Gendered experiences, choices and achievement — exploring the links

Abstract

The divergence in girls’ and boys’ interests and pastimes outside of school has been established by many national and international studies. What has rarely been examined is how these gender differences emerge and what their consequences are for children's learning both within and without school. The question considered in this paper is not what girls and boys can or cannot do but what is it that girls and boys choose to do. What lies behind their choices and how do gendered choices influence achievement? To address this, we examine the sources and nature of gender differences and how they are related to learning outside of school and learning in school. The paper concludes by looking at the way achievement is defined in subjects, how these definitions shift between the phases of education and the consequences of this for how ‘girls’ and ‘boys’ as groups are perceived both by teachers and pupils.