Paper 1

Parental occupation determines class

Working class - manual

Middle class - non-manual

2013 study - there are 7 social classes, not 3

Great British Class Survey - social and cultural capital to measure class

Higher parental class, better kids do in education

Class inequalities are more intense as kids get to higher levels of education

Gender and ethnicity play a part in DEA but not as much as class

People from manual, working class backgrounds wih the right qualifications were less likely to attend an elite uni ovver those from non-manual backgrounds

Those who attended state schools were less likely to apply to an elite uni than those from an independent school

Exam results of all levels and ages show inequality of educational achievement in the UK

In school factors

Labelling from teachers - self fulfilling prophecy - sets and streaming

School subcultures - Marketisation

Out of school factors

Material deprivation - cultural deprivation - language codes (Bernstein)

Cultural capital - compensatory education

Poverty = the lack of money and the things that money can buy

Poor children are less likely to do as well as children from well off families because of:

- Poor housing (Overcrowding, insufficient space)

- Sickness (More likely from overcrowding, damp, can't afford to cure)

- Books are recourses not being available

- Hidden costs (Uniforms, sports equipments, calculators, trips etc)

+ Recognises wider structual factors and doesn't blame the working class

- Doesn't explain how some students from poorer backgrounds do well (Chinese have high performance but also a high % of free school meals)

- In school factors may also play a role

The lack of 'right' values, attitudes and skills essential for educational success

Linked to Functionalism and the focus on primary socialisation

Longitudinal study

Educational success was linked to parental encouragement. M/C parents were more likely to show an interest in their child's education.

M/C parents were more willing visit schools more frequently, wanted their children to go to HE past min age and gave them more attention during their early years

Analysed a number of factors including material deprivation, the quality and type of schooling. Parental investment turned out to be the most important factor in determining acheivement

Maths test scores were 15% higher for parental invesment 11-16

Working class values

Fatalism - Cannot change destiny

Collectivism - Being a part of a group is more important than individual success

Immediate gratification - Rewards now

Present time orientation - Focused on now

Middle class values

Self determination - Can change destiny

Individualism - Not held back by group loyalties

Deferred gratification - Willing to wait for better things

Future time orientation - Focused on future

Takle problems of cultural deprivation by attempting to intervene and 'make up for home-life problems'

Troubled Families Programme - Intervention worker, counselling

Parenting Orders for the parens of truanting children

- Cultural deprivation blames individuals who are victims of education, making assumptions that W/C culture is of less value than M/C culture when it may just be 'different' rather than deprivation

- Only looked at outside of school factors, ignoring in school factors

Language codes

Working class - Restricted code. Limited vocab. Slang. Grammatically simple. Short, descriptive sentences

Middle class - Elaborated code. Extensive vocab. Good for explaining science/abstract ideas. Not context bound.

Exams are in elaborated code and so the middle class is at an advantage and have more educational success

- Elaborated code can be taught, and so it isn't really an issue

- Deterministic

The middle class is seen as the norm

Cultural reproduction - Values are passed through education system

Cultural capital - Having an advantage due to culture

Social reproduction - Working class children get working class jobs. Middle class children get middle class jobs

Middle class parents have more contacts and can play the system

They have more stamina and time to visit schools

Material advantages mean that families can move to better catchment areas and get extra tuition

+ Recognise working class is different, not deficit

+ Don't blame the individual, but the education system

- Deterministic

Micro approach that looks at inside school factors

The most influencial source over ourselves is our self concept

Kindergarten in America

Tigers - Closest to teacher's desk. Mostly middle class. Shown the greatest encouragement

Cardinals/clowns - Seated further away. Mostly working class. Lower level books and fewer opportunities

Class segregation based on social class, not ability

Ideal pupil - Non manual background, smart appearance, highly motivated, conformist

Non-ideal pupil - Manual background, scruffy appearance, lack of motivation, non-conformist

Prejudice, and then act accordingly to the expectations of the pupil -SFP

London Comprehensive - Black girls were negatively labelled, but they decided to show their teachers wrong and did better than what was expected of them

