ABSTRACT
Introduction Differences in educational performance Gender Other factors Explanations for differential performance Why have girls succeeded? Why do some students from lower social classes and ethnic
groups underachieve? Why do some beat the odds? Why do some boys underachieve despite benefits from
social class? Strategies for improving educational performance Summary
Introduction
There have been many headlines in the papers regarding differences in educational performance on the basis of culture and gender. Recently there has been much made of the success of girls in achieving more of the top grades in GCSE and A level exams. This trend emerged in the 1990s. This chapter aims to get behind the headlines and look at the facts in order to explain which girls and which boys achieve. Specifically this chapter will examine what factors account for achievement and underachievement and what strategies have been developed to tackle underachievement. We will see that this is a very complex issue.
