Sociological Analysis of Teachers Perspectives on Students Academic Performance in Higher Education in the Punjab

Abstract

The main purpose of this research was to examine gender differences in academic performance in higher education in Punjab. The main focus was to unpack the reasons for female students' outperformance and male students' underperformance in higher education in Pakistan. In this study, I used a quantitative approach to examine gender reversal change at tertiary level education at the University of Punjab. I employed content analysis techniques on the examination result books of the above-mentioned university from 2006-2015 and analyzed female and male students' top three positions at master level examinations taken as indicators of outperformance. For primary data, the study sample consisted of 253 university teachers teaching in the university (the country’s oldest and largest Public Sector University) in Pakistan using a proportionate random sampling technique. The data was collected by using a well structured questionnaire. The analysis was carried out with the help of AMOS, Statistica, and Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Based on the findings of the analysis of result books of ten years, I concluded that there was a vivid trend of young females’ outdoing males in education at the tertiary level. Moreover, the results of primary data revealed multiple factors of gender reversal change in terms of female-outperform and male-underperformance at the tertiary level such as familial, educational, motivational, and sociocultural domains. Based on study findings, I recommended that counseling services should be provided to students in educational institutions for students coming from rural areas (mostly males) and families along with educational institutions should provide equal learning environment and opportunities to female and male students with the changing landscapes of the society