...There are a number of reasons for the difference in subject choices, for example stereotyping, labelling, peer pressure, gender domain, etc. Firstly a reason for early socialisation is one cause of the for gender difference in subject choices, this is because early socialisation shapes children’s gender identity. Patricia Murphy and Jannette Elwood (1998) show how these lead to different subject choices. Boys read hobby books and information texts, while girls are more likely to read stories about people. This helps to explain why boys prefer science subjects and why girls prefer subjects such as English. Furthermore gender domain shapes the child as a young as due to there experience like Naima Browne and Carol Ross (1991) argues those children’s beliefs about ‘gender domains’ shaped by their early experiences and the expectations of adults. By gender domains, they mean the tasks and activities that boys and girls see as male or female ‘territory’ and therefore as relevant to themselves as relevant to themselves. Children are more confident when engaging in tasks that they see as part of their own gender domain. Secondly the gendered subject images gear the different in subject choices this is as some subjects are seen as boys’ or girls’ subjects. For example • Anne Colley (1998) notes that computer studies are seen as a masculine subject for two reasons: it involves working with machines – part of the male gender domain and the way it is taught is off-putting...
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...the main reasons for gender differences in subject choices is due to the primary socialisation that the children have. Norman (1988) notes that from an early age, boys and girls are dressed differently, given different toys, and are encouraged to take part in different activities; parents tend to reward boys for being active and girls for being passive. As a result of this socialisation, boys and girls develop different reading tastes – boys read hobby books and girls are more likely to read books about people which explains why boys prefer science and girls prefer subjects such as English. Norman (1988), Murphy and Elwood (1998) This is further backed up by Browne and Ross’ (1991) argument that children’s beliefs about gender domains (the tasks/activities that children see as male or female ‘territory’) are shaped by their early experiences and the expectations of adults. Gendered subject images also have an impact as to which subjects boys and girls choose when they have the option. Science is seen as a ‘boys’ subject for many reasons, such as the fact that the teachers are more likely to be male, the examples in textbooks draw on boys’ experiences more than girls’, and because boys monopolise the apparatus and dominate the lab, acting as if it is theirs. DfES (2007) found that pupils in single sex schools have less stereotyped subject images, and Leonard (2006) found that this may make both boys and girls choose the less ‘traditional’ subjects. However...
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...Fiona Sociological reasons for differences in gender choice There are a number of reasons for the difference in subject choices, for example stereotyping, labelling, peer pressure, gender domain, etc. Firstly a reason for early socialisation is gender difference in subject choices, this is because early socialisation shapes children's gender identity. Patricia Murphy and Jannette Elwood (1998) show how these lead to different subject choices. Boys read hobby books and information texts, while girls are more likely to read stories about people. This helps to explain why boys prefer science subjects and why girls prefer subjects such as English. Furthermore gender domain shapes the child as a young as due to there experience like Naima Browne and Carol Ross (1991) argues those children's beliefs about 'gender domains' shaped by their early experiences and the expectations of adults. By gender domains, they mean the tasks and activities that boys and girls see as male or female 'territory' and therefore as relevant to themselves as relevant to themselves. Children are more confident when engaging in tasks that they see as part of their own gender domain. Secondly the gendered subject images gear the different in subject choices this is as some subjects are seen as boys' or girls' subjects. For example Anne Colley (1998) notes that computer studies are seen as a masculine subject for two reasons: it involves working with machines - part of the male gender domain and the way it...
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...opportunities/resources directed at deprived or under-achieving pupils. • Cultural deprivation: a lack or deficit of values (or of norms, attitudes, skills or knowledge). Partial answer [immediate gratification / a lack of culture] • Vocational education: relating to a career or specific work roles. • Ethnocentric curriculum: the subjects taught in school being biased towards one particular culture. One mark for a partially satisfactory answer. 02 Suggest three ways/reasons ... (6 marks) Two marks for each of three appropriate ways. One mark will be awarded where there is a partially appropriate answers. Marxists see school as being similar to the world of work: • A hierarchy of authority • Fragmentation of work/learning • Extrinsic rewards • Based on competition • Alienation • Status differences. Boys’ educational under-achievement: • Lack of male teacher role models • Feminisation of assessment • Boys’ poorer literacy • Laddish subcultures • Decline of traditional ‘male’ jobs. Educational policies that may have contributed to social class differences in achievement: • The tripartite system/ the eleven-plus exam/Butler Act/1944 Act • Streaming • Marketisation • Private schooling • Fees for higher education. Note: Award...
