Social class and ethnicity

McVeigh (2001)

• Similarities between boys and girls greater than differences especially compared to class and ethnic differences

• Class gap in achievement at GCSE 3x wider than gender gap

  • Different gender, same class: achievement gap rarely greater than 12 %pts

  • Same gender, different classes: highest class can be up to 44 %pts ahead of lowest class (girls)

• Gender gap among Black Caribbean pupils greater than among other ethnic groups

Connolly (2006)

• Different combinations of gender/class/ethnicity have different effects

  • Female + Black Caribbean = better performance than female + white

Fuller

• Successful Black girls define femininity in terms of educational achievement and independence

Sewell

• Black boys fail at school due to defining their masculinity in opposition to education (“effeminate”)