Explaining Male Underachievement…… Not only is it important to consider why females are doing so well & improving in education, it is equally important to consider why males seem to be underachieving (again which can be split into external/ internal factors)…. (2007) Argue that the ‘Gender gap’ is the result of poor literacy amongst males. > Reading is ‘Feminised’ > Boys are Socialised to be ‘Active’. Manufacturing ‘Masculine’ jobs have moved abroad & thus male employment opportunities have been hampered. Mitsos & Browne (1998) suggest that this has created a ‘Crisis of Masculinity’. Poor Male Literacy: Decline in Manufacturing: Shortage of Male Primary School Teachers: Lack of positive make role models: > DfES (2007): 16% of P.School teachers are male. > Yougov (2007) 39% 0f 8-11 year- olds have no male teachers Feminisation of Education: Argues that education has become ‘feminised’ & do not nurture masculine traits. Sewell (2006):

Remember to link to Stereotyping, Labelling, the Halo Effect, Warming Up/ Cooling Down, Unequal Access to Classroom Knowledge & the Self-fulfilling Prophecy! Over Estimating Own Ability: Barber (1996): Found that boys tend to over-estimate their own ability whilst girls generally under-estimate theirs Licht & Dweck (1987) support these arguments by highlighting their findings that girls are much less confident than boys. Stanworth (1983) suggests that boys are more likely to blame lack of effort or teachers for their failure instead of their own lack of ability. (W/C) Boys are likely to be called ‘Sissie’ or ‘Swots’, as well as be subject to homophobic harassment if they are seen to be doing their work. Francis (2001) supports this view by pointing out that boys often get labelled as swots by their peers, this leads them to reject the culture & values of the education system. ‘Masculinity’ is viewed negatively within education Link to Willis (1977) – Learning to Labour Epstein (1998): Laddish Subcultures:

Ex-Schools Minister Stephen Bryers was quoted as saying: ‘We must challenge the laddish, anti-learning culture which has been allowed to develop over recent years & should not simply accept with a shrug that boys will be boys’. It is important here to highlight that many policies have been implemented to tackle these problems and as such it could be suggested that the problems highlighted here are exaggerated somewhat & that they ignore ‘progression’: The ‘Raising Boys Achievement Project’ The ‘National Literacy Strategy’ The ‘Reading Champions Scheme’ ‘Playing for Success’ ‘Dads & Sons Campaign’ DfES (2007) also shows that the Social Class Gap ion education is 3x wider than the Gender Gap. Therefore males & femlales form the same social group tend to achieve the same. Also, these arguments ignore the Ethnicity Gap in education. Connolly (2006) – ‘The Interactions Effect’ It is more useful to consider different combinations of Class, Gender & ethnicity when examining differences in achievement.