GCSE Gender Gap Reaches Record Levels in 2013

Research in to the results from this year’s GCSE exams has revealed that girls were far more likely than boys to achieve top marks. The figures show that, among papers submitted by girls, almost a quarter (24.8%) received a grade of A* or A, whilst among boys this figure fell to less than a fifth (17.6%). This difference in percentage points between the genders, 7.2%, is the highest since the inception of the GCSE exams in the late 1980s.

The GCSE gender gap was not only visible at the upper end of results. Indeed, almost three-quarters (72.3%) of girls received a grade C or above, compared to less than two-thirds of boys (63.7%). This difference was the largest disparity for a decade, and the results mean that males now perform worse than females in every subject at GCSE apart from mathematics.

GCSE Gender Gap Chart_VoicED Education Market Research Community

Oddly, the results for GCSEs appear to be the opposite of those for A-levels, where boys actually closed the gap on girls – in fact registering more A* grades than their female counterparts. Some commentators have suggested that boys favour end-of-course examinations whilst girls prefer to work on extended coursework, and that this may be the reason for the differing results at GCSE and A-level. Plans have been announced to get rid of the coursework aspect of GCSEs – meaning students will instead be tested utilising straight exams at the culmination of a two-year long course.

However, other observers have suggested that the difference between girls’ and boys’ achievement is such that it cannot be put down to the preference for exams or coursework – and that there may be a fundamental problem with the way in which education is provided to boys. Professor Alan Smithers, director of the Centre for Education and Employment at the Buckingham University, has called for a detailed review to be carried out by the Government in order to understand why boys are performing poorly at GCSE. He feels the research should consider the views of teachers and pupils, and that researchers should enter classrooms to get a feel for which aspects of modern-day teaching may be responsible for hindering boys’ achievement.

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