WHY ARE BOYS UNDERACHIEVING

Why are Boys underachieving across the curriculum?

Why Are Boys Underachieving Across the Curriculum?

Younger & Warrington (2005) suggest that it has been since the early and mid-1990s that the discourse has changed. This change has evolved from some boys underachieving to a general focus on boy's underachievement and the gender gap and the apparent failure of boys to perform as well as girls in academic examinations at crucial transition points in their primary and secondary education. In their own analysis of the relative performance of girls and boys they highlight a gender gap that has been apparent since the introduction of the National Curriculum tests and teacher assessments at Key Stages 1, 2 and 3 (Warrington et al, 2003).

Going through a broad range of academic attainment measures they found a consistent gap between boys and girls results at GCSE level and, while there have been periods where the attainment levels have been lower, Gorard et al (2001) found that it has stabilised at around 10 percentage points. However, the analyses of the figures have been interpreted in different ways and authors have arrived at different conclusions. The DfES in 2004 highlighted that 96.6% of girls and 94.9% of boys achieved at least one A-G GCSE grade or the GNVQ equivalent (Younger and Warrington 2005, p33) which probably only highlights the limitations of the more generalised statistics.

In her analysis of the gender gap within different subjects Madeleine Arnot found that some subjects remain male-dominated while others remain female-dominated and that whereas boys secured only modest improvements … in their performance … in various subjects in comparison with girls, girls achieved sizeable improvements, particularly in science and mathematics (Arnot et al 1998).

In her analysis of the gender gap within different subjects Madeleine Arnot found that some subjects remain male-dominated while others remain female-dominated and that whereas boys secured only modest improvements … in their performance … in various subjects in comparison with girls, girls achieved sizeable improvements, particularly in science and mathematics. The other significant factor in the figures overall, is that achievement has been steadily increasing for both boys and girls. So, looking again at the KS3 Level 5s (above), while girls have moved two points ahead of boys in mathematics over the seven years, boys have increased by twelve points. These results have been reflected in most achievement measures and have led some to conclude that the gender differences are less significant than the gender lobby have suggested.

The strongest discourse about boy's underachievement hinges on ideology. Whether the issue is about standards (as it was in the UK); social justice (as in Australia) or indeed boys in crisis (in the USA - Martino, Kehler & Weaver-Hightower, 2009) authors question the basis of the whole boys and underachievement project. Much of the debate has been seen as a backlash against feminism and its focus on girls, any gains that had been made for women generally and in girl's education in particular. There are of course some blatant examples of ...