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...the education system? Functionalists see education as a process that instils the shared values of society as a while, but Marxists argue that education in capitalist society only transmits the ideology of a minority, the ruling class. The interactionist Dennis Wrong argues that functionalists have an ‘over-socialised view’ of people as mere puppets of society. Functionalists wrongly imply that pupils passively accept all they are taught and never reject the schools values. Unlike Davis and Moore, the New Right argue that the state education system fails to prepare young people adequately for work. This is because state control of education discourages efficiency, competition and choice. Outline some of the ways in which government educational policies may have affected social class differences in educational achievement? Marketisation brought in a change in selection policies, it brought in a funding formula that gives the school the same amount of funds for each pupil, also exam league tables that rank each school according to its exam performance and make no allowance for the level of ability of its pupils. But lastly a competition among schools to attract pupils to the school with the highest grades and make them want to do better so they get accepted into that school. Explain what is meant by the term ‘meritocracy’? Meritocracy means that everyone has an equal opportunity to achieve, that rewards are based on ability and effort, and that those who gain the...
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...Item A How male and female pupils and teachers act towards each other has a major effect on pupils experiences of education. Sociologists are interested in the reason why gender relations take the form they do and their relationship to classroom interaction, subject choice, achievement and identity. Gender relations affect many areas of school life, such as parents evenings governors meetings, senior management decision making, appointments and promotions, as well interactions in the classroom and staff room schools have gender equality policies. As a result, pupils and teachers may disguise their real attitudes towards gender and this may make it difficult for the researcher to get at the truth. Sociologists are interested in the reasons for gender differences in subject choice. These include primary socialisation in the home peer group pressure, subject images and gender career opportunities. Question: Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess the strengths and limitations of participant observation for the study of gender relations in schools. There are two types of observation, covert and overt. The difference between them is that covert observation is when the people being observed do not know they’re being watched or studied, and overt observation is when they have been told and given consent to be observed by the researcher. Observation can also be done in two ways. This is called participant and non-participant observation. In participant...
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...Gender and Education Asses sociological explanation of gender differences in achievements and in subject choice. Over the years boys and girls get more and more possibilities in the education. The schools improved and the children had more subject choices. During the years the achievement gaps between the boys and the girls got bigger and bigger. But what are the reasons for that and what has that to do with the subject choice of girls and boys and how does that influence their lives. Since the 1980's the educational achievements of boys and girls have improved rapidly. But the results of the girl's improved faster. The girls overtook the boys in the GSCE and the A Levels. Because of the higher achievements the girls are more likely to go to university. Sociologists argue that this has something to with both the education system and the influence of the society. In the 1970s and 80s the feminists were concerned about the education of girls. Feminists believed that the girls do not get the same opportunities as boys. That is the reason why girls could not get a better payed job or a better status as boys. For them the reason of that kind of discrimination was to link with the ideas that men held over girls. The men thought that girls do not need to have a good education, because they will be housewives and mother anyway. If the would get too much education, this would spoil the feminine nature. In addition to that the girls have a lower intelligence anyway. In this time...
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...Education and differences in educational achievement- past questions and mark schemes (CLASS, GENDER and ETHNICITY) January 2006 (a) Explain what is meant by cultural capital. (Item 1A, line 8). (2 marks) Two marks for an appropriate explanation or definition, such as the values, knowledge, attitudes, skills, tastes etc. possessed by the upper/middle class, or the values, knowledge etc. that give one class an educational advantage. (c) Identify three features of the restricted speech code (Item 1A, lines 10-11). (6 marks) Two marks for each of three appropriate features identified, such as: • used by the working class; • short/incomplete sentences; • often reduced to gestures; • context-bound/particularistic meanings/speaker assumes audience shares same frame of reference; • not used in education; • a product of repetitive, unskilled work; • a product of positional/rigid family structures. (e) Examine the reasons why females now tend to achieve more than males in the education system. (20 marks) Candidates will consider a range of reasons, such as the impact of feminism, equal opportunities policies, role models, changes in the family and work, changes in the curriculum and assessment, changes in girls aspirations, teacher attention and classroom interaction, selection, league tables etc. Concepts and issues such as meritocracy, patriarchy, pupil subcultures, labelling, de-industrialisation, marketisation, the hidden curriculum...
