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5. Stage-specific issues
In the literature, concern about gender issues has emerged strongly in relation to particular stages of schooling.
i. Early education
Gender inequalities have come through in baseline assessments in Primary 1 (Wilkinson et al, 1999) and there have been concerns about boys' slow start in two areas in particular: literacy and personal, emotional and social development. The former is viewed as key to attainment across the curriculum and the latter gives rise to concerns about boys' attitudes to school and schooling (Murphy and Ellwood, 1998). In reviewing Early Years research, BERA (2003) noted that the major influences on young children's progress in the early years were prior attainment on entry to formal schooling and teacher expectations (Tizard et al, 1988).
ii. Subject choices
There have been many studies (Riddell, 1992; Sutherland, 1999; Croxford, 2000) detailing gendered patterns of subject uptake. Of particular concern has been the low level of female uptake of mathematics, science and engineering courses; female participation in craft and technology courses and low male uptake of modern languages. Croxford et al (2003) note that SQA data in 1999 showed considerable gender imbalance within the science mode; 70% of biology candidates were female compared to only 31% of physics candidates and, further, 80% of candidates for Office and Information Skills were female but only 36% of candidates for Computing Studies. At Higher level, Croxford et al (2003) report that these gendered patterns of uptake continued. Explanations for these patterns relate to the stereotyping of subjects by pupils, teachers and parents, to perceptions of usefulness of the subject to future lives and careers, to wider social expectations and to pupils' own interests.
Croxford at al (2003) note that core subjects such as English and mathematics, although no longer compulsory at Higher level, showed a more balanced uptake of males and females. This leads to the conclusion that the broadening of the core (that is, the restriction of choice for pupils) may be a way of addressing gender imbalances in subject uptake. Croxford (2000) argues that the core curriculum for 14 - 16 year olds may be too small:
For this stage of schooling it might be more appropriate for the majority of pupils to continue to study a larger common element of courses in order to keep their options open. The large amount of subject choice allowed by the final two years of national curricula in the UK has been formed on the assumption that high proportions of young people leave school at 16, and should choose the subjects they study for school-leaving examinations……Gender differences in post-compulsory courses and in careers would be reduced if there were a larger common entitlement and less choice in subjects for the final two years of each national curriculum. (Croxford, 2000: 130)
However, Croxford goes on to acknowledge the dangers of increasing the common and compulsory part of the curriculum: that there may also be an associated narrowing of the curriculum because of the government's wish to emphasise basic skills of literacy and numeracy; that pupils may be alienated by an overly prescriptive curriculum; that such prescription goes against the political will for educational markets and parental choice; and, finally, that an increase in central control over the curriculum may undermine the intention to value teachers' professionalism by allowing them flexibility to develop appropriate curricula in response to individual and local needs.
iii. Post-school experience
Understandings of girls' increased attainment are amplified by wider sociological explanations. Changes in forms of participation in the labour market in a post-industrial economy have brought many more women into the labour force. It is possible for more girls to envision their future lives in work, as well as or instead of at home. In their study of post-16 transitions, Macrae and Maguire (2000) considered the formal attainment of girls and boys at the end of compulsory schooling and note:
It became evident from our in-depth interviews that there were other significant differences between the sexes in, for example, attitudes and motivations…the females in our study generally had clearer goals and firmer ideas about their futures, regardless of 'race', class or academic attainment. Overall the males in our study were less coherent, more vague and gave the impression of being less concerned about their future plans than the female students. (Macrae and Maguire, 2000: 172)
The writers also noted that girls considered the future in collaboration with each other and behaved very supportively towards each other in relation to Higher Education and career goals. Boys, on the other hand, generally did no more than exchange information with their friends. However, in spite of the apparent focus of girls on their futures, it is cautionary to point out that recent studies by the EOC ( EOC, 2000) show that, however much women's participation in work has increased, the status of their jobs and the level of their average earnings continue to lag behind men's. There does indeed seem to be a mismatch between girls' success in school settings and the lack of a follow-on in terms of female success in the wider social arena. Some insight into this is offered by the work of Macrae and Maguire (2000). Though sexuality was not a direct focus for their work, they found that some young women who had demonstrated high levels of attainment in school were positioned by versions of 'heterosexualised feminities' into subordinate relationships with males. Macrae and Maguire (2000) conclude by saying that it is 'all change, no change' in the post-16 sphere.
To summarise:
- Differential patterns of gender attainment emerge very early in schooling and are particularly marked in literacy and personal and social development, where girls do better than boys.
- Restrictions on curriculum choice have been seen as one way of tackling highly gendered patterns of subject uptake and attainment because, within a broader core curriculum, girls and boys are compelled to take a wider range of 'non-traditional' subjects.
- Questions have been raised as to whether girls sustain their higher attainment in the wider social arena, with some working-class girls/young women being quickly subordinated to boys/young men in their post-school experience.
The following section is the first of three considering the range of strategies used by schools, as those strategies are represented in the literature.
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