Many such as Gorard (2005) believe that the way pupils are assessed in modern education has favoured girls and disadvantaged boys. Gorard found that the gender gap in achievement was steady from 1975 until 1988 when it increased swiftly. This was when GCSE and coursework was introduced into the education system. Gorard believed that the gender gap in achievement is a ‘product of the changed system of assessment rather than any more general failing of boys’. Mitsos and Browne (1998) support the view that GCSE’s favoured girls as they were more successful in the coursework aspect due to the fact that girls are seen to be more organised and better timekeepers which leads to high quality work being completed in time for deadlines. But some sociologists such as Ellwood (2005) would argue that although coursework has had some influence, exams themselves have a greater influence in the final grade. Therefore it is unlikely to be the sole cause of the gender gap.
However the external factors that many sociologists have expressed the importance of in influencing gender differences in education must be accounted for. Feminism aims to achieve equality in society for both genders. It argues against the stereotypical role of males and females in society and within the family, and challenges the role of women being the uneducated housewife. Feminism has had a great effect in improving girls’ self-esteem and aspirations in life and this has been seen partly in media images and messages. McRobbie (1994) compared girls’ magazines in the 1970’s to those in the 1990’s. She found that in previous years, the emphasis for girls was heavily placed on getting married and not being ‘left on the shelf’. Whereas in more modern magazines, images portrayed assertive, independent women. This is also reflected in current soap operas and similar programmes where they highlight the importance of independence. This has caused the gender gap to increase as girl’s have higher ambitions to be independent without the financial need to get married, so they must achieve higher grades to climb the career ladder.
Another key external factor that could explain gender differences in educational achievement is the female influence of teachers within education. The majority of lone parent families are single mothers, and within primary schools, only 16% of teachers are male. This then leads to the conclusion that boys are lacking male role models within education and for some, at home also. If a boy has been brought up in a female headed family and attends a school which lacks in strong positive male role models then they are likely to disregard education as it can be seen as being feminine. Boys may not want to appear to be doing well in school to their peers, as many boys are concerned about being labelled by their peers as ‘swots’ or ‘nerds’ which could threaten their masculinity. Therefore this could have led to the dismissal of schoolwork by boys, resulting to lower achievement levels and gender differences in grades achieved.
In conclusion, the gender differences within education are a result of changes within the education system, however it may also be seen that both internal and external factors influence educational achievement of both genders. Girls may be improving at a quicker rate than boys but the performance of both sexes has improved considerably in recent years. Although boys may now be seen to be lagging behind girls, boys today are achieving more than they did in the past. Also, social status must be accounted for as both genders of the same social class will tend to achieve fairly similar results, whereas a boy from the middle class will tend to achieve higher than a girl from a working class background. Although gender does have a large influence on educational achievement, we must not exclude external impacts.
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lucyabbey98hotmailcouk (student)
