is taught in schools through the national curriculum and being part of the school community. 

They argue this then creates social solidarity

ignore the impact of globalisation. Immigration means that the uk is now a lot more multi-cultural

Social solidarity is harder to promote as theres a 4.2% unemployment rate

The children have diverse norms and values due to their different backgrounds

too outdated

Functionalist views on education

functionalists such as davis and moore suggest that schools successfully ensure role allocation for all its pupils

4.2% unemplymenr rate - office for national statistics 

not everyone has been allocated a role in society or the workplace

some parts in society have to work harder to ensure everything runs smoothly

Functionalist views on education

Functionalists believe that schools successfully fulfil the role of skill provision, meaning children leave school with the skills needed to become a functioning member of society

not everyone does well in school, therefore some children havent left school with the skills needed to become a functioning member of society. 

Marxist views on education

what is marxism?

the bourgeoisie maintain social control over the proletariat in two ways:

The repressive state apparatus - the use of force, e.g. police

The ideological state apparatus - institutions - such as education, media, family and religion that maintain capitalist state power by transmitting a ruling class ideology (beliefs and values which serve the interests of the ruling class)

Althusser - education is an ideological state apparatus because it teaches the ruling class ideology, which is disguised as common values.

Education legitimises class inequality because it encourages pupils to believe that inequality is inevitable and that they deserve their subordinate position, if they accept these ideas, they are less likely to challenge the ideology → enabling the bourgeoisie to maintain their wealth, power and status

Education maintains and justifies the capitalist divide between the bourgeoisie and the proletariat by teaching a hidden curriculum: e.g. always being on time, following instructions, being obedient

Bowles and Gintis - correspondence principle e.g. hierarchy of authority - headteacher, teachers, children VS hierarchy of authority - CEO, managers, workers. = Ideal proletariat worker

Illich - schools are repressive institutions which promote conformity and encourage students into passive acceptance of existing inequalities and the interests of the powerful, rather than encouraging them to be critical and think for themselves. Schools do this by rewarding those who accept the school regime with qualifications and access to higher lvl of education = better jobs

Marxist sociologists argue that underachievement isnt the result of state control but social inequality and inadequate funding of state schools. Therefore, the government should be focused on ensuring that all schools get the amount of funding they need to support the children in their school rather than limiting funding to the schools which are less popular

Marxist views on education

Neo-marxism

Willis - study of 12 working class rebellious boys about their attitude to school during their last 18 months at school and their first few months at work. Pupils rebelling = not all pupils are brainwashed into being passive, subordinate people as a result of the hidden curriculum. Pupils are not directly injected with the ruling class ideology, some reject them as they realise they have no real opportunity to succeed in the system.

Willis still believes that the system produces workers who are easily exploited by their future employers

= counter school culture/ anti-school subculture

1. Willis is successful in highlighting the dual nature of social action. E.g., that structural forces such as class inequalities impact people’s lives while also acknowledging the importance of free will in being able to reject these structures. This shows that to best understand social class and education, it is necessary to look at both structural and action theories together.

2. Very small sample of only 12 working-class white boys, so it cannot be representative. This is a problem because it is hard to generalise his findings to other groups. For example, would the results have been the same if the sample had been taken from a different school in a different part of the country?

3. Willis was perhaps overly sympathetic to the boys, leading to a loss of objectivity and “going native.” This, therefore, potentially reduces the validity of his argument and may reduce its usefulness for understanding the role of education.

New right and education

New right

The school is the service provider and the parents are the consumers. In order for marketisation to be successful, the school needs to sell its product (education) to the parents, e.g. open evenings, league tables etc.

Chubb and Moe - competition between schools and the laws of supply and demand will raise the standards of school and increase achievement for pupils.

Parentocracy - parents having the choice to choose which school their child goes to

They argue that school funding should be based on the amount of pupils attending a school, e.g. a popular school will receive more formula funding than an unpopular one.

Gewitz and Ball - competition between schools benefit the middle class who can use their cultural and economic capital to gain access to more desirable schools = higher chance of educational success

---

Bourdieu:

cultural capital = non-financial social assets such as education, intellect, style of speech, dress etc that promote social mobility and success

economic capital = financial and material assets - such as cash, property and income that are directly convertible into money.

How could middle class parents use their cultural and economic capital to ensure their women got into the best schools?

cultural - connections within the school to increase their chances with the application, league tables/ofsted report/exam results knowledge of how these work, how to apply to schools, open evenings/ parent evenings to ask questions and hold teachers accountable

economic - private school/education, tutors/better resources help prepare with entrance exams, transport/taxi/bus etc, extra childcare, house prices near good schools are expensive so move into the catchment areas of good schools, donating to the schools to sway the school

---

Gewirtz - study of 14 london secondary schools found that differences in parents economic and cultural capital lead to class differences in how far they can exercise parentocracy. 3 main types of parents

Privileged-skilled choosers = mainly professional m/c parents, use cultural and economic capital to help their children gain educational capital, being prosperous, confident and well educated let them take advantage of their choices, knew how school admissions worked, had the time to visit the schools in the areas and look at ofsted reports, money to help exercise their choices, move closer to school, pay for extra childcare or transport costs etc.

Disconnected-local choosers = working class parents, restricted choice, lack of cultural and economic capital, difficult to understand admission policies, less confident and less aware of the choices available, more importance to safety and equality of facilities than league tables or long term ambitions, distance of cost of travel were major restrictions and they often only saw catchment schools as realistic options

Semi-skilled choosers = mainly working class but more ambitious. also lack economic and cultural capital to make sense of admissions and options available to them, relied heavily on other peoples opinions and experiences, often felt frustrated over not being able to get their children into the schools they wanted.

in theory, marketisation gives greater choice to all, in reality it is the middle class who benefit the most and therefore it is possible to argue that it creates inequality of opportunity rather than equality.

New right and education

Privatisation of education

both marketisation and privatisation are beneficial and necessary for education to be high quality and be able to meet the needs of all pupils

privatisation = the transfer of public assets such as schools, healthcare and transport to private companies

---

Ball - suggests that the movement of services from public to private is becoming a key factor shaping educational policy, schools are becoming a legitimate object of private profit making, a commodity to be brought and sold in an educational market. Education is now subject to business practises and financial logics and brought and sold as assets and made part of investment portfolios

New right and education

Types of privatisation

Endogenous privatisation - (happening since the 1988 education reform act) privatisation within the schools, they begin to operate more like private businesses. Involves importing ideas and techniques from the private sector in order to make the public sector more business like. e.g. performance related pay for teachers, school performance league tables competing against each other like supermarkets

Exogenous privatisation - privatisation outside of the education system. Involves opening up state education to private profit making businesses, newer but growing types of privatisation, private business design/manager, deliver aspect of education that is run by the state. e.g. school services - staff training, school transport, cleaning. Private companies providing site based services to education providers (catering, grounds etc) SODEXO. Educational professionals becoming consultants - The society of education consultants (SEC)

New right and education

Privatisation of the exam system

many private companies in the education service industry are foreign owned, the UKs largest examinations body Edexcel is run by the global corporation pearsons. Pearsons runs the exam boards in over 70 countries.

