Gender and Student Achievement in English Schools

The widening gap between the average educational achievementof boys and girls has been the subject of much discussion. Thisgap is especially controversial for students taking nationalexams at the end of their compulsory education. However, thegender gap is also apparent at earlier and at later stages ofeducation. In this paper, we analyse changes over time in thegender achievement gap at the different stages of compulsoryeducation in English schools. We first use a combination ofdata sources to paint a picture of how gender gaps have evolvedover time and in what context they are most marked. Then weconsider possible explanations for the observed gender gaps.We look at the relevance of school inputs, teaching practice,and the examination system for explaining the gender gap. Wealso discuss the potential influence of wider social and economicchanges as reflected, for example, in the much higher educationlevels of mothers relative to those of previous generations.Analysis of this issue is important in the context of researchon the gender wage gap. However, it is also raises policy-relevantissues in relation to whether changes in the school system caneffect a change in the gender gap in educational achievement. Footnotes ¹ E-mail addresses: s.machin{at}ucl.ac.uk, s.mcnally1{at}lse.ac.uk