@Connolly2006

(2006) - Paul Connolly

Journal: British Educational Research Journal
Link:: http://doi.wiley.com/10.1080/01411920500401963
DOI:: 10.1080/01411920500401963
Links::
Tags:: #paper #Attainment #YCS #Gender #SocialClass #Education
Cite Key:: [@Connolly2006]

Abstract

This article is based upon a secondary analysis of three successive cohorts of the Youth Cohort Study of England and Wales and examines the effects of social class and ethnicity on gender differences in General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) attainment for those who left school in 1997, 1999 and 2001 respectively. The article shows that both social class and ethnicity exert a far greater influence on the GCSE performance of boys and girls than gender. Within this it assesses whether there is an interaction effect between gender and social class and also gender and ethnicity in terms of their impact on educational attainment. The article shows that, across all three cohorts, there is no evidence of any systematic variation in the size of the gender differences in educational attainment that exist across either social class or ethnic groups. Simply in terms of the effects of social class, ethnicity and gender on educational attainment, therefore, it is argued that these can actually be understood in terms of a simple ‘additive model’. The implications of this for initiatives aimed at addressing gender differences in educational attainment are considered briefly in the conclusion.

Notes

“The article shows that both social class and ethnicity exert a far greater influence on the GCSE performance of boys and girls than gender” (Connolly, 2006, p. 3)

“The article shows that, across all three cohorts, there is no evidence of any systematic variation in the size of the gender differences in educational attainment that exist across either social class or ethnic groups” (Connolly, 2006, p. 3)

“Walkerdine (2000, p. 38) have argued, for example: all too often simplistic, statistical interpretations which concentrate entirely on gender differences serve to shore up a universal notion of boys’ underachievement and present a picture which powerfully obscures and confuses enduring inequalities in attainment.” (Connolly, 2006, p. 4)

“Epstein et al. (1998b, p. 11) have also argued, ‘the ‘‘underachievement’’ of boys at school is a strongly classed and racialised phenomenon’.” (Connolly, 2006, p. 4)

“They certainly provide evidence to substantiate some of the arguments associated with the main effects model referred to earlier, that both social class and ethnicity tend to have a much greater effect on differences in educational attainment than gender (see also Gillborn & Mirza, 2000)” (Connolly, 2006, p. 6)

“While gender does tend to exert an influence on GCSE attainment such that boys in general tend to achieve less than girls, these differences are relatively small and tend to be overshadowed by the effects of social class and ethnicity.” (Connolly, 2006, p. 14)

“Moreover, these overarching effects of social class and ethnicity successfully undermine the simplistic and universal constructions of ‘failing boys’ versus ‘achieving girls’.” (Connolly, 2006, p. 15)

“The key implication arising from this, therefore, is that simply because it is possible to statistically separate out the effects of gender from social class and also ethnicity, this does not mean that gender differences can actually be addressed practically in isolation from social class and ethnicity.” (Connolly, 2006, p. 15)

“First, the underachievement of boys relative to girls is not just an issue for working-class boys or boys from particular minority ethnic groups.” (Connolly, 2006, p. 15)

“Second, while it is therefore necessary to address the general problem of boys’ underachievement across all these levels, it needs to be accepted that there are” (Connolly, 2006, p. 15)

“no quick-fix or universal solutions” (Connolly, 2006, p. 16)

“Third, and in relation to the last point, it is important that we resist the temptation simply to replace one set of crude generalisations (i.e. concerning all boys or all girls) with another (i.e. concerning all working-class boys or Pakistani girls and so on).” (Connolly, 2006, p. 16)