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...adaptively primary infidelity type (female sexual and male emotional infidelity) was shorter than the secondary infidelity type (female emotional and male sexual infidelity). This research was focusing on recording the time of decision making processes because it reflected the differences in elaborateness in the decision. The subjects were 200 students (100 female and 100 male) of University of Bielefeld, Germany. Subjects were presented by computers with series of different scenarios of social situations considering they were under a committed romantic relationship, and then chose between two response alternatives. Time was measured from presenting each scenario till participants responding to press the key on computers. The results indicated time decision making for the adaptively primary infidelity type was significantly faster than decisions for the adaptively secondary infidelity type, that women selecting emotional infidelity were faster than sexual infidelity, while men selecting sexual infidelity faster than emotional infidelity. The results imply the adaptively primary infidelity type is more effectively processed and recalled by women and men. The results also suggest that force-choice questions does not impact on the decision making process that leads to artifacts. This finding show that a test with specific factors affecting on the nature of decision making might be able to reveal the cognitive process of selecting the adaptively primary and secondary...
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...Influencing Students Career Choices among Secondary School students in Kisumu Municipality, Kenya 1 1 Kochung Edwards and 2Migunde Quinter Department of Special Needs Education, Maseno University 2 Department of Education Psychology, Maseno University Corresponding Author: Kochung Edwards __________________________________________________________________________________________ Abstract Career choice is a complex decision for students since it determines the kind of profession that they intend to pursue in life. As students try to make career choice while in secondary school, they face problem of matching their career choices with their abilities and school performance. In Kenya every year form four secondary school students make career choices before sitting for their final examination (Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examinations) however, studies indicate that most students enter into careers that are totally different from the ones they chose while in secondary. The purpose of this study was to examine factors influencing career choice among form four secondary school students in Kisumu municipality, Kenya. The study was conducted using descriptive survey design with a population of 332 students. The data for this study was collected using questionnaire and interview schedules. The findings of this study indicate that availability of advancement opportunities and learning experiences are the most influential factors affecting career choices among students. While males...
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...“Outline and explain reasons for female achievement in education since the early 1990’s.” Concerns over the link between gender and educational attainment focus mainly on the extent to which males and females perform differently in education and their tendency to study different subjects. However it is not true that males attain more qualifications in general than females at school. Girls have outperformed boys in 16 + examinations since at least the late 1960s but these overall gender differences in educational achievement began to increase in the late 1980s after the introduction of the GCSE. Previously traditional ideas about the proper role of women in society prevented them from achieving their full potential, yet now women have different priorities and are no longer destined to be only housewives and homemakers; women are now expected by society to go to school and get an education. Female aspirations have changed dramatically from the 1970’s to the present; Women have become more than just bearers of children, cooks, cleaners and wives. They are now educated; becoming surgeons, pilots, physiatrists and anything they want to be. An ethnographic study done by sociologist Sue Sharpe: ‘Just like a girl’, found a change in the aspirations of females in an interview conducted in the London borough of Ealing in the 1970’s and early 90’s. Her findings display a major shift in the views of women and education. In the 1970’s...
