Minding the Gap

1
Ruth WoodfieldDepartment of Sociologyr.woodfield
_at_sussex.ac.uk

• Minding the Gap
• Institute of Education
• The Complexities of Gender, Assessment and
  Attainment

2
Ruth WoodfieldDepartment of Sociology

• Women are more likely to achieve a good degree
  than men (First or 21)
• Men are nevertheless still more likely to achieve
  a First class degree, as well as a 22, Third,
  Pass and Fail

3
Ruth WoodfieldDepartment of Sociology

• Commonplace opinions about gender, assessment and
  attainment
• Why men will always beat women in exams, The
  Independent, Alan Smithers, 2003

Feminised exams can produce only civil
servants' The Independent,  2001 , Judith Judd,
Education Editor
How exams are fixed in favour of girls THE
SPECTATOR,  2001, Madsen Pirie
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Ruth Woodfield Department of Sociology

• Of actual research, it has been claimed both that
  gender bias exists in the assessment systems in
  HE, but also that it does not exist. For those
  claiming bias, broadly 3 types of argument exist
• 1. Examiners are biased against gender groups
• 2. Assessment modes, cultures, styles of
  learning etc. privilege one gender
• 3. Differences between Arts and Sciences in
  terms of subject matter privilege males

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Ruth Woodfield Department of Sociology

• Argument 1
• Examiners, knowingly or not, bring their biases
  to the marking process
• Joan Smith will score less well than John Smith
  regardless of academic merit
• Evidence is contradictory
• Role of anonymity unclear

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Ruth Woodfield Department of Sociology

• 2. Assessment modes, cultures, styles of learning
  etc. privilege one gender
• - Historically it was claimed that men were
  advantaged
• - In the last decade, the dominant claim has
  been that assessment privileges women

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Ruth Woodfield Department of Sociology

• 3. Differences between Arts and Sciences in terms
  of subject matter privilege males
• - Sciences have more right/wrong answers
• - More First class degrees and more Thirds and
  Fails
• - More men are in the Sciences, the First-rich
  areas more men get Firsts

8
Ruth Woodfield Department of Sociology

• Some last points relating to the complexity of
  this subject
• Much research has been undertaken at Oxbridge
• which has a skewed sample and assessment regime.
• Is it an accident that there has been so much bad
  
• press for coursework at a time that its
  identified
• with girls and women?
• Will a move to a GPA system undermine
• future equalities research?
• Further readings