Sociology · Year 11 · Education · Summer Term

Differential Educational Achievement by Gender

Examine the changing patterns of educational achievement between boys and girls. We will explore reasons for these trends, including changes in the family, the impact of feminism, and processes within schools.

TL;DR:This topic explores one of the most significant success stories, and subsequent debates, in modern British education: the dramatic improvement of girls' achievement and the resulting gender gap.

• National Curriculum Attainment Targets
• DfE GCSE Sociology Subject Content: Education - Differential educational achievement of social groups by gender

About This Topic

This topic delves into one of the most significant trends in British education over the past four decades: the reversal of the gender gap in achievement. In the context of GCSE and A-Level Sociology specifications (such as AQA or OCR), this topic is a cornerstone of the 'Education' module. Initially, the education system appeared to favour boys, but since the 1980s, girls have steadily improved their performance and now outperform boys at every level, from Key Stage 2 SATs to university degrees. This module requires students to move beyond simplistic explanations and engage with complex sociological debates.

The core of the topic is structured around explaining this trend through two categories of factors. External factors, those outside the school, include the impact of feminism on raising women's expectations, significant changes in the family structure and women's roles, and shifts in the economy creating more opportunities for female employment. Internal factors, those within the education system itself, include equal opportunities policies (like GIST and WISE), the introduction of coursework-heavy assessments like GCSEs, an increase in female role models in schools, and the potential for teacher labelling. The debate also encompasses the more recent 'moral panic' surrounding boys' relative underachievement, exploring concepts such as the 'feminisation of education', the crisis of masculinity, and the formation of 'laddish' anti-school subcultures as responses to societal changes.

Key Questions

1. Explain two external factors that may have contributed to the improvement in girls' achievement.
2. Analyse the reasons for boys' relative underachievement in education.
3. Evaluate the view that gender socialisation is the most important factor in explaining subject choice.

Learning Objectives

• Describe the key trends in educational achievement by gender since the 1980s.
• Explain a range of internal and external factors that have influenced these trends for both boys and girls.
• Analyse the reasons for gendered patterns in subject choice and curriculum.
• Evaluate sociological explanations for differential educational achievement by gender, using evidence from key studies.
• Apply sociological concepts such as 'moral panic' and 'crisis of masculinity' to contemporary debates about education.

Key Vocabulary

Gender domains	Tasks and activities that children and adults see as being the 'territory' of one gender or the other, influencing subject choices.
Feminisation of education	The theory that schools have become more female-dominated environments, with more female teachers and assessment styles that suit girls, which may disadvantage boys.
'Laddish' subcultures	Peer groups of boys, often working-class, who reject the values of school and academic work in order to assert a non-academic masculinity.
Crisis of masculinity	The idea that the decline of traditional manual industries has led to a loss of identity and purpose for many working-class men and boys, reducing their motivation to achieve in education.
GIST/WISE	Acronyms for policies (Girls Into Science and Technology / Women Into Science and Engineering) introduced to reduce gender stereotyping and encourage girls to pursue STEM subjects.

Watch Out for These Misconceptions

Common Misconception

All boys do worse than all girls in every subject.

What to Teach Instead

This is a generalisation. While on average girls achieve higher grades, this is not true for every individual or every subject. Furthermore, social class and ethnicity are highly significant variables: middle-class pupils, for example, outperform working-class pupils regardless of gender.

Common Misconception

Feminism has solved all the problems for girls in education.

What to Teach Instead

While feminism has had a major positive impact, girls still face challenges. These include a higher prevalence of sexual harassment in schools, continued pressure to conform to traditional subject choices, and the 'glass ceiling' in their future careers.

Common Misconception

Boys are just naturally less academic or organised than girls.

What to Teach Instead

Sociologists reject such biological arguments. They explain differences in achievement through social factors, such as how boys are socialised, the pressures to conform to a 'laddish' masculinity, and changes in the economy affecting their perceived future.

Active Learning Ideas

Formal Debate

Internal vs. External Factors Sort

Provide students with cards detailing various factors (e.g., 'Impact of Feminism', 'Introduction of Coursework', 'Laddish Subcultures'). In pairs, they must sort these into 'Internal' and 'External' columns and then rank them by importance, justifying their decisions.

20 min·Pairs

Formal Debate

'Is Schooling Biased Towards Girls?'

Divide the class into two teams to debate the proposition. Students must use sociological evidence and concepts, such as the 'feminisation of education', to support their arguments in a structured debate format.

30 min·Whole Class

Formal Debate

Living Graph of Achievement

Create a large timeline on the classroom floor or wall from the 1970s to the present day. Students place data points and policy changes (e.g., Education Reform Act 1988) on the timeline to visualise the changing gender gap over time.

25 min·Small Groups

Real-World Connections

• Analysing the UK's gender pay gap and how subject choices at school can channel individuals into differently valued career paths.
• Debating current government policies and school-level initiatives aimed at 'closing the gap' for underachieving boys.
• Examining the marketing of toys, video games, and clothes to see how gender stereotypes are reinforced from a young age, shaping future educational interests.
• Looking at the gender balance in different university courses and professions, such as the high proportion of women in primary teaching and nursing versus men in engineering and computing.
• Understanding media headlines about exam results and being able to critically evaluate claims about a 'boy crisis' in education.

Assessment Ideas

Quick Check

Use mini-whiteboards for students to list one internal and one external reason for girls' improving achievement. This allows for a quick check of understanding.

Peer Assessment

Set a GCSE-style extended essay question, such as 'Applying material from Item A, analyse two reasons for the gender gap in educational achievement. (10 marks)'.

Quick Check

Provide students with a revision checklist of key concepts, studies, and sociologists for the topic. Students can traffic light their confidence level (red, amber, green) for each point to guide their revision.

Frequently Asked Questions

If girls do so well at school, why is there still a gender pay gap?

This highlights the complex relationship between education and the workplace. Factors contributing to the pay gap include gendered subject choices leading to different career paths, women taking career breaks for childcare, the prevalence of part-time work for women, and ongoing discrimination and sexism in the workplace.

What is meant by a 'moral panic' about boys' underachievement?

This term refers to widespread media and political anxiety about boys' educational performance. Sociologists suggest this panic can be exaggerated, creating a distorted view that all boys are failing and distracting from more significant issues like the underachievement of working-class pupils.

How important is social class compared to gender?

Social class remains the most significant factor in determining educational achievement. For example, girls from working-class backgrounds achieve, on average, lower grades than boys from middle-class backgrounds. It is crucial to see how gender, class, and ethnicity intersect to create different outcomes.