Pupils placed in one of three bands based on their primary school grades/information

For similar ability, those whose fathers were middle class had a higher chance of being in the top band

Bottom band were eager, but developed a non-conformist attitude

Teacher expectations lead to being taught in different ways

Marketisation brought funding based on amount of pupils, league tables, competition etc

Gilborn and Youdell - System in which resources or time are rationed to those who are likely to get 5 A-C at GCSE

"More able" tended to be white and middle class

Found evidence of teacher labelling being a factor

'Lads' felt superior to teachers/rule following peers

Saw no value in qualifications

Main aims were to avoid going to classes

Found school boring and went out of their way to be adults - smoking,drinking etc

Manual labout seen as more masculine

+ Prac app - Provides info which can lead to better teacher

+ Avoids victim blaming (Blames inside school factors)

- Deterministic (But Fuller can disprove)

- Doesn't explain why working class are negatively labelled

EDUCATIONAL POLICIES

11+ (IQ test)

Intelligent went to grammar schools which fed onto O levels

Everyone else went to secondary modern schools to do vocational studies

Some attended techinal schools

- 11+ was unreliable - educational future can't be predicted at 11

- Unfair - Chose who could and couldn't continue in education after 15

- Secondary schools were seen as second rate

- 3/4 of students failed the 11+ - SFP

- Reproduces social class inequalities

Labour government

By 1979, 80% of students attended a comprehensive school

- Removed 11+ (Still used in some schools)

- Mixed ability teaching in lessons

- Removal of educational inequalities

- Enable all people in an area to go to the same school

- More opportunities to gain qualifications

+ Stopped labelling students as failures

+ No limited places

+ Exam results improved

- Catchment areas tend to be either working class or middle class

- Setting and streaming

- No choice for parents

Conservative government - Thatcher - Marketisation

- Reduced direct state control over education

- Increased competition between schools

- Increased parental choice of schools

- Introduced a National Curriculum

- Created City Tech colleges

- Grant maintained schools

- Specialised schools/colleges

- Local management schools

- Introduction of league tables

Tells teachers what to teach. English, Maths and Science are core subjects

SATs- Aged 7, 11, and 14. Published to 'name and shame' in the hopes of improving results. However, this could lead to schools being more selective

League tables - Competition. Higher performing schools tended to be more choosy and accept more middle class pupils. Lower performing schools tended to be in more working class areas and were less selective

Funding should be earned

Marxist critisisms

- Popular schools get more funding, and therefore better teachers

- Unpopular schools lose money and so keep declining

City Technology Colleges - Arts, maths and science

GMS - Chose to opt out of LEA control and receive funding from government

Local management of schools - 90% of school budget becae the head's responsibility

By 1996 there were 196 specialist secondary schools

Parents given the right to send children to schools of their choice

David - Marketisation created parentocracy, power shifts from schools to parents

Ball - Legitimises inequality

Gerwitz - Middle class parents have more capital

Whitty - Allows middle class parents to use their wealth

Leech and Campos - Middle class parents can move to a better catchement area

Gilborn and Youdell 

There are 3 groups of students

Those who will pass without help

C/D borderline

Hopeless cases

The C/D borderline group are the ones who get the most attention

- Ben and Chitty - There's a lack of standardisation in education. Areas in which grammar schools exist, comprehensive schools are not truly mixed ability and have less chance of doing well in league tables

- The Sutton Trust - Higher performing comprehensives are more socially selective than average state schools and have an intake of 50% fewer students on free school meals

- Middle class parents are benefitting more from the at due to their cultural, social and econoic capital

Aim one - To promote greater diversity and choice. Secondary schools encouraged to apply for specialist status. 85% of all secondary schools were specialist. 

