Investigating the patterns of differential attainment of boys and girls atschool

Recent research on the differential attainment of boys and girls at school has produced findings in significant contrast to the standard account on wh ich most previous explanations of the differences between br,ys and girls w ere based. Put simply, much previous research may have been attempting to e xplain differences whose nature was incompletely understood. The result, if these new findings are accepted is that further research is now necessary to discover the potential socio-economic, classroom and individual determin ants of these gender gaps. In addition, it is important before such researc h rakes place that the nature of the actual differences between the 'perfor mance' of boys and girls is more clearly understood. This article is intend ed to be a part of that advance. It details differential attainment by gend er for all students in Wales over 6 years and at every level of assessment from Key Stage 1 to A level. There are few significant gender differences i n mathematics and the sciences (i.e. the majority of the core subjects). Fo r all other subjects, there are no significant gender differences at the lo west level of any assessment. Otherwise, the gap in attainment between boys and girls rises with every grade or level in an assessment, leading to the conclusion that the problem, if indeed it is a problem, is one mainly faci ng mid-to high-attainers. Proportionately more girls are attaining high gra des and more boys are attaining middle grades than might be expected. Trend s over time reveal no great change in this picture at the subject level ove r 6 years, but in terms of aggregate scores such as government benchmarks, the gap between boys and girls is decreasing.