Differential Educational Achievement by Gender: Peer Group Interaction
What are peer group interactions?
Influence of friendship groups and other students
Girls are seen as more positive in supporting peers
Boys see education as âfeminisedâ and not masculine
Female peer groups:
Francis (2000)- Females are encouraged to develop academic identities by the school
Female peer groups have more cooperation and collaboration when it comes to schoolwork
Archer et al (2007)- development of hyper-heterosexual identities reinforced by peers amongst working-class girls
Male peer groups:
Archer et al (2007)- Nike Identies- conformity in working-class males to wearing branded sportswear to gain symbolic status
Francis (2000)- boys conform to âmachoâ stereotypes to fit in
Epstein (1998)- laddish subcultures use derogatory terms to describe boys who achieve- similar to Ward (2015) and Willis (1977)
How peer group interactions influence educational achievement:
Girls develop more pro-school and pro-education behaviours
Behaviours are often reinforced by school and female role models in particular
Boys develop more anti-authority values and display resistance to school
Teacher reactions lead to boys being denied status in education
Evaluations:
Peer group interactions are often class-based and cannot be judged on gender alone
The generalisation that boys act in an anti-authority manner- Ward (2015) and Willis (1977) both had boys who conformed
Other factors such as the rise in feminisation and role models influence peer group interactions in both boys and girls