Schools have to pay for students to sit exams, if they have exam boards in over 70 countries thats more money for the company.

New right and education

The cola-isation of schools

the private sector is also infiltrating education indirectly, e.g. vending machines and brand loyalty through displays of logos and sponsorship = cola-isation

Molnar - schools are targeted by private companies because they carry enormous goodwill and can thus confer legitimacy on anything associated with them, this acts as a product endorsement. Children are seen to be pure and innocent, if your brand is linked to children then it is presented to be good and ethical.

Voucher schemes have been put in place by private companies which appear to help schools, e.g. tesco computer vouchers.

However, the ethics behind the schemes have been questioned as Bedner points out that Uk families spend £110,000 in Tesco to get a simple computer.

The cadburys sport equipment scheme was quickly scrapped after it was revealed that pupils would have to eat 5,440 chocolate bars just to qualify for a set of volleyball posts.

The children who are helping with these schemes are at a disadvantage, they have to spend so much money just for a small piece of equipment in the schools. The relationship between privatisation and education is therefore not very good because they promote unhealthy behaviour in order to gain more customers to spend money in your store

---

Benefit - hiring companies like SODEXO because it allows those running the school to actually focus on their job and not overseeing many companies. Allows them to focus on the students and the teachers

Schools have the choice to pick what service/ business they want, This means that these companies are fighting over the school (competition). Benefits the school because they can have access to cheaper services

unpopular schools may not have enough funding to hire these services. If they do not have these companies, it means that you will not be able to hire them.

Not accessible to all schools because formula funding does not cover the cleaning. Leads to them becoming more unpopular, cycle of decline = cannot compete

Social class and achievement: External factors

material explanations

Bourdieu - middle class families have higher levels of economic capital, working class families are materially deprived which could harm a childs education. e.g. hidden cost of free schooling = according to CPAG AND CRSP The minimum annual cost to parents for a state-primary school child is about 1k. for a state secondary school child, the cost is nearly 2.3k annually. Uniforms, stationary, trips.

Bull and Tanner - a lack of financial support means that children from poorer families have to do without equipment and miss out on experiences that enhance their educational achievement.

Diet and Health: Poor nutrition affects health and reduces energy levels = more absences from school and difficulty concentrating in class = impact on school outcomes. Wilkingson- among 10 yr old girls, the lower the social class, the higher the rate of hyperactivity, anxiety - negative affect on education

Housing conditions: Overcrowding = no quiet place to study, impact your sleep as its loud and crowded. Temporary accomodation - the child will not have stable schooling due to moving houses a lot. Quality of housing - damp, cold houses means they will fet ill quicker = reduces school ability, sleep impacted = lower immunity

Fear of debt: university, w/c students will be less likely to go = only middle class pupils will be able to obtain professional careers = further wealth divide. Reay - w/c students more likely to attend a local uni so they can live at home and reduce travel costs, = they have a lesser opportunity to go to high status unis

Part time jobs: lack of funds = children from low income families often need to work to get adequate equipment and clothes, less time to do school work and sleep = do worse in education.

some children from poorer backgrounds still achieve because of compensatory education policies = free school meals, bursaries, pupil premium, homework clubs

Children from poorer backgrounds still achieve because of cultural capital = belief that school is important, parents who have a low income but still read and help children with homework

Social class and achievement: External factors

Cultural deprivation

language, education, attitudes and values of some parents mean that their children will find it harder to do well in school

Bernstein - restricted and elaborated speech codes.

---

Parental education:

Parental attitudes to education are a key factor in the achievements of their children

Douglas - found that w/c parents placed less value on education = less ambitious for their children, gave them less encouragement and took less interest in their education. Visit the childrens school less and so are less likely to discuss their childs progress with teachers = children had lower levels of motivation and achievement.

Feinstein: parents own education is the most important factor affecting childrens achievement, m/c parents are often better educated so they can give their children an advantage by how they socialise them. INCLUDING:

Parenting style - educated emphasis on constant discipline and have higher expectations of their child, encourage exploration of subjects, take interest in school. Uneducated - inconsistent and harsh discipline, child doesnt learn independence or self control = less motivated to do well

Parents educational behaviours - educated aware of what is going to help their childs education, read to children, help with hw, activity involved with schooling. Establish good relationship with teachers and recognise there are educational values of activities such as going to libraries.

Use of income - educated higher income, spend money on ways that promote childrens success. Berrnstein and Young - m/c mums more likely to buy educational toys/books - better understanding of nutrition so use income to buy better foods. Uneducated - lacks these resources so children tend to start school without the basic intellectual skills.

---

Working class subculture

Sugarman - large sections of the w/c have different goals, beliefs, attitudes and values from the rest of society and this is why their children fail at school.

Fatalism - belief in fate - whatever will be, will be’ nothing one can do will change their outcomes

Collectivism - value being part of a group more than succeeding as an individual

present time orientation - seeing the present as more important than the future and so not have any long term goals or plans

Immediate gratification - seeking pleasure now rather than making sacrifices to get better rewards in the future

Keddie - cultural deprivation = myth, its all just victim blaming. Dismisses the idea that failure at school can be blamed on a culturally deprived background, a child cannot be deprived of its own culture and argues that w/c children are culturally different, not deprived

w/c children underachieve because theyre out at a disadvantage by an education system that is dominated by m/c values. its not the childs language but the schools attitude towards it, teachers have a speech hierarchy where they place m/c language highest, followed by w/c and then black at the bottom

Blackstone and Mortimore - w/c parents attend fewer parents evenings not because of a lack of interest but because they work longer or less regular hours or are put off by the schools middle class atmosphere

Social class and achievement: Internal factors

labelling/ how its studied in education

labelling = attaching a meaning or definition to an individual e.g. bright or trouble maker

interactionists study labelling in schools through small scale, micro research studies with the focus on interactions between the teacher and pupil in the classroom and social areas of the school.

Qualitative methods such as observations and interviews to discover the reasons and meanings associated with labelling.

