One of the key issues raised a number of times on this site (1,2, 3 and see Education link) is how the end of examination based O-levels in the late 80's and the move to a coursework based system (GCSEs) completely changed the attainment success of the genders.

Now far fewer boys go to university than girls and the latest results show boys education is five years behind that of girls and they are simply struggling.

The 2008 GCSE results published yesterday (Table 2) how how acute the problem is.

Girls continue to outperform boys, particularly at the higher grades (A*-C); 69.9 per cent of girls achieved five or more grades A*-C compared to 60.9 per cent of boys (the same approximate figure for girls was in 2003/04 - five years ago). The gap was 10% in 2004/05 so in three years, it has closed by just 1%.

For five GCSE's or more including English and Maths, the percentages are 52.3% for girls and 43.2% for boys.

The argument consistently made is that because boys and girls are different, the one-size-fits-all education system is producing gender winners (girls) and gender losers (boys).

As outlined in Dr Leonard Sax's book (link) boys need the competition and pressure of exams (0-levels) whilst girls are better at sustained work which comes with coursework (GCSE). Other issues include, of course, the falling number of male teachers in schools who provide sound role models and discipline. There should be a choice of examination systems so that boys can take O-levels and girls GSCEs (of course,if girls wish to take O-levels then fine)

In addition, there is growing evidence that all-boys schools can help and this article (Telegraph) about Lawrence Sheriff School shows what can be done to help boys reach high attainment levels.

The Conservatives have also mooted removing coursework (link) from GCSEs but that is more to do with stopping cheating but a by-product would be that it would help boys.

All together though, yesterday's results has meant that another cohort of boys has under-performed because the education system in the UK is biased against them and does not meet their needs.

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