Academic research has shown that the preoccupation with boys’ underachievement at school is fundamentally misleading, since not all boys are performing badly and not all girls are doing well. Instead, there are complex patterns of differential achievement relating to social class, race/ethnicity and gender. For example, children from working-class backgrounds tend to gain lower results than those from middle-class backgrounds, irrespective of gender. There are also different rates of attainment found across different ethnic groups (Francis and Skelton 2005).
The research outlined in this article focuses on understanding the relatively ‘hidden’ issue of educational disengagement among working-class girls and tries to highlight some of the social inequalities that they face in relation to their schooling.
Your organisation does not have access to this article.
Sign up today to give your students the edge they need to achieve their best grades with subject expertise
Subscribe
