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-862965000Clever girls, stupid boys? Sean CoughlanEducation correspondent-628650005 March 2015?From the section ?Education& FamilyImage copyrightTHINKSTOCKClever girls, stupid boys. That's become something of a modern educational orthodoxy, as girls across the developed world are more likely to get top exam grades and university places.The gap is so great that the UK's university admissions authority has warned that being male could soon be seen as a new form of social disadvantage.In the UK, the gender gap between men and women entering university has never been wider. In a remarkable statistic from the Ucas admissions service, the gap is more than 50% in a quarter of parliamentary constituencies. And no doubt this disparity will play out over future generations.But hold that bandwagon there.Because a global study from the OECD, based on more than 60 countries, has thrown up some very interesting challenges to generalisations about girls always doing better than boys.Teacher bias1270022288500First of all, it suggests that school systems give greater rewards to girls rather than boys, even when pupils are of similar ability.Teachers are more likely to "mark up" girls' work, says the study. It suggests that this leniency in marking is an unacknowledged reward for girls being more school-friendly.Image copyrightTHINKSTOCKImage captionWomen are much more likely to go to university than menGirls are more likely to be better behaved, more likely to get homework finished, less negative about going to school. And even when boys' work is just as good, the higher grade is more likely to go to a girl.Where coursework is important to grades, could this have an influence on results?The study also shows that in science and maths, boys are likely to be at either extreme on the ability spectrum.Among the lowest achievers, boys predominate. It's an international pattern, with boys much more likely to be among those who get the worst results, drop out and leave education unskilled and poorly qualified.But boys are also right at the top of the scale too, occupying more of the places among the very highest puter games 1 Homework 05207012319000The biggest gender gap in school is usually associated with literacy, with girls runaway leaders in exams and international reading tests.But the OECD has come up with the unexpected finding that this advantage in school does not last into adulthood. When young men and women get to the end of their twenties, their reading skills are not that much different.Image copyrightTHINKSTOCKThe study also has some nuggets about the influences that shape how well pupils do at school. Girls do much more homework than boys and this has a direct impact on results.Boys are much more likely to spend long hours playing on computer games and this can have a direct impact on the likelihood of doing homework.But there are a couple of big conclusions delivered by the OECD's education guru, Andreas Schleicher.There is no "maths gene", there is nothing inherent about boys or girls doing particularly well or badly in different subjects.If boys can do better than girls in maths tests in some western countries - and then girls in Shanghai can do better at maths than those western boys, it shows the variable factor is not gender, but those education systems.Mr Schleicher says the study shows there is nothing innate, immutable or inevitable about gender differences in education.There might be a blizzard of overlapping influences - self-confidence, parental expectations, society's stereotypes, gender bias, school support - which can affect how young people behave.But it's nothing that is hardwired by gender.The boys are left standing as GCSE gender gap growsby LAURA CLARK and SARAH HARRIS, Daily MailGirls have forged even further ahead in the GCSE battle of the sexes, dashing hopes that boys were at last beginning to catch up.?Results being posted in schools today show girls outperformed their male classmates in almost every subject this year.?They even triumphed in the traditionally male subject of Information Technology, with 64.4per cent achieving grades A* to C against 55.7per cent of boys.?Girls now gain more A* grades in every subject, apart from maths and physics, while opening up huge leads of 14 points or more in art, English literature and languages.?Across all subjects girls stretched to a nine percentage point lead, prompting exam chiefs to call for a detailed inquiry into boys' underachievement.?Overall GCSE pass rates continued their relentless rise, with 57.9per cent passed at grades A* to C compared to 57.1per cent in 2001. It was the biggest yearly rise since 1995.?The figures mean the proportion of exams passed at grade C or above has risen an astonishing 30per cent since GCSEs were introduced in 1988. The percentage passed at A* has more than doubled since the grade started in 1994.?It had been hoped that boys would narrow the gender gap further this year after taking a bite out of the girls' lead for the first time in 2001. Teachers have been trying to tackle an anti-school 'lad culture'.?But there were mounting calls last night for an investigation into the deeper causes of the problem.?Heads warned that the Government did not have a 'cat in hell's chance' of hitting GCSE performance targets if boys continued to 'drag down' results.?The largest classroom union, the National Union of Teachers, called for a ' thorough review'.?Higher Education Minister Margaret Hodge admitted the attainment divide was 'worryingly high', while Tory spokesman Damian Green said: 'Too many boys are turned off learning in schools. We need urgently to improve the courses we offer, particularly to those who have practical skills.'?The figures showed no downturn in the number of exams taken, despite Government moves to encourage brighter pupils to skip GCSEs and move straight onto sixth-form courses.?Schools also appear to be ignoring Ministers' calls for bright youngsters to be fasttracked to GCSE. Just 2.2per cent of exams were taken by children of 15 or below rather than the usual 16. The percentage of youngsters gaining at least grade C rose by 1 per cent in English and by 1.2 per cent in maths, faster than for most subjects.?But the CBI warned that nearly half still fail to achieve C grades in maths, as demanded by employers, and four in ten fail in English.?There was no change in the 2.1per cent of exams rated 'unclassified grades'. As there were more 16-year-olds this year, even more youngsters than last year will leave school with nothing to show for 11 years of education. ................
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