Gender and Differential Achievement in Education

Facts:1. girls get better results at all levels in national curriculum tests2. girls get better results in most subjects at GCSE3. girls are more likely to pass their A-levels4. women are more likely to go to university. 5. men seem to have most success at the highest levels of university. A higher proportion of males students get first class degrees and PhDs6.Girls tend to go for communication-based subjects like English and sociology and boys tend to go for technical ones like maths and physics.

Factors inside school - why girls are doing better
They believe that teaching has been feminised. women are more likely to be classroom teachers, especially in primary schools.
this gives girls positive role models.

Factors inside school - why girls are doing betterTextbooks and teaching resources has changes and is less likely to stereotype girls into passive roles.

Factors inside school - why girls are doing betterThe national curriculum forced girls to do traditionally 'male' subjects. For example more girls started to do science.
other local education authority and government initiatives tried to encourage girls to do these subjects e.g WISE (women in science and engineering) and GIST (girls in science and technology)

Factors inside school - why girls are doing better
GCSE include more coursework than earlier qualifications. some people argue that coursework suits girls better because they put in more effort, are better organised and can concentrate for longer than boys that's quite a sweeping generalisation though.

Factors inside school - why girls are doing better
think that high female achievement is a result of the quality of interaction with their teachers.
In most cases, time spent with girls are mainly about their work. whilst with boys, the focus is on behavioural management.

Factors inside school - why girls are doing better
Jackson 1998 believes that school labels boys negatively. boys are associated with poor behaviour which gives the school a bad name, and with low achievement, which lowers the schools league table position. this negative label becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Factors outside school: why females do betterEqual pay act and sex discrimination act
they have helped to create more equal opportunities in the wider society. this has changed the values of society and attitudes in school.

Factors outside school: why females do better
Sue sharpe 1994 found that girls priorities have changed. they now want careers and qualifications. more women want to go out to work, so girls see lots of positive role models in work. girls now days often want to be financially independent, they don't want to marry a rich man any more.

Factors outside school: why females do better
boys tend to spend their leisure time being physically active. girls are more likely to send their leisure time reading and communicating. this means girls develop language skills that are useful for most subjects.

Factors outside school: why females do better
the feminist movement caused a change in female expectations and made more people aware of inequality.
people are now more careful about negative stereotyping, sex discrimination and patriarchy.

Archer - females face problems at school
Archer argues that the current underachievement by boys in education masks the continuing problems that girls face.

Archer - females face problems at school
Claims that high achieving Asian and Chinese girls get negatively labelled by teachers as robots who are incapable of independent thought.

Archer - females face problems at school
High achieving black working class girls get negatively labelled by teachers as loud and aggressive.

Archer - females face problems at school
concludes that the ongoing of girls is 'fragile and problematic'