Specialist schools - Arts, business and enterprise, engineering, humanities, music, maths and computing, science or sports

Beacon schools - Best performing. Expected to spread good practice

- Can be selective

Academies - Businesses/church groups run the academy

Aim two - Reducing inequality. Education Action Zone, Aim Higher, Educational Maintenance Allowance, Raised school age to 18. Reducing primary class sizes. Tution fees introduced for HE. AS/A2

Apprenticeships - Encouraged businesses to employ young people

Smart pupils would study academic subjects and progress to high status jobs. Less able pupils would study vocational courses which lead to low status jobs

Unemployment had risen, affecting 16-19 age groups. Politicians blamed inadequate training and implimented schemes to help improve it

Changes in gov policy - Government assumed vocational training was employer's responsibility, not schools. They claimed failing economy because young people didn't have workplace skills

NVQs - Health and Social care

Science and technology - Must be studied until aged 16

Apprenticeships - Aimed at specific occupations and studied for whislt working

Work experience in year 10

- Jobs, not training are needed, as there were more people in jobs after they left school

- Blames young people as it distracts away from the problems in the economy

- Training schemes have little relevance in terms of vocational skills. Only a small % gained full time jobs from their training

- Finn - YTS were introduced to restrict the amount of workers joining trade unions, leading to lower wages. Gov was paying, and so free labour

- Academic/vocational divide as vocational is seen as inferior. W/C students are pushed towards v

Parents can now be prosecuted if their children truant. At least one million children truant from school/lessons every year

+ OFSTED noted that primary school standards had risen in most zones, pupils were achieving at least 5 good GCSEs

- OFSTED report was crititcal of EDA which were 'poorly organised and a waste of money' 

- Pupils who benefit from gifted and talented schemes were mainly white, middle class girls

- In 2002, 29% of of the 100 schools with the highest number of pupils on free school meals got 5 good GCSEs but in schools with the lowest number of pupils on free school meals, 93% of pupils got 5 good GCSEs.

- Tuition fees have been criticised for discouraged working class students from continuing to uni

- Contradicton in policies (EMA encouraging w/c students to be in education until 18, but uni fees discourages students)

Fines and compulsory parenting classes for truanting pupils

Operation Head Start - Pre-school education. Sesame street.Flop.

Educational Priority Areas - Higher wages paid to teachers w/ attempts to provide preschool education. Also flop.

Education Action Zones - High deprivation areas with poor exam results. Allocated extra resources to attract teachers

Sure Start - Provided education, care, family support, health services and parental employment support

- Focuses on cultural deprivation and blames child's background

- Diverts attention from the definciencies of the education system, and the inequalities in society

- GIST and WISE

- Rise in number of female teachers/headteachers

- Coursework favours girls

- Removal of sterotypes from textbooks

- Girls are favoured as they achieve better exam results

Assimilation - Intergrating students from ethnic minority backgrounds to British culture. Aimed at those who didn't have English as their first language. 

- Underachieving already speak English so policies should tackle poverty and racism

Multi Cultural Education - Worked to promote ethnic minorty achievements

- Token effort. Education is ethnocentric (holidays/curriculum)

Social inclusion - Have detailed monitoring of exam results by ethnicity, legal duty of schools to promote racial inequality, voluntary Saturday schools in the black community, funding for English as an Additional Language.

+ Trowler argues increasing funding means commitment for reducing educational inequality

- Some schools still do better than others

- Despite Labour's opposition, private schools weren't abolished or removed of their charitable status and didn't have to pay tax

- Contradicting policies

Aimed to increase choice and competition

Emphasis on communities almost running and governing themselves

Freedom from local authority

Greater control over budget

Free from National Curriculum

Set own pay and conditions

Can change length of school day/terms

No legal requirement to be inspected by OFSTED

Publically funded but self-governing. Open to all schemes. Good-Outstanding can apply if paired with high performing school. 

Underperforming schools tend to be in deprived areas. Could help teaching standards 

+ Acadamies were improving as a faster rate than an average state school

- Can be more exclusive - 40% fewer pupils from poorer backgrounds

- Schools in middle class areas have more of an interest in becoming an academy

- No resources apart from sponsors. Still controlled by government to pay

- Students from academies tend to do vocational studies 

- Those who need free school meals or English as a second language improve less quickly

Not based on existing schools but started by groups, such as parents, charities, businesses and religious organisations. Have the same freedom and flexibility of academies.

