The Gender Gap

As much as some people may hate to admit it (hey Dan) there is a 'gender gap' in our schools today. There is a great deal of evidence (from research in schools, exam results) that these is a difference in girls and boys attainment, with the girls having the advantage. This has caused the problem and the concern of boys under-achievement.

Information contained in this post has been obtained from a Sociology of Education booklet given to me by Mr Morgan in Stanwell School, 2005. There are also points gathered from a video watched in EPS.

- Boys lag behind in early literacy skills
- Boys lag behind in English (GCSE 1999 67% girls, 50% boys gained C or better)
- Girls outperform boys at GCSE (1999 10% more girls than boys gained 5+ A*-C grades)
- In 2000 girls overtook boys in achieving higher grades at A level
- Post-16, girls began to opt out of science, technology etc. (despite doing better than boys in these subjects at GCSE)

A point to note is that this gap is not just confined to Britain. There is evidence that this trend is also present in other Western countries.

However in looking at the gender gap we cannot just generalise and say 'boys do badly and girls do better.' An closer look shows interesting facts that should be addressed.

- the gap is not the same in all subjects (in GCSE science boys do slightly better than girls, in GCSE maths girls and boys perform at a similar rate)
- not the same at all levels of education (disproportionately more males opt for science, ICT etc, in higher education)
- attainment can also be affected by social class and ethnicity

Some sociologists have argued that the issues of boys under-achieving has been inflated into a 'moral panic' by politicians and the media. There has been more concern for boys under-achieving than there was about girls under-achieving.

Some of the reasons that have been said for the growing gender gap in educational attainment are:

- Educational policies that are designed to help girls
- Coursework favours girls learning styles
- the National Curriculum
- Poorer employment prospects for males
- Male overconfidence
- 'Men behaving badly' imaginary/anti-school culture
- Boys literacy problems
- Improved employment prospects for women
- Negative labelling of boys in the classroom
- Higher female career aspirations

Some of these explanations do not explain why there has been a recent change in pupils attainment. They are not all new factors so how can they explain changes in performance? The cause can lie in society wide changes (employment opportunities, changes in career aspirations, decline of traditional views of males vs females and equal opportunity laws).

There has been arguments that the curriculum is patriarchal. History is mainly boy led and subjects like PE is divided into male and female groups and sports. There are also male/female stereotypes that are present throughout reading schemes and textbooks, limited resources/budgets mean that these stay in classrooms.

The belief in a 'hidden curriculum' in classrooms also can influence the gender gap. Even amoung teachers there are expectations and attitudes about how girls/boys should act and learn. This may present in the language and examples used by teachers or the way that teachers can encourage male domination in the classroom in terms of their access to resources and they way they may accept some bad behaviour and excuse it as being just 'boys being boys.'

There is more I could write but i've decided i'll do it another time.