They investigate how labels are attached and the impact they have on the childs academic success and self esteem

Verstehen is important

Advantages = gain rich data, see how the child is affected and how that reflects on their work, understand the experiences, reasons why the child is behaving in such a way, can find a way to avoid labelling as the consequences are shown through the data gathered, gain deeper detail on the participant through a small sample size

Disadvantages = do not get a lot of data, harder to generalise, may not be able to carry out the research due to ethic or practical reasons, may cost a lot of money, need protection from harm, more time consuming, harder to analyse, detail is invalid sometimes due to socially desirable answers

Social class and achievement: Internal factors

sociological research on labelling

Becker - teachers judged pupils according to how closely they fit into the ideal pupil, conducted interviews on 60 chicago highschool teachers and found that they judged pupils according to how closely they fit the image of the ideal pupil. Pupils work, conduct and appearance = key factors

Rist - study of american kindergarden. teachers used info about childrens home background to place them in separate groups in different tables. tigers = fast learners, middle class, neat and tidy looking, nearest to teacher and greater encouragement. cardinals and clowns = seated further away, more likely to be working class, lower level books to read, fewer chances to show off ability.

Hempel-Jorgenson - 2 english primary schools found that different teachers had different notions of the ideal pupil - depended on the social class make up of the school. A largely w/c school where staff discipline was a major problem saw the ideal student as passive and obedient. The m/c school had very few discipline problems and the ideal pupil was defined by personality and academic performance.

---

labelling in secondary schools

Dunne and Gazeley - schools persistently produce w/c underachievement because of the labels and assumptions of the teachers, they normalised the underachievement of w/c pupils - unconcerned. They believed they could overcome the underachievement of m/c pupils. Teachers belief in the role of pupils’ home backgrounds, w/c parents = uninterested, m/c parents = supportive. This led to class differences in how teachers dealt with pupils they perceived as underachieving, setting extension work for m/c but entering w/c into easier exams.

Rosenthal and Jacobson - self fulfilling prophecy. they told one class rhat they had a new test specifically designed to identify those pupils who would do better, this was untrue as it was a standard IQ test but the teachers believed the claims. Researchers chose 20% at random and falsely told the school that they would do better. A year later they found that almost half of those identified as brighter had made significant progress

Social class and achievement: Internal factors

Steaming as a potential cause of working class underachievement?

streaming involves separating children into different ability groups called streams

each ability group is then taught separately from the others for all subjects - studies show that the self-fulfilling prophecy is likely to occur when streaming happens.

Merton - self fulfilling prophecy

Becker - teachers do not usually see working class children as ideal pupils, they usually see them as lacking ability = low expectations of them. As a result, w/c children are more likely to occupy the lower streams.

Once streamed, it is often hard to move up to a higher group, children are more or less limited into their teachers low expectations of them. Children in the lower streams get the message that their teachers have written them off as no hopers = self-fulfilling prophecy.

Douglas - children who had been put in lower streams at age 8 suffered a decrease in their IQ by age 11.

Gillborn and Youdell - Educational triage study of 2 local secondary schools show how teachers use stereotypical notions of ability to stream pupils. They found that teachers are less likely to see working class and black pupils as having ability = these students are more likely to be placed in lower sets and entered for lower tier GCSEs. This denies them the knowledge and opportunity needed to gain good grades and so widens the class gap in achievement.

Educational triage -

1. Those with potential who will be helped to get a grade C or better - through higher expectations, more effort put into exams etc (First priority for teachers)

2. Those who can pass anyway and can be left to get on with it - may just about succeed but wont get highest grades as they dont get a lot of help, wont be offered as much support, school doesn’t need to worry about them, limited at a pass, could limit motivation and may not revise/ put in additional work and effort because they pass anyway (2nd priority)

3. Hopeless cases, who are doomed to fail - less motivation, lower expectations, less help, underachieving, settle for bare minimum, give up etc (Lowest priority)

Social class and achievement: Internal factors

Pupil subcultures

subculture = a group of students who share similar values and behaviour patterns - emerge as a response to teacher labelling and streaming.

Lacey - differentiation and polarisation

Differentiation: the process of teachers categorising pupils according to how they perceive their ability, attitude, and/or behaviour. Streaming is a form of differentiation. Those that the school deems ‘more able’ are given higher status through high stream position compared to those in the bottom streams

Polarisation: pupils respond to streaming by moving towards one of the two opposite poles or extremes. In his study of Hightown boys’ grammar school, Lacey found that streaming polarised boys into pro-school and anti-school subcultures.

% of pupils from w/c homes. top band = 36%, Middle band = 78%

Top band pupils (privileged) saw middle band pupils as thick, rough, boring and simple

Middle band pupils saw top band pupils as brainy, unfriendly, stuck up, arrogant. = mutual dislike.

While joining an anti-school subculture may solve the problem of a lack of status, it creates a further problem of the self-fulfilling prophecy. Willis - ‘earoles’ confirmed to norms and values of school, had extracurricular, did their hw, achieved academically.

earoles did very well, those who paid attention and were in top bands/classes and excelled academically.

The lads - mostly w/c boys had been in middle/lower bands and did not excel academically as they internalised the negative differentiation given from teachers and become self-fulfilling prophecies while being surrounded by others with anti-school subcultures.

Hargreeves: boys in the lower streams were triple failures. They had failed their 11+ exams, been placed in lower streams and been labelled worthless louts. 11+ exams determied what kind of school theyd go to and therefore were placed into lower sets as they werent perceived as being capable of much. The teachers then labelled them as worthless louts and the children developed an anti-school subculture and became a self-fulfilling prophecy. The pupils would seek out others with an anti-school subculture and form a group within which high status went to those who behaved the worst and had the worst anti-school subculture. = delinquent subculture which helped to guarantee their educational failure.

Social class and achievement: Internal factors

Pupils social class identities and the school: Habitus

Habitus refers to the dispositions or learned, taken for granted ways of thinking, being and acting that are shaped by a particular social class.

tastes and preferences on lifestyle: M/C going out to educational places, museums, art galleries. afford to go on holiday. Materialistic things, clothes, jewellery. W/C No cultural or economic capital, might go to seaside resorts within the country, less materialistic things, far more prioritise basic necessities

Expectations of normal: M/C upward mobility, everyone has the best materialistic things, good food, frequent days out, good education, further education. W/C everyone struggles, basic necessities prioritised, weorn/second hand items, decent education, lower paid manual jobs.

Outlook on life: M/C Mostly positive - carefree, prioritise education for high end jobs. W/C could be somewhat negative, fatalism, present time orientation.

Working class and middle class have different cultural tastes, expectations and goals. Habitus affect a child’s chances of doing well or not, at school. The middle class has the power to define its habitus as superior and to impose it on the education system = the school puts a higher value on middle-class tastes, preferences etc.

The middle class can use their cultural capital to succeed in the middle-class school environment, the school therefore has a middle class habitus.

Bourdieu Symbolic capital - because schools have a middle class habitus, peoples who have been socialised at home into middle class tastes and preferences gain ‘symbolic capital’ or status and recognition from the schools and are deemed to have worth or value

Bourdieu symbolic violence - the school devalues the working class habitus so that the working class pupils’ tastes (e.g. appearance and accent) are deemed tasteless and worthless. Working class and their tastes and lifestyles are inferior. This symbolic violence is used to keep the working class in their place. = the world of education feels alien and unnatural for w/c

= clash between the schools middle class habitus and the pupil’s working class habitus, the w/c child feels alienated by school, the teachers and the curriculum and they resist it and potentially underachieve.

