GENDER CONSTRUCTS AND THE SOCIAL PRODUCTION OF LEARNING ACHIEVEMENT: A QUALITATIVE STUDY IN EDUCATIONAL CONTEXTS

Abstract

The study examines the intersectionality of gender and class at tertiary level specifically focusing on This qualitative study examines the relationship between gender constructs and the social production of learning achievement within educational contexts. Grounded in sociological theory, the study conceptualizes learning achievement not as a neutral or purely individual outcome but as a socially embedded process shaped by gendered norms, identities, and institutional practices. Drawing on purposively selected peer-reviewed research articles, the study employs thematic analysis to synthesize qualitative insights on how gender influences academic engagement, participation, recognition, and perceptions of success. The analysis reveals that gendered expectations and performances significantly shape students’ learning experiences by mediating classroom interactions, teacher expectations, and access to symbolic and cultural capital valued in educational institutions. Findings further indicate that students actively negotiate and sometimes resist dominant gender norms, such agency is constrained by structural and institutional arrangements that tend to reproduce gendered patterns of achievement. By foregrounding lived experiences and meaning-making processes documented in existing qualitative literature, the study extends sociological understandings of achievement beyond measurable outcomes to include identity formation and power relations. The study concludes that addressing gender-based inequalities in learning achievement requires gender-sensitive pedagogies and institutional reforms that recognize diverse ways of learning and redefine academic success in more inclusive terms.