to hate how the media pits Boys against Girls in GCSE/A Level results

[IfyouseeRitaMoreno]

Why why why is this constant competition necessary?

So, last week with the A Levels the newspapers are all "boys surging ahead of girls" headlines. On further investigation it's only a matter of a few percent...

This week post GCSE it's all "girls outperform boys and widen the gap"....again only a matter of a few percent.

And on that matter, if coursework is said to favour girls and exams said to favour boys (both exaggerations anyway) why don't they do 50/50? Instead they are intent on moving towards exam based because they can't fathom the idea that girls might do a few percent better than boys.

Why are exams considered "tougher" or "more challenging" than coursework? And if the latter is easier then surely it's easier for everybody?

Saying "girls this and boys that", just discourages whichever sex isn't doing so well and exacerbates the problem.

AIBU to think the media should stop with this incessant sensationalist competition which just antagonises, breeds resentment and discourages, and just celebrate the fact that kids of whatever sex work hard and should have their efforts celebrated?

"which just antagonises, breeds resentment and discourages,"

What are you basing this on?

"if coursework is said to favour girls and exams said to favour boys (both exaggerations anyway)"

????

Please be a little clearer.

I'd say (as someone 'in' education) that boys and girls don't feel like they're pit against each other and that there's no resentment or whatever else. I'd also say that besides 'exaggeration' being entirely qualitative, boys clearly do better in exams than girls.

50/50 is seen as both easier on the students as well as failing to differentiate the top students. With the increasing popularity of freelancer and similar, it's harder to find plagiarism.

At my school, 92% of grades were A - B. 42% achieved A or A in all GCSE subjects. 99.4% achieved A*-C in Eng lit, Eng lang and maths.

We want a way to differentiate and tougher exams without coursework will benefit us.

I think you're looking to put a feminist slant on a genuine commentary on results. Besides which, the majority of people I've met in education believe in innate male/female differences in learning and intelligences.

Tougher exams without coursework benefit children with better memories. If you need to memorise texts and you find this difficult, you are disadvantaged. Rarely in life do you have to memorise quotes from a text. Finding what you need to quote from a book is realistic. Memory tests are a throw back and some children will clearly be disadvantaged. As they were with O levels.

Who's talking about memorising texts? This isn't done by most exam boards anymore.

Memory (working mem.) is a key indicator in intelligence.

Yes, some children are disadvantaged by tests. Guess which ones ...

50/50 is seen as both easier on the students as well as failing to differentiate the top students.

Right, so you obviously have a lot of experience of this and can answer this question. What exactly were the changes made to this? My understanding is that they moved focus onto end exams and added more layers to the grading system in order to make, as you say, a distinction between the top students and the exceptional ones.

Yet girls still formed 2/3 of that exceptional group so how does that fit with the idea that boys "clearly do better in exams than girls"?

*to this year's GCSE

"which just antagonises, breeds resentment and discourages,"

What are you basing this on?

two girls I helped with their GCSEs, my own reaction and the reaction of many people on the internet who feel resentment of girls' recent successes, feeling it's skewed towards them.

"if coursework is said to favour girls and exams said to favour boys "

Well that's the general idea espoused by headteachers, teachers in articles on the subject, that boys are better at cramming and that this is somehow tougher.

But like the PP Bubbles I don't necessarily think it is. I was a language teacher for example and the way the students would come in with a memorized text was ridiculous. It wasn't a good indicator of their ability in a foreign language where the knowledge is built up gradually and definitely benefits from regular revisions of knowledge.

In education it's all about comparing the attainment of different groups to check nobody is falling through the gaps...
Girls vs boys
Disadvantaged pupils vs non disadvantaged pupils
Sen vs non Sen
Attainment groups

From what I can gather the difference in A* between girls and boys is less than 1%. I seem to remember that kind of figure was 'not statistically significant' in my school maths lessons.

Oh well. Since when did mere numbers get in the way of a good Daily Fail rant?

In education it's all about comparing the attainment of different groups to check nobody is falling through the gaps

I totally get that, but it's the publication of it in the newspaper headlines that annoys me. I feel it's divisive and affects students' perception of their own abilities.

Thank you Gallicos - that is my point exactly!