1. Using information from Item A and elsewhere assess the view that gender differences in
achievement are largely the result of changes in the education system (20 marks).
Since the early 1990’s, girls have begun to outperform boys at most levels of the education
system. According to Pirie in Item A, the modular courses and continuous assessment found in
education today has been seen to favour the systematic approach of girls, compared to the old
O level exam which typically favoured boys. These changes within the education system are seen
as the main result of gender differences in education, nevertheless, external factors such as
the impact of feminism and changes in the job market may also have influenced the increase in
girl’s attainment.
Firstly, it may be argued that the way pupils are assessed has favoured girls and disadvantaged
boys. Gorard found that the gender gap in achievement was stable from 1975 up until 1988 when
it increased rapidly. This was when GCSE and with it coursework was introduced. Mitsos and
Browne support the view that GCSE’s favoured girls as they were more successful in coursework
due to the fact that girls are seen to be more careful with their work, more likely to spend
longer on their work and meet deadlines. However, Ellwood argues that although coursework has
had some influence, exams themselves have a greater influence in the final grade. Therefore
this does not create a significant gap between gender differences.
Secondly, the way in which teachers interact with pupils differs. Sociologist Jane and Peter
French argue that classroom interaction between teachers and boys was not that different to
that of girls in terms of academic reasons. However, boys tended to get more attention from
teachers in terms of reprimands. Francis argues that while boys get more attention they are
also disciplined more harshly by teachers. Therefore, it is seen that boys are more likely to be
disciplined more harshly than girls, also in terms of ethnicity, boys from African Caribbean
backgrounds are also more likely to be disciplined than white British boys. This may result in
boys feeling picked on in school which may result in gender and ethnic differences in attainment.
On the other hand, many sociologists have expressed the importance of external factors in
influencing gender differences in attainment. Feminism is a social movement that strives for
equality in society for men and women. It has questioned the typical role of males and females in
society and challenges the role of women being the housewife. The feminist movement has had a
great influence in improving girls’ self-esteem and aspirations. Sue Sharpe’s’ study supports this
view, her study of girls in the 1970’s and 1990’s shows the impact that the feminist movement
has had a girls aspirations. In the 1970’s girls priorities in life were love, marriage and husbands,
when she conducted this study again in the 1990’s she found that there was a big shift in
priorities, these girls were now more concerned with gaining a career and being able to look
after themselves. These aspirations require educational qualifications and may have impacted on
the changes in girl’s educational achievement.
Similarly, another external factor that could explain gender differences in attainment is the
feminisation of education. The majority of lone parent families are headed by females and males

2. in school make up only 16% of primary school teachers. Therefore, boys are lacking male role
models in education. If a boy has been brought up in a female headed family and attends a
school lacking in strong positive role models then they are likely to associate education with
being feminine. Boys may not want to appear to be doing well in school as Francis argues boys are
more concerned than girls about being labelled by peers as swots which could threaten their
masculinity. This therefore could have led to the rejection of schoolwork by boys, resulting to
lower achievement levels and gender differences in attainment.
In conclusion, Item A may suggest that gender differences in education are a result of changing
factors within the education system, although it may also be seen that both internal and
external factors influence educational attainment of both girls and boys. Girls may be improving
at a faster rate than boys but the performance of both sexes has improved considerably in
recent years. In addition, boys may now be seen to be lagging behind girls but boys today are
achieving more than they did in the past. Furthermore, McVeigh argues that the similarities in
girls’ and boys’ achievement are far greater than the differences, especially when compared
with class and ethnic patterns in achievement. Girls and boys of the same social class tend to
achieve fairly similar results, whereas a boy from the middle class will tend to achieve higher
than a girl from a working class background. Although gender does have an influence on
educational attainment we must not exclude the impact that class and ethnicity has on
educational attainment.