Most set up in disadvantaged areas. Department of Education - Over represented in areas of deprivation. Half of free schools were in the most deprived 30% of communities.

+ Suggests aid to w/c achievement through good education

- The Guardian said white, w/c families were underrepresented in the catchment area

- Cost a lot of money

- Distinctly religious ethos - wider social divisions

- Plan to increase teaching hours and mandatory homework clubs - Union concerns

Not based on existing schools but started by groups, such as parents, charities, businesses and religious organisations. Have the same freedom and flexibility of academies.

Most set up in disadvantaged areas. Department of Education - Over represented in areas of deprivation. Half of free schools were in the most deprived 30% of communities.

+ Suggests aid to w/c achievement through good education

- The Guardian said white, w/c families were underrepresented in the catchment area

- Cost a lot of money

- Distinctly religious ethos - wider social divisions

- Plan to increase teaching hours and mandatory homework clubs - Union concerns

Academic and Vocational but practical = study and paid work

+ Develops skills like punctuality and communication along with English, Maths and Science

Up to £9,000 a year

+ Fair payback

- Deters w/c

- Universities charging the full £9,000 a year are elites so only m/c will go (expect my course is £9,250 so nope)

2010

+ Givven to some who didn't need it

- Deter w/c from attending college

Reducing number of vocational qualifications which count towards league tables

Aimed to stop schools encouraging students to take league table enhancing subjects instead of ones that would benefit them

English, Maths, Science, MFL, History and Geography counted.

Same-day detentions

Power to search students for anything dangerous

Strengthens gov power to intervene with poorly performing schools

E bacc

C+ in English lit/lang, maths, 2 sciences, history/geography, foreign lang. In response to concerns of low income neighbourhoods not encouraging traditional subjects

+ Reflects skills and knowledge needed in workplace

+ Increase opportunities for disadvantaged pupils to attend top unis 

- No proof of improved life chances

- Sidelines other subjects, making teachers redundant

- Narrows skillsets and reduces choice

More funding if more deprived pupils. (Pupil Premium) PP to all pupils eligible for free school meals

Given directly to schools with no rules on how to spend it. W/C pupils may be worse off

From September 2014, all children from reception to year 2 get FSM. FSM to 16-19s who need it.

National testing - Drive up standards. Choice. Competition.

League Tables - Info about schools

Local management of schools - Schools and colleges get more independence to improve

Parental choice - Enable consumers to choose in the education marketplace

Specialist schools - Improve standards in certain areas, choice to do with interests. Extra funding

Business sponsorship - Bring in money, competition

- All 11 year olds should know times tables and do long division

- Children who fail to reach level 4 in SATS have to resit in secondary schools

- EBacc compulsory

- 500 more free schools

- All good schools may expand

- Schools failing will be academies

- Increase in school budget

- 17,500 more maths and Physics teachers to be trained in 5 years

- 3 million new apprenticeships

- Functionalism

- Marxism

- The New Right

Education is secondary socialisation. 

Durkheim - Social solidarity is essential. Individuals feel a sense of belonging.

The formal curriculum - Teaches students about their country and helps them feel a part of it

The hidden curriculum - Norms and values transmitted by simply going to school. Done through:

Organisation - hierarchy of power 

Behaviour/attitudes of authority: Parsons - particularistic values (personal values) and universalistic values (general values). Schools do not judge on ascribed status, but based on achievement. Schools are meritocratic. 

The education system has an equality of opportunity

Parsons and David+Moore - the education system filters and organises pupils into appropriate roles for later life

Involves testing students to discover talents and weaknesses

An industrial society means that there is a division of specialised skills needed.

Changes in the indsustry are mirrored in education. 

Alhusser - No class can hold power for too long by just force but can instead by use of ideology. The education system has replace the church as the main form of ideological control. It brainwashes those in the institution by transmitting ruling class norms

Schools transmit the idea that capitalism is fair and are taught to accept the future exploitation. The curriculum is controlled by the powerful. 

