Why are girls doing better than boys in school?

Authors Avatar

Research question

   Why are girls doing better than boys in school?

Hypothesis

   Girls are doing better than boys because of social stigmas attached to the different sexes and expectations of society. The attitudes of the children and peer pressure are also to blame.

Investigation

I am investigating this hypothesis because I am interested in gender differences and would like to find out why girls are doing better than boys.

   For my secondary research I am going to investigate my hypothesis by looking at newspaper articles and analysing exam results.

   For my primary research I am going to observe 2 classes in a covert participant observation, one year 10 class and one year 12 six form class. This way I can see if there is a difference at A level than G.C.S.E level. I will observe their behaviour, work rate and relationship with the teacher.  I will hand out a questionnaire to teachers and pupils with an equal ratio of males and females.

   I think these methods are best to use because I can get an understanding of how men and women view this issue differently and why people think this is happening.

   My target population are teachers and pupils. I will pick a random sample, although I will choose equal numbers of males and females. I may have problems with my research because I people may not necessarily behave the same way if they suspect I am observing them and they may not answer the questionnaire in a truthful manner.

Background information

 The trend of girls achieving higher than boys throughout the education system has recently come to notice. Over the last five years particularly it has become a nationally recognised problem. It is thought by experts and sociologists that the reasons for this are:

Join now!
  • Socialisation;
  • Peer groups;
  • The impact of teachers and the hidden curriculum.

Socialisation is the influence the family and parents have on their children and the way they are brought up. Sociologists, Goldberg and Lewis found that at as young as six months old parents expected daughters to be quieter and cleaner than six month old boys. Perhaps this expectation of different sexes contributes to the behaviour of children in the classroom. Another study by Loban, showed that many children's books and schoolbooks reinforced the gender stereotypes.

The peer group contributes by continuing the stereotypes socially and in the classroom. ...

This is a preview of the whole essay