Archer - working class pupils felt that to be educationally successful, they would have to change how they talked and presented themselves. Have to be more m/c

Thus, for w/c students, educational success is often experienced through a process of losing yourself. They felt unable to access ‘posh middle class’ spaces such as uni and professional carees, which were seen as not for the likes of us.

Social class and achievement: Internal factors

Nike identities (collectivism)

many pupils were conscious that society and school looked down on them, this symbolic violence led them to seek alternative ways of creating self-worth, status and value.

They did this by creating meaningful class identities for themselves by investing heavily in ‘styles’, especially by consuming branded clothing such as Nike. = new style for the lower class

Upper middle have different tastes and preferences to the working class = gain a sense of status by being different.

Style performances were heavily policed by other groups and not conforming was social suicide. The right appearance earned symbolic capital and approval from peers brought safety from bullying.

Nike styles also play a part in w/c pupil’s rejection of higher education, which they saw as both unrealistic (not for people like us) and undesirable (because it did not suit their preferred lifestyle or habitus)

Archer et al - w/c investment in nike identities is not only a cause of their educational marginalisation by the school, it also expresses their positive preference for a particular style. As a result, w/c pupils may choose self-elimination or self-exclusion from education. In other words, not only do they get the message that education is not for them, but they actively choose to reject it because it does not fit in with their identity or way of life

Social class and achievement: Internal factors

Explain how ingram’s study illustrates the conflict w/c children who go to middle class schools may face

m/c schools have a strong m/c habitus of higher expectations and academic achievement. Having a w/c identity is inseparable from belonging to a working class loyalty, w/c communities prefer conformity and w/c students in m/c schools have a lot of pressure to fit in while also experiencing a tension between the habitus of their w/c neighbourhood and that of their m/c school

e.g. Callum was ridiculed for coming into school in a tracksuit on non-uniform day, by fitting into the w/c habitus, he was made to feel worthless by the m/c habitus. But family and friends are a key part of them belonging.

Does this study support or dispute archer?

Support as both emphasise the importance of fitting into whatever habitus youre trying to be a part of. They both support the fact that both the w/c and m/c have different habitus’

Does a w/c habitus have to lead to educational failure?

No, the w/c students were still able to get into grammar school, yet it can be difficult because of symbolic violence.

Small sample size, only in Belfast, one school. only 2 groups of catholic boys were studied, not generalisable for all schools

Social class and achievement: Internal factors

Conflict between w/c habitus and university attendance

Evans - only 4/21 studied girls from S London intended to move away from home to study, those who did apply felt a sense of hidden barriers and not fitting in at unis such as OXBRIDGE

Reay et al- self-exclusion from elite or distant unis narrows opportunities and limits success

Bourdieu - w/c thinks places like OXBRIDGE arent for ppl like them, which comes from their habitus. w/c habitus central around family and friends, discourages moving away from home for a good education

Explain what this could mean for the girls’ life chances

they’d be limited to universities that may not be able to provide them with good opportunities, limiting life chances and success. They’d also mostly stay in their local area which limits employment opportunities, may discourage them from going to uni at all.

Suggest a potential problem of Evan’s methodology

micro sample of only 21 w/c girls from a South London comprehensive school

More and more w/c people are going to university

There are quite a lot of universities in London, increasing the chances that the girls studied will find one they like close to home.

Social class and achievement: Internal factors

The relationship between internal and external factors - how they can link together to impact social class differences in educational achievement

w/c habitus - internal = may conflict with the school m/c habitus, resulting in symbolic violence and pupils feeling that education is not for the likes of them

restricted code - internal = may lead to teachers thinking they’re less able and then leading to a self-fulfilling prophecy. M/c use elaborated code of speech

poverty - internal = may lead to bullying and stigmatisation by peer groups - an internal process within school. In turn, this may lead to taunting and failure

Dunne and Gazely - an internal factor - what teachers believe about w/c pupils’ home backgrounds (an external factor) actually produces underachievement.

Gender and Achievement

At GCSE

2019- 9.8% gender gap with 71.7% of females achieving a grade 4 or above, compared to only 62.9% of males

The gender gap is less for higher grades in all subjects at 6.5%

In english girls do much better than boys - they outperform boys by around 16% for ‘good grades’

for maths the gender gap is 0.5% in favour of boys.

2022- 24.1% of girls got an A vs 17.6% of boys. 71.7% of girls got a C vs 62.9% of boys.

Gender and Achievement

At A-level

there is only a 3.9% point gap in the A*-C achievement rate (in favour of girls)

However, boys are much less likely to do A-levels than girls.

440,379 A-level entries were female in 2019 vs 360,623 for boys.

This is because males are more likely to do vocational qualifications or apprenticeships compared to girls.

Gender and Achievement

External explanation 1: The impact of feminism

feminism has helped raise female expectations and self-esteem, these changes are reflected in media representations of women.

Girls are encouraged to continue with education and do well to fight against harmful stereotypes. This motivation helps them to keep up with work.

Social media also is more willing to show strong and successful women, allowing little girls to have better role models that push them to do more.

The equal pay act 1970, sex discrimination act 1975 as well as other legal an legal and workplace reforms make going to work far more worthwhile and accessible for women, fighting any stigma.

McRobbie - comparison of girl’s magazines in the 1970s and 1990s.1970’s = magazines such as Jackie emphasised the importance of getting married and not being ‘left on the shelf’ whereas 1990 magazines now show women as assertive and independent. The changes encouraged by feminism may affect girls’ self image and ambitions positively with regard to families and careers → improvements in educational achievement. e.g. Christina Koch

Gender and Achievement

External factor 2: changes in the family

There have been major changes in the family since the 1970’s, these include:

an increase in divorce rate -

number of divorces doubled between 1961-1969 and doubled again by 1972.

In 2012, divorce rates were 6x those in 1961.

This change in divorce can lead to a rise in female achievement as women and young girls no longer feel as much pressure to conform to traditional gender roles - marry and have children.

Increase in cohabitation -

1 in 8 adults are cohabiting in the UK - double the number in 1996.

1/5 of all those cohabiting are serial cohabitants (who have had one or more previous cohabitants).

Positive for female achievement as it allows women to still have the freedom to build a career without living in a patriarchal household (marriage).

Decline in traditional gender roles, girls can still have a female role model.

Decline in stigma around marriage means that female achievements are positively impacted. They can achieve their goals whilst also deciding if cohabitation is working and if marriage is right for them.

Decline in marriage -

marriage rates at lowest since 1920’s

. in 2012, there were 175,000 first marriages for both partners - less than half the number in 1970.

in 2012, 1 in 3 marriages were remarriages for one or both partners = serial monogamy.

