Gender differences in education in Jamaica

Abstract

This study of gender differences in academic achievement, participation, and opportunity to learn sought to determine why boys are achieving less than girls, and to discover what part, if any, the school plays in this disparity. The sample consisted of 3,719 Grades 9 and 11 students in four types of secondary schools—high, comprehensive, technical, and all-age primary and junior high schools. Approximately 700 of these students were interviewed individually and in groups. Academic performance was assessed on end-of-term examinations. Results showed that boys and girls exist in a gender-coded school environment and differ on almost every measure examined in the study. Many factors contributed to the gender differences in academic performance. Specific measures that related to academic performance were: 1) school practices, such as being beaten and insulted, that demean students, particularly boys; 2) academic identity; 3) the belief that school will help you in later life; 4) involvement in work activities. At the same time, ethnographic observation revealed that boys actively and continuously constructed a definition of themselves as irresponsible, unreliable, and uninterested in academic work.