Gender and Achievement

• Official statistics show that there is a gender divide in education
• Official statistics - government collected data
• Gender divide - difference between genders in education
• In the past, boys outperformed girls at all levels. Since the 1990s however, girls have outperformed boys.
• Statistics suggest:

  • Girls perform better than boys in national curriculum tests in English and Science
  • Girls are better at language and literacy
  • Girls outperform at GCSE level in most major subject choices
  • Girls are more likely to get top class degrees
• Boys outperformed girls up until the 90s because boys had more access to education than girls as they were prioritised. When girls gained more access to the education system they started to outperform boys. Changing role of women
• Girls are more likely to do better in language and literacy because they are more likely to do educational things outside of school such as reading or studying. This is bedroom culture (McRobbie)
• What are some of the factors that might affect gender and achievement?

  Primary socialisation, labelling, most teachers are females so boys are lacking male role models.