This is a positive impact for female achievement as they no longer have the pressure to marry.

Ultimately means that women will have more freedom to build a career as norms surrounding marriage are changing.

Female celebrities are also not marrying =role model.

Smaller family size -

women are having children much later = smaller families.

1971-2012 = average age of the woman when giving birth was 28, rose by 4 yrs.

Average number of children per woman = 2.95 in 1964, 1.63 in 2001.

Women now have more options than just motherhood, many seek to establish a career before starting a family or remain childless.

Increase in lone parent households - make up 22% of all families with children, over 90% of all lone parent families are headed by women.

A child living with a lone parent is 2x more likely to be in poverty.

could lead to positive female achievement as young girls may be more encouraged to work hard in school to gain an education and pursue a career so they can support themselves financially without having to rely on the welfare state.

Increase in female independence and achievement could lead to a rise in lone-parent households

Men could be left feeling vulnerable and unsure about their position in society due to female achievement = crisis of masculinity.

Gender and Achievement

External factor 3: Changes in women’s employment

1970 Equal pay act - made it illegal to pay women less than men for work of equal value

1975 Sex discrimination act - outlaws discrimination at work

Since 1975, the pay gap between men and women has halved from 30% to 15%

The proportion of women in employment has risen from 53% in 1971 ro 67% in 2013.

Some women are now breaking through the glass ceiling.

= women now have greater opportunity than back in the 1970’s. = female achievement will increase. Young girls will have role models in their ‘dream’ job and ultimately strive towards their ambitions. Consequently there will be a rise in female achievement.

Gender and Achievement

External factor 4: Girl’s changing ambitions

Sharpe - girls have greater ambitions today compared to the 1970s

1970’s - low aspirations, educational success = unfeminine, appearing to be ambitious would make them unattractive. Love was most important while careers were least. Girls wanted to be housewives.

1980’s - priorities were now careers and being able to support yourself , more likely to see their future as an independent woman with a career. Careers were something most girls now wanted.

Used interviews.

Gender and Achievement

Internal factor 1: Equal opportunities policies

The government is much more aware of gender issues and teachers are more sensitive to the need to avoid stereotyping which has led to the belief that girls and boys are now entitled to the same opportunities.

GIST - Girls into science and technology

WISE - Women into science and engineering

these policies encourage girls to pursue careers in traditionally male industries. Female scientists have visited schools to act as a positive role model.

Boaler - sees equal opportunity policies as a key reason for the change in girl’s achievement because many of the barriers traditionally faced by women have been removed.

Stem careers:

2015 - 75% men, 25% women

2019-2022 - 73% men, 27% women.

Barriers havent been completely removed - disproportionately more men in STEM careers.

Percentage of teachers and head teachers who are women

Primary school - 1992 50% head teachers, 81% teachers. 2021 - 73.1% headteachers, 84.5% teachers

High school - 1992 22% head teachers, 49% teachers. 2021 - 38% headteachers, 77% teachers.

boys dont see themselves represented in primary schools whereas girls dont see themselves represented in high school = less likely to aspire to be a teacher.

Girls in primary school = good role model, although stereotypical

Carrington et al - little to no evidence that feminisation of teaching has an adverse effect on boys’ levels of academic motivation or engagement. The 7-8 yr olds interviewed gave little or no significance to the teachers gender. Around 2/3 respondents replied negatively to the question ‘do you think it makes any difference whether you have a man or lady teacher’. Consistency, fairness and even-handedness were seen as more important qualities

only 23% of boys and 33% of girls identified teachers as significant others (role models) in their lives.

Gender and Achievement

Internal factor 2: GCSEs and Coursework

Goard - the gender gap in achievement was fairly consistent from 1975 until 1989 when it increase sharply. Education reform act 1988-89 = national curriculum, GCSE exams, coursework. Goard claims that the gender gap is the product of a changed system of assessment rather than the failing of boys.

= bedroom culture - safety as girls are vulnerable and therefore restricted to be kept safe while boys can do whatever they want. Prepares girls for studying, learning to do something for an extended period of time.

Mitsos and Browne - girls are more successful in coursework because:

theyre more conscientious, oral exams benefit them as they have better language skills, theyre better organised, spend more time on their work, take more care with how its presented etc.

2015 - Assessment overrule from modular GCSE/assessments (split content, gcse exam at the end of yr 10 and then the other modules at the end of yr 11) to linear assessments (all at the end of yr 11) which could potentially remove the advantage that girls had

Elwood - 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.

Gender and Achievement

Internal factor 3: Interactions between teachers and pupils

interactions between teachers and boys:

French - found that boys received more attention than girls from teachers as they attracted more reprimands

Francis - also found that while boys get more attention, they were disciplined more harshly and felt picked on by teachers who tended to have lower expectations of them = self fulfilling prophecy.

Interactions between teachers and girls:

Swann - found that girls performed better in groups and pair work and teachers saw them as being better at listening and cooperating. Girls were better at taking turns than boys in class discussions. Ideal pupils

Labelling is occuring and ultimately the self fulfilling prophecy for boys. Girls are being presented as the ideal pupil as they are more disciplined, this means they are more likely to do well but they also have more expectations to live up to.

Gender and Achievement

Challenging stereotypes in the curriculum and materials

research in the 1970’s-80s showed that reading schemes portrayed women as housewives and mothers - physical books showed them as frightened by science, maths books also showed boys as more intentive.

Weiner - since the 1980s, teachers have challenged stereotypes, Sexist images have been removed from learning materials. = girls’ confidence and self-esteem rises as they are faced with positive images of female achievement

Stories for young children - e.g. paper bag princess, traditional stereotype that she was going to marry a man, presents the princess as strong and determined, challenges gender stereotypes that the women are all in distress, encourages girls that they can do anything they want and they work harder as a result. In the end, you do not need to get married, impact wise, girls will work harder

Gender and Achievement

selection and league tables

marketisation policies have created a more competitive climate in which schools see girls as desirable recruits because they achieve better exam results.

Jackson - the introduction of exam league tables has improved opportunities for girls: high achieving girls are more attractive to schools. whereas low-achieving boys are not. = self fulfilling prophecy because girls are more likely to be recruited by good schools. they are more likely to do well.

Slee - boys are less attractive to schools because they are more likely to suffer from behavioural difficulties and are 4x more likely to be excluded = liability.

Summarise the viewpoint Liberal and Radical feminists would make about the significance of these changes in the achievement increase of girls

Liberal

school is the cause of inequality - there needs to be both cultural and legal chance = dependent on each other.

