Why boys get lower school grades than girls & how to fix it, including encouraging them to play with dolls

GIRLS were celebrating their GCSE results a little louder than lads this week.

Every single year, girls have outperformed boys in achieving the top results — and this year, the gap has widened further.

A third of GCSEs taken by girls this year were graded at least a 7, the broad equivalent of an A, compared with a quarter for boys.

But are girls really cleverer than boys? Neuroscientist Dr Dean Burnett says not.

The author of four books, including Why Your Parents Are Driving You Up The Wall, explains why lads get lower grades — and how it can be fixed.

BOYS VS GIRLS’ TOYS

At nursery, boys tend to go for (or are pushed towards) Lego, while for girls it is dolls. This means boys could develop skills such as spatial awareness.

But if girls are given dolls to play imagination games with, this may teach them to be more nurturing, compliant, people-pleasing and neat — useful skills in the classroom.

This possibly gives them a head start in education. But other factors could override the influence of toys. It’s hard to tell at this age.

When it comes to exams, a girl who has learnt people-pleasing may know how to please the teachers — and follow the curriculum. Four is the most pivotal age for childhood development, when what happens has the most lasting effect.

FIX: Give little ones lots of different options of toys to play with — and let boys play with dolls. Wider interests when very young mean when they are older at school they are more invested.

TEACHERS ARE MAINLY WOMEN

Eighty-two per cent of primary school teachers are female.

Young boys might associate school, the boring, educational thing they do, as a “woman thing”. They could start to believe school, and education, is not for them.

FIX: We need to make sure there are men at home reinforcing the fact that education is a great thing. Dads and uncles need to be doing things like reading themselves or helping with homework.

We also need more male primary school teachers. But a feedback loop has appeared. Boys grow up thinking: “That’s a girl’s job, I shouldn’t be doing that.”

SOCIETY’S NEGATIVE VIEW OF STUDIOUS BOYS

Lads are encouraged to do sport, not read. Subconsciously, physical ability is often more rewarded in boys.

Sitting down studiously reading books isn’t as encouraged as much in boys and the lads who actively learn are called things like “boffin”, “swot” and “nerd”.

This will build a reluctance to be studious.

When they start exams, they will be worried people will mock them for their learning.

FIX: Encouragement needs to come from the home. Lads need to hear that there is no such thing as being “swotty”.

Teachers also need to work towards getting these stigmas removed. If you can remove these negative stereotypes, there would be more educationally inclined boys out there.

FEWER EXPECTATIONS OF BOYS

Everyone has a subconscious bias.

If you are a teacher and you think boys are more destructive, when a child confirms this you will always remember that.

The brain likes being right so you ignore things that contradict it.

You may overlook the three girls in the classroom causing chaos and the boys sitting quietly.

Some teachers, not all, may tell a boy who does the bare minimum of work, “That’s great,” as they were expecting very little because he is a boy.
The boy then thinks: “Cool, this is all I have to do.”

Too little has been expected of him and he is not being pushed. A girl may have to do three times the amount of work to get the same praise.

That imbalance means she may learn more.

FIX: If everyone could be aware of the subconscious bias that girls are studious and boys are unruly, that would be helpful.

Educational expectations for girls and boys need to be matched. Girls and boys have equal intelligence — the only difference is that society is saying: “Girls should be good at studies and boys good at sports.”

GIRLS ARE TRAINED FOR EXAMS FROM A VERY YOUNG AGE

Girls are taught from a young age to be obedient.

They are given rules about skirt length and even the hair clips they can wear in infant school.

Females have more restrictions and expectations, so when they are told to work hard, revise for exams and be quiet in the classroom, they obey.

Girls are better at exams, studies have shown, but there is no biological reason for this.

If kids are treated as being capable: they become capable.

FIX: If you are going to apply rules, like a strict uniform code, to one gender, apply them to all.

Neither gender has an advantage in exams.

People need to stop telling one sex they are better.