Bowles and Gintis - The hidden curriculum doesn't instil shared values, but instead those of the ruling class. The link between the classroom and the workplace for social reproduction. The education system and outter society are beased on heirarchies. 

The coresspondence between schools and the workplace mean an obedient transition.

Bowles and Gintis + Bourdieu - Meritocracy is a myth as it simply brainwashes pupils into thinking there is an equal opportunity, but in reality, it isn't. It passes the blame of failure onto the individual, not the system. 

Bowles and Gintis - There is a relationship between family class background and educational attainment. When individuals have similar qualifications, it's still middle class, white males who are over-concentrated in higher occupations.

Bourdieu - Education performs elimination by removing the chance of lower social classes from higher levels through exam results. Self elimination refers to w/c children are encouraged to be 'realistic' about their expectations, and eliminate themselves

Bowles and Gintis - Reject role allocation. Those who have the highest qualifications/jobs have them because of their social background. High grade students tended to be hardworking, obedient and conforming rather than creative, independent and original.
Vocational courses simply teaches children the values and attitudes which makes it easier for them to be exploited later on. 

Aims 

1) Allows schools/colleges to be self managing. Give teachers more control over staff, finances and policies. 

2) Increase competition between schools/colleges to atttract students and shut bad schools down. Compete for funding based on the amount of pupils, which should encourage higher teaching standards. Offers choice to parents (Chubb and Moe suggest this can help raise standards)

Better quality of teaching = better qualifications = more economic growth

- Improved standards may have nothing to do with competition

- Choice may not possible or m/c parents can use their cultural capital to get their children into better schools

- Educational achievement by ethnicity

- Impact of outside of school factors on a child's educational achievement

- Impact of inside of school factors on a child's educational achievement

Material factors

Ethnic minority groups more likely to experience poverty. Material deprivation. 73% of Pakistani and Bangladeshi households in Britain live on or below the poverty line.

Cultural factors

Educational success and failure is shaped by the ethnic minority culture. 

Strand - Strong emphasis on self improvement in Chinese and Indian cultures. Encourage ambition and provide resources. 

Murray - Male African Caribbean underachievement is caused by a lack of male parental role model as they are often brought up by single mothers who lose control of their male children when they become teenagers.
Black street culture leads to gang loyalty, hyper-masculinity and material rewards gained from crime
However, Strand says Afro-Caribbean pupils and parents have high aspirations and positive attitudes towards schooling. 

Seen as inherent in British society. Lack of ethnic minorities in power structures of society. 

Lack of power leads to low self esteem, a hostility against schooling and then the low skilled work it leads to.

Higher unemployment levels of Afro-Caribbeans leads to a lack of educational motivation. 

Teachers are socialised into the racist society which affects how they interact with ethnic minorities

Policies and classroom practices may be descriminatory towards ethnic minorities

Swann report - Curriculum is ethno-centric, with content, teaching methods and assessment being based on white, Christian English.

Gillborn and Mirza - Hidden curriculum - English based texts in lit, British history. Focus on white achievement (Leads to frustration from ethnic minority groups). Lack of black role models in teaching and management

However, it is unlikely this is the only reason to blame for ethnic minority educational underachievement. Doesn't explain who such processes have no effect on Indian and Japanese pupils

Gillborn and Youdell - 2 London Comprehensives. Twice as many white than black pupils got 5 GCSEs. Very few openly racist teachers, but widespread opportunity inequality. Black pupils would generally present disciplinary problems and would be controlled/punished more than they would be educated. Black pupils felt the most disadvantaged. 

eg:

• Black pupil excluded as he was labelled as the perpetrator of violence rather than a victim
• Black pupils saw their being in lower sets/streams/entry for exams was unwarranted

OFSTED report 2000 - Black pupila are treated more harshly than white pupils and teachers have lower expectations of ability and motivation of black pupils

Mitos - Education system expects black children to fail and so they are placed in lower streams which create a self-fulfilling prophecy