March of progress view

Believes that there has been progress (WISE & GIST) bur will acknowledge that there needs to be further progress

Needs to be more access to female role models

Radical

men are the cause of inequality - political lesbianism, seperatism

Education = patriarchal institution and therefore cannot be any good change - leadership is mostly men, restriction of uniform policies for girls, length of skirts, sexual harassment, limited subject choice etc

Gender and Achievement

identity, class and girls’ achievement

Do all girls achieve highly?

girls on averge achieve more highly but that doesnt mean that all girls are successful - very large social class differences in girls’ achievement.

e.g. 2013 - only 40.6% of girls from poorer family (on FSM) passed, 67.5% of those not on FSM passed

Symbolic capital - ARCHER

one reason for these differences is the conflict between w/c girls’ feminine identities and values and ethos of the school

Symbolic capital = refers to the status recognition and sense of worth that we are able to obtain from others.

By performing their w/c feminine identities, the girls gained symbolic capital from their ppers (collectivism sugarman)

However, this has resulted in conflict with the school - preventing them from acquiring educational capital (qualifications) and economic capital (middle-class careers).

Several strategies that the girls followed for creating a valued sense of self: adopting a hyper-heterosexual female identity (they look extremely straight), having a boyfriend and being loud.

Hyper-heterosexual feminine identity

helps girls feel worth when symbolic violence is thrown at them

w/c girls are therefore faced with a dilemma: either gaining symbolic capital from their peers by conforming to the hyper heterosexual feminine identity OR gaining educational capital by rejecting their w/c identity and conforming to the schools middle class notions of a respectable, ideal female pupil

Some girls tried to cope with this dilemma by defining themselves as ‘good underneath’ - despite the teachers negative views of them

This good underneath self image reflects the girls’ struggle to achieve a sense of worth within the education system that devalues w/c feminine identities

Thus, archer argues that w/c feminine identities and educational success conflict with one another. w/c girls’ investment in their feminine identites are a major cause of their underachievement

Gender and Achievement

‘successful’ w/c girls

Evans- study of 21 w/c sixth form students in a South London comprehensive school. They wanted to go to university to increase their economic power (economic capital), not for themselves, but to help their family.

How does their desire to go to university reflect their w/c feminine identity?

Skeggs - ‘caring’ is a crucial part of their feminine identity and the 21 sixth formers in the study show that they care - not only about how they look, but also how academically pursued they are

Sugarman - collectivism - give back to the family.

Why did the girls from the study wish to live at home while at university?

Archer - economic necessity. Fear of debt and how much it’d cost - this altered what types of university they applied to as well. They may have also preferred to live at home because it was familiar - relief from fear.

Overall, it limited their choice of univeristy and the market value of their degree. Self-exclusion from elite universities places a limit on their success. Successful w/c girls were always pressured by the aspect of money and whether or not they would be able to afford university. External factors e.g. habitus can affect how they are perceived.

Gender and Achievement

Boys and achievement

DCSF (department for children schools and families) - the gender gap is the result of boys’ poor literacy and language skills. They put this down for a number of reasons:

1. Parents spend less time reading to boys

2. Mothers do most of the reading with children so boys come to see it as a feminine activity

3. Boys’ leisure pursuits such as football and computer games do not encourage language skills

Strategies/policies used to overcome this:

Reading champions scheme - early 2000s - aimed to engage children, particularly boys in reading. Introduce male role models who are seen as reading champions, usually from different walks of life (actors, sports figures) - would come to the school and read aloud to the children.Takes away the gendered role of reading, representation that encourages and motivates them to read BUT many schools werent able to bring in these figures

National literacy strategy 1998 - aimed to improve literacy skills amongst primary school children, research at the tie found that boys were preforming worse than girls at reading. Promises structured literacy, intervention groups. more engaging reading material. However, the reading material was heavily dependent on gender stereotypes e,g, ‘boys like sports, adventure and technology’ might not be applicable to all boys.

Gender and Achievement

Globalisation and the decline of traditional male jobs

since the 1980s, theres been a significant decline in heavy industry such as iron, steel,shipbuilding,mining and engineering.

This is partly due to globalisation of the economy which has led to a lot of manufacturing relocating to developing countries such as China to take advantage of cheap labour

Mitsos and Browne - claim that the decline in opportunities for men has led to an ‘identity crisis’ because if they do not see a career for them in the future, their motivation and self esteem is undermined → giving up in education/

not all working class boys will want to do heavy industry jobs - wont impact them that much

globalisation means theres more jobs now - outdated

Gender and Achievement

Feminisation of education

Sewell - boys fall behind because education has become feminised. = schools do not nurture masculine traits such as competitiveness and leadership, instead they celebrate qualities such as methodical working and attentiveness (specific attention, being careful = stereotypical female) He blames coursework for boys’ underachievement and says that it should be replaced by final exams and a greater emphasis on outdoor adventure in the curriculum.

A lot of schools do emphasise competitiveness and leadership through sports day,achievement points, group work etc.

2015 linear exams were brought in and coursework was scrapped for most subjects - 9.8% gap in achievement in GCSE despite the change

Gender and Achievement

Shortage of male primary school teachers

large numbers of boys are brought up in the 1.5 million female-headed lone parent families in the UK

Yougov 2007 - only 14% of primary school teachers are male

39% of 8-11 yr olds have no lessons at all with a male teacher

When surveyed, most boys said the presence of a male teacher made them behave better and 42% said it made them work harder.

May be because schools have been feminised and female teachers are unable to control boys -male teachers are better able to impose strict discipline - less about the teacher and more about the disrespect boys have for female teachers.

Francis - 2/3 7-8 yr olds dont care about the gender of their teachers

Epstein - examined the way masculinity was constructed within school -w/c boys more likely to be harassed, labelled as sissies and subjected to homophobic verbal abuse if they appear to be ‘swots’

Gender and subject choice
Subject choice at GCSE

The national curriculum reduced the freedom given to children to opt in or out of subjects - some are compulsory. However, where choices are possible girls and boys tend to follow different routes

Boys still opt for subjects such as maths and physics, design technology and geography

Whereas girls are more likely to choose modern foreign languages, art and sociology.

Stables and wikeley - where there is room for choice in the national curriculum subjects, boys and girls choose differently Although D&T is a compulsory subject, girls tend to choose food technology whereas boys tend to choose resistant materials and graphics

DFE 2019- There are important gender differences in subject choices: 10 most popular GCSE choices, 9/10 are chosen by both boys and girls. Nonetheless, many subjects show gender stereotypical biases with girls more likely to take arts, languages and humanities VS boys more likely to take Geography, PE and IT

Gender and Achievement

Sociological explanations for differences in subject choice by gender

Gender role socialisation

Norman - from an early age boys and girls are dressed differently and taken to different activities, parents reward girls and are more passive and boys are more active.

canalisation - Oakley - the process by which children are subtly or overtly steered towards behaviours, toys, and activities considered masculine or feminine

Mnaipulation - the way in which parents deter or encourage behaviour on the basis of appropriateness in regards to gender

Verbal appellation - the way in which boys and girls are rebuked for behaviour which is appropriate for their gender ‘brave boy’ ‘sweet girl’

Elwood - boys read hobby books and information texts whereas girls are more likely to read stories about people → girls preferring english

Gender domains - tasks that girls see as their territory and what boys see as their territory. Girls and boys are more confident when what they are doing is in their gender domain e.g. in maths if the questions involve health and nutrition girls would excel and if its car related, boys will excel.