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...The gender gap in education has been widening for many years. There are a number of reasons for gender differences in achievement and they include internal factors such as GCSE and coursework and the challenging of stereotypes in the curriculum, and external factors such as the impact of feminism and the changes in women’s employment. Some sociologists argue that changes in the way pupils are assessed have favoured girls and deprived boys. For example the sociologist Gorard found that the gender gap in achievement was fairly constant from 1975 to 1988-9, when it was increased sharply. He concludes that the gender gap in achievement is a “product of the changed system of assessment rather than any more general failing of boys”. Moreover, Mitsos and Browne support this view. They conclude that girls are more successful than boys in coursework because they are more conscientious and better organised. They found that girls spend more time on their work, take more care with the way it is presented, bring the equipment and resources to lessons and are better at meeting deadlines. They also argue that these factors have helped girls to benefit from the introduction of coursework in GCSE, AS and A level and that girls gain from maturing earlier than boys. Alternatively, some sociologists believe that these traits and skills are the result of early gender role socialisation in the family. For example, girls are more likely than boys to be encouraged to be neat, patient and tidy. These...
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...Gender and Symmetry For me, the most thought provoking and universal aspect of the course content has been the failure of induction-based theory generation in archaic science and the resultant recognition of the lack of certainty associated with hypotheses in modern science. The concept of symmetry proposed in the Strong Theory is related, in a sense, to this principle by its nature: the acknowledgement of the impermanence and uncharacterizable nature of proposed scientific theories. Examining gender in the light of symmetry is an exercise that could manifest itself differently depending on the definition of symmetry that is applied. For instance, determining gender’s symmetry in a mathematical sense is different from the task at hand (the symmetry associated with the Strong Theory), but is valuable nonetheless. Anatomically and biologically the sexes are seen to be asymmetric in nature – to the point of having an entirely different chromosomal structure (XX v. XY). This type of asymmetry, while not explicitly related to the concept presented by Bloor et al., is in fact at the heart of my reasoning for the conceptually asymmetric nature of gender. In Hallberg’s discussion of gender there is often mention of the boundaries in place for women as a result of the pre-existing social awareness of the centrality and success of men. In a symmetrical view of gender there would also be consideration of the possible positive effects of such a social construct. For...
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...That Can’t Be the Only Reason Although there have been many discussions in class about the wage differentials between men and women I thought it would be interesting to hypothesize that there is research to prove that the world is analyzing the facts on why men make more than women and what is attempting to be done to correct the outdated and long-standing issue. I hypothesize that although there is data showing that the wage difference between sexes has already began to decline there are many reasons why there is a wage differential besides the obvious that “men are superior”. The gap between earnings of male and female workers has declined significantly over the past 30 years. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in 1979 median weekly earnings of full-time female workers were 63.5 percent of male workers' earnings, implying a gap of 36.5 percent. The earnings gap dropped to 30 percent in 1989 and to 23.7 percent in 1999. In the second quarter of 2011, the gap reached a low of 16.5 percent. (BLS) Despite the accuracy of these numbers, many researchers believe that the mere comparison of median weekly earnings of male and female workers (represented in graph 1) presents an incomplete picture. First, women are likely to work fewer hours than men, which would make a gap in weekly earnings between the two groups substantial even if their hourly wages are the same. Most economic studies of a gender gap use hourly wages instead of weekly earnings as a measure. Second...
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...Sexuality and Gender In this chapter , I"ll summarize the Gidden's chapter 12 entitled "Sexuality and Gender" whose main points are introduction of human sexuality and sexual behavior , what factors affect it , sexual orientation , causes of homosexuality , attitudes towards homosexuality , differences between definition of sex and gender , gender socialization and 2 main approaches to gender inequality; functionalist and feminist approaches. First of all , according to text , we can say that sexuality is personal subject and it is hard to explain it with exact words , but with biological basis , sexuality means that "female anatomy differs from that of the male."(Giddens, chapter 12) In addition to the explanations of biologists , medical researchers and sexologists about human sexual behavior, we can also see another view that comes from scholars which is looking to the animal world to understand the human sexual behavior. However, Steven Rose claimed that , in contrast to most animal , not only genetically programmed insticts , but also environment shape the human behavior even more than their genetics do , and Rose also stated that humans learn more from their experiences thanks to having exceptionaly long infancy relative to animals . Secondly , there are social influences on sexual behavior . In all societies , heterosexuality , i.e "looking to the other sex for emotional involvement and sexual pleasure" is considered to be the basis of marriage ...
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