Mitos - Pupils may reject the culture that rejects them - Anti-school subculture gains respect from peers

Fuller - Group of black girls negatively labelled but worked hard to prove their worth

Sewell - High proportion of Afro-Caribbean boys raised in lone parent families with no male role model, making them more impressionable to peer group pressure

Some drawn into gangs, with hyper-masculine, macho, aggressive personalities. Acted as a comfort zone as the acceptance from gangs compensated from the rejection of the education system/fathers

• Conformist - Education as route to success
• Innovators - Education important but rejected schooling process. Anti-school but not troublemakers
• Retreatists - Loners
• Rebels - Rejected both norms and values of school. Confrontational and brought street culture into school.

+ Attempting to describe and explain rather then place blame. Rejects black stereotype since only made up small proportion of black students

- Accused of blaming the fathers who left and the black community for failure of young people

- Does a difference exist?

- Outside school factors

- Inside school factors

• Stats show the higher the social class, the higher the educational achievement. 

• Differences start in primary school and only widen as children move up education

• Gender and ethnicity do play a part, but class seems to be the most important

People from manual backgrounds with appropriate qualifications were less likely to attend a Russell Group uni than people from non-manual backgrounds. 

Applications to Russell Group unis were more common for non-manual backgrounds than manual backgrounds

At all levels and all ages, there is no equality of educational achievement

A lack of money and the things money can buy. Educational achievement rises with family income. 

• Poor housing conditions like overcrowding and insuffcient space to work make study difficult
• Higher risk of sickness leads to absence from school and falling behind
• Low income reduces the amount of educational books and toys that are bought. Computers aren't at the house
• 'Hidden costs' like trips and uniforms can't be afforded

+ Recognises wider structural factors like unemployment, inadequate education/training which may be responsible for underachievement, without blaming the working class individual/upbringing

- Doesn't explain how many students from poor backgrounds do well (Chinese do better but have a higher number of free school meals

- In school factors may also play a role

Lacking the necessary skills and values to do well

Douglas - Educational success related to parental encouragement, and m/c parents more likely to be involved (visit schools to check progress, want for children to stay in school for longer, greater attention

Feinstein - Parental interest was the most important factor in determining achievement

Sugarman - Different values (w/c - fatalism, collectivism, immediate gratification, present time orientation. m/c - self determinism, individualism, deferred gratification, future time orientation)

Compensatory education - intervention workers for troubled families, parenting orders

- Blames the victims of education when in reality, culture may be different, not deprived

- Ignores in school factors

Bernstein - Language codes. Restricted: W/C. limited vocab, context bound speech, grammatically simple, short and descriptive sentences. Elaborated: M/C. extensive vocab, not context bound, grammatically complex, good at comunicating scientific or abstract ideas. M/C at advantage as it's the way exams are written. - standard english can be taught

Bourdieu - Upper classes' culture is seen as the 'norm'. Cultural reproduction - education system reinforces/teaches culture of dominant social classes to new generation. M/C children at advantage because they have prior knowledge. Social reproduction - w/c get w/c jobs. m/c get m/c jobs. Education legitimates by being socialised into thinking education is meritocratic. 

Ball + Gerwitz - M/c parents have more cultural and social capital and therefore can play the system. They have stamina to research and visit schools and make appeals. Can move to better catchment areas. 

+ Culturally different, not deficient

+ Education system at fault - too middle class

- Deterministic - class cultures passed on

Focus on school organisation and teacher-pupil interactions. 

Criticise other positivist approaches for being too deterministic

Other people are the most important source of influence over how we view ourselves and therefore how we choose to act. 

Rist - Kindergarten. Tigers: Fast learners, close to teacher's desk, smart appearance, m/c background. Cardinals/clowns: lower level books, fewer chances to demonstrate abilities, w/c background.

Becker - Ideal: m/c, smart appearance, motivated, conformist. Non-ideal: w/c, scruffy appearance, lack of motivation, non-conformist. 

Self fulfilling prophecy - label, predictions, interactions, self concept influenced.