Murphy - set primary and lower secondary pupils open ended tasks which involved drawing boats and asked to write an estate agent’s article about a house. Boys designed power boats and battleships with elaborate weaponry, whereas girls designed cruise ships, paying attention to social and domestic details. Boys designed sporty cars and army vehicles, girls focused on family cars. = Boys and girls pay attention to different details when tackling the same task. Girls focus on how things feel (empathetic) while boys focus on how things work (practical) == helps explain why girls choose humanities and art whereas boys choose science.

more recently. efforts are being made to re-balance gender socialisation through removing gender stereotypes from the media and books. e.g. disney has released films which challenge the view that girls should be passive and let boys be the active, adventurous ones, e.g. ‘brave’

---

Gendered subject images

Kelly - science is seen as a boys subject for many reasons:

1. science teachers are likely to be men

2. examples used in lessons and those in textbooks are likely to draw on boys’ experiences and interests

3. boys dominate the apparatus over girls

Colley - computer science is also seen as a masculine subject for the following reasons:

1. it involves working with machines - part of the male gender domain

2. the way it is taught is off-putting to females because tasks tend to be abstract and teaching styles formal, with few opportunities for group work

pupils from single-sex schools seemed to have a bit less gendered subject image.

Leonard - this may make the pupils make less traditional subject choices. Girls in girls schools took more male dominated subjects at university and earned higher salaries. = the promotion of gender identities in schools is critical in how girls view subject choices and career options. Potentially this may mean that it is possible to change the traditional gender division in subject choice if schools change the way they promote subjects in lessons.

---

Gender identity and peer pressure

boys tend to opt out of music and dance as such activities fall outside of their gender domain and attract negative responses from peers

Paechter - because pupils see sport as a male domain, girls that are sporty have to cope with an image that is outside of their domain, this may explain why girls are more likely to opt out of sport.

Dewar - through her research in one american college (microsample AO3), found that girls were called lesbian or butch if they were more interested in sport than in boys.

The girls can campaign - no right way to get active. = challenges Paechter and Dewar as it encourages girls to exercise - fitness and sports role models.

---

Gendered career opportunities

There are jobs that are seen to be mens and womens. womens = nurses/carers as its linked closely to the nurturing stereotype associated with women.

Males are less likely to opt for these career choices as they are shown from nursery age that women dominate these jobs, not men.

Fuller - identified from her research with a small sample of school girls, that they had ambitions to go into jobs such as child care or hair and beauty. This therefore mesns it is necessary to consider social class values (habitus) alongside gender when trying to explain why girls/boys make the choices they do.

= this piece of research makes it hard to determine whether the girls opted for these careers because they are ‘female jobs’ or because they are jobs that are seen as suitable for their social class.

Pupils’ sexual and gender identities

TED TALK by Laura Bates

Due to secondary and primary socialisation - girls are taught within schools that the gender divide is normal and therefore accepted.

Boys are taught that they need to be loud and sexist towards women, boys in school learn from peers that this behaviour is normal as there is no consequence to their actions.

Girls learn that they need to be quiet as it is whats expected of them - typical gender stereotypes

Correlation between workplace and schools → normalised within wider societies → happens in schools → on surface there are changes in the law but in reality sexism is engraved in our society.

Pupils’ sexual and gender identities

Hegemonic masculinity

Connell - hegemonic masculinity. = the dominance of heterosexual masculine identity and the subordination of female and gay identities. Done through:

Double standards - Lees - double standard of sexual morality in which boys boast about their sexual exploits, but call a girl a slag if she doesn’t have a steady boyfriend or if she dresses and speaks in a certain way. Sexual conquests are approved of and given status by male peers and ignored by male teachers, as ‘promiscuity’ among girls attracts negative labels.

1. A married woman without a job is a gold digger but a married man without a job is a stay at home husband

2. A man who speaks his opinion is strong but a woman who speaks her opinion is complaining

3. A man who leaves his children is doing it for the family but a woman who leaves her children is selfish

4. Men who enjoy sex are lads whereas a woman who enjoys sex is a slut/whore

5. A woman who cries is emotional and on her period but a man who cries is in touch with his feelings

6. A woman who gets angry is bossy but a man who gets angry is assertive

Verbal abuse - Connell - a rich vocabulary of abuse is one way in which dominant gender and sexual identities are reinforced. e.g. boys use name calling to put girls down if they behave or dress in certain ways.

Lees - found that boys call girls ‘slags; if they appeared to be sexually available and ‘drags’ if they didnt

Parchter - name calling helps to shape gender identities and maintain male power. The use of negative labels such as ‘gay’, ‘queer’ and ‘lezzie’ are ways in which pupils police each other’s sexual identities.

Parker - boys were labelled gay simply for being friendly with girls or female teachers.

Lees and Paetcher - these labels often bear no relation to pupils’ actual sexual behaviour. Their function is to simply reinforce gender norms and identities

The department of education and OFSTED have recognised that sexual harassment in schools is a real issue in contemporary education.

‘Its just everywhere: A study on sexism in schools - and how we tackle it’ NEU and UK feminista 2017 - over 1500 students and 1600 staff were interviewed.

1. The use of sexist, misogynist language, which denigrates girls and femaleness is commonplace in schools

2. both male and female students report the common use of language which associates negative characteristics with being female ‘dont be a pussy’ and stronger characteristics with being strong ‘man up’

3. This language is more likely to be targeted at male students, while female students are more likely to be subjected to gendered sexual name-calling such as ‘slut’, ‘slag’ and ‘whore’

4. The accepted and often casual use of language that denigrates girls/women/femaleness fuels harmful and narrow ideas about what it means to be a man or woman

5. It contributes to a conducive contect for sexist attitudes and behaviours, including sexual harassment.

in June 2021 ofsted published their review of 32 schools in which they spoke to 900 students, these are their key findings:

1. children and young ppl said that sexual harassment occurs so often that it has become commonplace

2. girls stated that sexual harassment and online sexual abuse, including being sent unsolicited explicit sexual material or being pressured into sending ‘nudes’ was far more prevalent than adults realise

3. nearly 90% of girls and 50% if boys said that sexist name calling happens a lot to them or to peers. The frequency of these harmful sexual behaviours means that some children and young ppl consider them normal

4. children and young people stated that sexual violence also occurred in unsupervised spaces outside of school such as parties or parks

5. Children and young ppl, especially girls, told ofsted that they didnt want to talk about sexual abuse, even if the school encourages them to.

