"Internal factors within the educational system are the primary reason for the improvement in girls' achievement" Discuss.

Recently schools have more positive female role models such as teachers and head teachers. Women that are such high up in authority are a real role model in showing girls that if they have ambitions and try hard, they can achieve them. A female teacher is a very important role model within the education system because if you want to become a teacher, you must go through a lengthy and successful education in able to achieve that. On the other hand it could be said that the changes in the family is one the main reasons for a change in the girls' achievements Since the 1970's there have been various reasons as to why there have been so many changes within the family, for example: an increase in divorce rates, an increase in lone-parent families and smaller families. With the numbers of lone parent families increasing this means that females will become head of the family and they will have to take on the breadwinner role, this encourages them to do well in school and when they leave it erges them on to go out and earn a living in a well paid job just like the husband would do in a traditional nuclear family.

School work has changed quite alot with it now been that most subjects are mainly taken up of coursework and the odd exam, especially at GCSE level. This however favours the girls but disadvantages the boys. Sociologist Steven Gorard (2005) found that the gender gap was quite consistent until 1988-9, at this point then the GCSE was introduced and most subjects turned into coursework and exams, this strongly favoured the girls. Other sociologists support this view as it has been proved that girls, on average, tend to spend alot more of their time working or revising, take more care with presentation and are better at meeting deadlines. All these points are evidence as to why girls are now generally doing better in their school achievements. However some might say that it is all down to the external factors such as the change's in womens' employment, which of course has changed incredibly over the years due to the 1970 Equal Pay Act and the 1975 Sex Discrimination Act. This increased the proportion of women in employment from 47% in 1959 to 70% in 2007. This also managed to close the gap in the differences in male and female wages. The 'glass ceiling' theory also had a big impact, as it didn't physically stop women from moving up in the bussinesses but as a mental barrier to show that they were still inferior to the male figure.

Dale Spender (1983) found that often teachers would be paying more attention to the boys than they did to the girls this may have been because the girls tried harder and didn't need as much attention or because they were in favour of the boys, but in other studies it has been shown that although the boys got more teacher attention they felt as if they were disciplined more harshly and that they were been picked on in class, and low expectations were always thought of them, as the girls didn't get as much attention this could have meant grades would possibly slip but been as they worked so much harder in school anyway, the results were still better than the boys'. Girls ambitions change everyday but in 1994, Sue Sharpe compared results from two interviews with girls one from 1970 and 1990 and the findings were that there was a major shift in the ambitions girls' had. In 1970 it was thought that if girls' had ambitions, they were considered unattractive. This lead girls' into not having ambitions and just following the traditional life, so obviously society had a big part in how they lived their lives and where they wanted to go when leaving school.

After weighing up the external and internal factors I personally think that the improvements in girls' achievements have been very dependent on both family background and society but also school life and the education system aswell. Many of the internal factors say that girls' only did better in school because of changes such as the GCSE been brought in and the boys been disciplined more harshly and I agree with those however I do think that girls have achieved all the goals themselves by working hard and studying in school. I also believe that they did this in school because of the role models they had, people who encouraged them to get good paid jobs and to have ambitions and not just be a housewive who is dependent on their husband. Role models such as Margaret Thatcher have led girls into standing up for what they believe in, following their goals and just generally been ambitious. I think without the external factors the internal factors wouldn't be as successful as they are both factors which depend on each other just like a girl will do well in school, if they know they have goals to achieve in the future.