Educational achievement, gender and ethnicity · GCSE Sociology

Gender and achievement

Girls outperform boys at GCSE in most subjects and are more likely to go to university.
Reasons include: the impact of feminism raising girls' ambitions; more jobs for women; changes such as coursework and continuous assessment; and female role models.
Explanations for boys' underachievement include "laddish" anti-school cultures, fewer male role models in primary schools, and a "crisis of masculinity" as traditional male jobs have declined.
Subject choices are still gendered: more boys choose physics and computer science, and more girls choose English and health and social care, influenced by socialisation and stereotypes.

Achievement varies between ethnic groups. Chinese and Indian pupils tend to achieve highly; Black Caribbean, and Gypsy, Roma and Traveller pupils tend to achieve less well on average.
Explanations: material deprivation (some ethnic minority groups are more likely to be poor), language barriers for pupils new to English, home and cultural factors, racism and labelling in schools, and an ethnocentric curriculum (focusing on White British culture).

Class, gender and ethnicity interact: for example, White working-class boys are among the lowest-achieving groups.

Laddish culture: An anti-school culture among some boys that values masculinity over study.
Crisis of masculinity: Men's loss of a clear role as traditional male jobs decline.
Ethnocentric curriculum: A curriculum focused on one culture.
Gendered subject choice: Boys and girls tending to choose different subjects.
Role model: A person others look up to and copy.
Continuous assessment: Assessment through coursework over time.