Girls consistently do better than boys at GCSEs

Pupils' ability and social background have a bigger influence on their GCSE achievements than their gender does, research suggests.

The findings come despite girls continuing to outdo boys in exams at age 16 by considerable margins.

Last year, 62.4% of female GCSE entrants achieved the top grades - A* to C - compared with 53.4% of males.

Researchers at Bristol University found this gender gap was driven by girls doing better than boys in English, while both performed at the same level in mathematics.

'Reasons needed'

Their report added: "Both the ability gap and the poverty gap are greater than the gender gap.

"In other words, ability (as measured by performance at age 14) and poverty (as measured by eligibility for free school meals) have a greater impact on GCSE outcomes than gender."

The achievements of 500,000 pupils in England's 3,103 state-maintained secondary schools in 2001 were analysed for the study.

School performance in league tables, admissions policy, religious denomination, funding status, size and ethnic mix did not affect the gender gap, the researchers found.

This meant the gap was not caused by "within-school" practice and that policy directed at improving such practice "may be misplaced".