Rosenthal and Jacobson - IQ test. Randomly chose 20% who were 'high achievers'. Checked in a year later, and those who were labelled as doing better, did. 

- SFP not inevitable - Fuller: black girls negatively labelled. Worked hard to prove wrong. 

Ball - Pupils based into one of three bands based on information provided by primary schools. Similar measured ability, those whose fathers were non-manual workers had greatest chance of being placed in top band. Most were conformist, but those in bottom band changed, being more likely to truant and break rules. Different bands taught in different ways. 

Gilborn and Youdell - A-C economy. Those who will pass without help. those who will pass with help, hopeless cases. More able tended to be m/c. 

Pro-school subcultures - m/c background. Placed in higher sets, remain committed and accept mainstream values. 
Anti-school subcultures - w/c background. Lower sets and streams, look for alternative ways of gaining status besides educational achievement

Willis - 'Lads'. Felt superior to teachers and studious pupils, saw no value in gaining qualifications, main aims were to avoid lessons/work, identified with adult world though smoking, alcohol drinking, not wearing the school uniform, manual labour seen as more valuable and seen as more masculine. 

Woods - Integration: teacher's pet. Ritualism: staying out of trouble. Retreatism: daydreaming and mucking about. Rebellion: rejection of anything school related. 

+ Prac app - better teaching and less student-teacher conflict

+ Avoids victim blaming

- Deterministic

- Doesn't explain why teachers are negatively labelled

• Why has female achievement improved more than males?
• Why are males not doing as well as females?
• Why do gender differences in subject persist?

By late 1980's, underachievement of females were attracting attention by feminists

By later 1990's, underachievement of males was now the focus of research as sats showed females were doing better than males

• Upon starting school, gender differences exist. 62% of girls could concentrate without supervision for 10 minutes, but only 49% of boys could do so
• Girls do better from primary school upwards. Age 7, girls do better at reading and writing. By the end of KS2 (aged 11) the gap closes, but girls are still higher attaining
• Girls more likely to get 5 A*-C at GCSE than boys
• Girls are more likely to stay in full time education/training post 16. 
• Over 80% of exclusions are boys. 

However:

• Women's average wages are lower than men's
• Vast majority of managers and directors in UK companies are male
• Most women with families do all or most of the housework

Most explanations which focus on innate ability focus on female underachievement, but they appear to be of limited use. However, they may explain why some girls are prevented from reaching full potential due to assumptions based on genetic differences

Trowler - Doesn't believe in biological differences, but does acknowledges most studies show girls do slightly better than boys in verbal skills at aged 11, and boys do better at visuo-spatial skills - Developmental differences to appear to exist

Girls start to talk earlier than boys. They read faster, and more, as well as developing motor skills. They are more task focussed, being better at revising and better at coursework style exams than boys, who tend to be more action oriented, being more impatient and imaginative. This can be interpreted as misbehaviour

However, Trowler points out that there is little difference in IQ scores between males and females. Differences are most likely social rather than biological

1970's Equal Pay Act - makes it illegal for women to be paid less than men. 1975's Sex Discrimination Act outlaws sex discrimination. Glass ceiling, but more women are breaking through it. There are more female role models
Decline of 'male' jobs and pay gap fallen so girls see better opportunities and therefore work harder at school
Changes to family mean that girls can take on a breadwinner role (lone parent). In order to do this, women need well paid jobs and therefore good qualifications. Higher divorce rates suggest women see it as unwise to rely on a husband as a provider

Sharpe - 70's, girl's priorities were love, marriage, husband, children, job and then career. By the 90's, jobs/careers were higher as priorities. They tended to be more confident, more assertive, more ambitious and more committed to gender equality
Wilkinson - Genderquake - the change between wanting family to wanting job/career which has an effect on educational aspirations

Men have an insecurity about jobs since manual jobs are declining. They therefore see no reason to do well in education. 

