Constructed gender, approach to learning and academic performance

Abstract

This paper examines the relationship between constructed gender, approach to learning and academic performance for 121 final year students at the Robert Gordon University in Scotland. Data was collected from two cohorts of students, namely Accounting and Finance students and Business students. Constructed gender (gender identity) was measured using the Bem Sex Role Inventory (Bem, 1974, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42(2), pp. 155–162) and approach to learning was measured using the Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory (Entwistle and Tait, 1995, The Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory, Centre for Research on Learning and Instruction, Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh). The results found that neither biological gender nor constructed gender was related to academic performance. In respect of approaches to learning, the findings were similar for biological gender and constructed gender. Female students scored highly on the surface approach and this was the case for students with a feminine constructed gender. Statistically significant differences in academic performance were found for students who scored higher on the deep approach, strategic approach, academic self confidence dimension and metacognitive awareness dimension, although there was no significant negative correlation identified between adopting a surface approach and academic performance. Thus, approaches to learning would appear to explain more in terms of differences in academic performance than either constructed or biological gender.