6. Children were rarely positive about the RSHE they received - they felt it was ‘too little, too late’. In particular they felt that the curriculum was not equipping them with the info and advice needed

7. School teachers and leaders underestimate the scale of the problem.

The male gaze - Mac an Ghaill - the way teachers look girls up and down, seeing them as sexual objects and making judgements about their appearance. The male gaze = a form of surveillance through which dominant heterosexual masculinity is reinforced and femininity devalued. It is one way that boys prove their masculinity to their friends and is often combined with constant telling or retelling of stories about sexual conquests. Boys who do not display their sexuality in this way run the risk of being labelled gay

e.g. The everyday sexism project 2016

-The TUC commissioned polling on sexual harassment in the workplace: 1533 adult women in great britain were polled

-to gather quantitiative data to complement the polling, an online survey of union members was carried out

-The polling questions were designed to prove insight into the nature of sexual harassment and the experience itself

1. 52% of all women polled had experienced sexual harassment

2. 35% of women have heard comments of a sexual nature being made about other women in the workplace

3. 28% of women have been subject to comments of a sexual nature about their bodies or clothes

4. nearly a quarter of women studied have experienced unwanted touching

5. the perpetrator was a male colleague in the majority of sexual harassment cases, with 1 in 5 reporting that the perpetrator was in authority over them

6. 4/5 women did not report the sexual harassment.

Male peer groups - use verbal abuse to reinforce their definitions of masculinity

Epstein and willis - boys in anti-school subcultures often accuse boys who want to do well at school of being gay or efffeminate

Mac an Ghaill - study of Parnell school examines how peer groups reproduce a range of different class-based masculine gender identities.

1. the w/c macho lads were dismissive of other w/c boys who worked hard and aspired to m/c careers. referring to them as ‘dickhead achievers’

2. the m/c ‘real englishmen’ projected an image of effortless achievement of succeeding without trying (although in some cases, working hard on the quiet)

3. this represents a shift away from a w/c definition based on toughness to a m/c one based on intellectual ability

4. this reflects the more m/c composition and atmosphere of the sixth form.

Ethnicity and achievement

Attainment 8 and EBacc

attainment 8 measures the achievement of a pupil across 8 qualifications, including maths (double weighted), English (double weighted), 3 further qualifications that count in EBacc measure and 3 further qualifications that can be GCSE qualifications (including EBacc subjects)

EBacc subjects = english lit and lang, maths, sciences, humanities (geography/history), language.

EBacc academic year 2020-2021 = chinese girls 70.8%, Chinese boys 67.4%, Asian girls 56.7%, Black boys do the worst 48.4%

Ethnicity and achievement

Explanations for ethnic differences in achievement: Cultural deprivation

The lack of intellectual and linguistic skills = a major cause of underachievement for many ethnic minority children.

Many children from low-income black families lack intellectual simulation and enriching experiences - cultural capital

This leaves them poorly equipped for school because they have not been able to develop the necessary reasoning and problem solving skills.

Bereiter and Engelman - consider the language spoken by lone-income black American families as inadequate for educational success. Ungrammatical, disjointed and incapable of expressing abstract ideas (Like Burnstein restricted code) e.g. difference in language/words spoken make them inferior in tests calling a tap a pipe - Asian children were understood to have english as a second language but Caribbean children were thought to speak inferior english.

There has been concern over children who do not speak English at home may be held back educationally. However, OS show that this is not a major factor e.g. in 2010 pupils with english as their 1st language were only 3.2 points ahead of those without Eng as their first lang (55.2% to 52%) when it came to gaining five GCSE A*-C passes including English and Maths

Gillborn and Mirza point out that Indian pupils do very well despite often not having English as their home language.

=Differences in language in contemporary society do not matter as Chinese students out perform pupils who speak English as their first language

Driver criticises cultural deprivation theory for ignoring the positive effects of ethnicity on achievement. - The black Caribbean family is far from dysfunctional as it provides girls with god role models of strong and independent women - this is why black girls are more successful than black boys.

Keddie sees cultural deprivation as a victim blaming explanation - ethnic minority children are culturally different, not culturally deprived. They underachieve because schools are ethnocentric and biased in favour of white culture

Ethnicity and achievement

Explanations of ethnic differences in achievement: Attitudes and values

most children are socialised into the mainstream culture which instils ambition, competitiveness and willingness to make sacrifices necessary to achieve long term goals - this equips them for success in education.

By contrast, cultural deprivation theorists argue that some black children are socialised into a subculture that instals a fatalistic, ‘live for today’ attitude that does not value education and leaves them unequipped for success

Also applies to w/c pupils, intersectionality = different parts of your identity (class, gender, ethnicity) blending together.

Ethnicity and achievement

Explanations of ethnic differences in achievement: Family structure and parental support

from 2011 consensus:

Bangladeshi are more likely to be living in a family with married parents (42.7%)

White gypsy are most likely to be living in a lone parent family (20.4%)

The problem with referring to black or asian as one homogeneous group is that theres a lot of variety within these categories. e.g. Chinese and Indian people are both Asian but their culture and achievements are different - over generalising. Stereotypes can also influence what people think.

Some sociologists claim that failure to socialise children properly is the result of dysfunctional family structures in black communities.

Moynihan - because many black families are headed by a lone mother, her children are deprived of adequate care because she has to struggle financially in the absence of a male breadwinner. The male absence also means that boys lack a positive role model of male achievement. Cultural deprivation is a cycle where inadequately socialised children from unstable families go on to fail at school and become inadequate parents themselves.

Murray - a high rate of lone parenthood and a lack of positive role models lead to the underachievement of some ethnic minorities.

Scruton - sees the low achievement levels of some ethnic minorities as resulting fro a failure to embrace mainstream British culture

Pryce - sees family structure as contributing to the underachievement of black caribbean pupils in Britain. He says that Asians are higher achievers because they are more resilient to racism and their culture gives them a greater sense of worth. In contrast, he sees black culture as less cohesive and resistant to racism → low self esteem.

Sewell - black underachievement is due to a lack of fatherly nurturing or ‘tough love’ (firm, fair, respectful, non-abusive discipline). This lack makes it hard for black boys to overcome the emotional and behavioural difficulties of adolescence. In the absence of a nurturing father, street gangs offer fatherless boys ‘perverse love and loyalty’ → anti school subcultures → delinquent subcultures → crime rather than achievement. In these gangs black boys are subjected to anti-education peer group pressures. Speaking in standard english and doing well in school were often seen as selling out of the gang.

Sewell - black people do worse than their Asian counterparts because of cultural differences in socialisation and attitudes to education. While one group is nurtured by MTV (tv channel, focusing more on it = black children)