Outline and assess sociological arguments of changing patterns of achievement by gender.

Historically, boys have always achieved more in education but since the early 1990s girls have begun to out-perform boys at most levels of the education system, including SATS, GCSE and A levels. Explanations for this change include reasons for female improvement as well as male 'failure'. A medical study of both male and female six-month-old babies was carried out in order to find out how much the brain responds to certain stimuli. When the children …showed first 75 words of 1202 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1202 total…than girls do and therefore are less conscientious and less likely to sacrifice time to study. The recent changes within and outside of schools must have had a profound affect upon girl's achievement. Though arguments suggest it could be due to male 'failure' rather than female improvement it could be true that girls have always had the capability and attitudes to succeed but have been at a disadvantage as a result of a social barrier.