Norman - Before starting school, there are differences in attitudes and skills due to toys and play. Dolls leave girls with the encouragement of women being carers, and constructional toys for boys leaves them with careers in science and maths. Stereotypes are reinforced in the media

Parents spend more time talking to, and reading to girls. Mitos and Browne - Girls relate to one another by talking, and boys relate to each other by doing. 

Harris - 16 year olds from w/c backgrounds. Girls tended to be more hardworking and motivated than boys, whereas boys were more easily distracted, and less determined in class. Related findings to gender regimes in the home. 
Girls exposed to image of woman as organiser display similar characteristics themselves.
Boys' sterotypes are highly macho, and are translated to disregard of authority, and the enjoyment of other male company

Attitudes towards education
Harris - Working class boys:

• Easily distracted in class
• Less determined to overcome difficulties (Fatalistic)
• Poor at time management
• Spend less time on housework
• Do not plan for their future (present-time orientation)
• Unconcerned about prospect of failure

Gender regimes (role models at home around appropriate behaviour for males and females) do not encorage boys in the home to develop the correct skills/attitudes to education. They have a less mature attitude towards school.

Job changes
Ghaill - w/c boys have a crisis in masculinity due to rising unemployment and loss of breadwinner role.

Boys conclude education is irrelevant because the jobs they will do are unskilled, or semi-skilled at best. Look for alternative ways of gaining staus, like anti-school subcultures. 

• INSET in schools, LEA policies, OFSTED highlights how sexism can permeate schools
• LEAs and schools have experimented with single sex classes aimed to make schools more girl-friendly
• GIST AND WISE
• Teachers do their best at avoiding gender sterotyping
• National Curriculum ensures no gender based 'subject chanelling'
• Increase in female headteachers to act as role models
• Changes to curriculum favour girls - introduction of coursework. More recent changes will favour boys

If teachers label they have different expectations of boys and girls which can lead to a self fulfilling prophecy

Abraham - Successful school. Asked to identify and describe typical boys and typical girls. Typical boys were non-academic, mischievous, tough and keen to signal heterosexuality. The more macho boys were more popular with the teachers than the effeminate boys. Typical girls lacked confidence, were neat, fussy, conscientious and studious. They expected more bad behaviour from boys. There was little difference bewteen willingness to spend time on homework. Teachers checked up on boys more than girls. Schools reinforce not challenge gender norms

Mitsos and Browne - Boys turn off from primary school due to the abundance of female teachers. Teachers are less strict with boys in terms of deadlines and quality of work. Boys are more disruptive. Boys overestimate their own ability

Sewell - Schools don't nurture male traits like competitiveness

Epstein - Working class boys likely to be harassed, labelled as sissies and subjected to homophobic verbal abuse

Francis - Boys assumed because they were boys, they wouldn't have to do work in order to do well, but others saw no point in doing work as they weren't going to do well anyway. Boys were more averse to the label of 'nerd' than girls were. Girls are more ambitious (popular careers are doctor, solicitor and actor) than boys (popular is footballer)

Jackson - 'Uncool' to work and looking 'cool' was necessary to being popular. Constructed within a framework of hegemonic masculinity, heterosexuality, toughness, acting hard, and disrupting lessons. Reject school work but secretly do work at home so they can be popular but also not fail. Most common amongst m/c boys who have the resources at home to do so. Competitive individualism and individual responsibility leads to seeing work as uncool is an excuse of poor academic performance. 

Males and females choose particular subjects which link to gender stereotypes. 

• Technology subjects chosen by girls tend to be textiles and home economics
• Post 16 vocational courses - girls choose health and social care, english and humanities subjects, but boys have a tendency to go for ICT, technology and science

Outside school factors - Early socialisation (toys). Traditional female roles - attracted to humanities. Traditional male roles - attracted to pe.

Inside school factors - Colley - Subjects like ICT (male) don't offer much chance to work together and so learning/teaching styles may put girls off subjects. Music used to be female, but males getting involved because of the computer tech aspect. Single sex classes benefit females in subject choice

Stereotypes need to be challenged. Male dominated subjects mean they're more likely to get presigious jobs. However, women have overtaken men in medicine, dentistry, business and financial degrees.