Boys Gender and Schooling > Are boys in trouble > Participation and performance data >

Numeracy

During primary school, there is no significant difference between the performances of girls and boys in numeracy. Despite this, more boys than girls choose maths and science subjects in the post-compulsory years.

Research suggests that boys often see such subjects as appropriately 'masculine' while English and the humanities may be perceived as 'feminine'. Some may also be opting for subjects where their poorer literacy skills seem less problematic.

Many more boys than girls select high-level maths and physical sciences in their senior studies. The Third International Maths and Science Study (TIMSS:4-5) across 41 countries found that:

the gap between male and female achievement increases as students progress through school, with male achievement greater than female achievement in mathematics and even more pronounced in science
despite few gender differences at Years 4 and 8, by their final year males had significantly greater achievement in mathematics literacy
in science, male achievement was ahead in one third of countries by Year 4, in two thirds by Year 8, and significantly ahead in nearly all countries by the final year;
by their final year, more males felt it was important to do well in mathematics and science, while more females felt it was important to do well in language
surprisingly, across the year levels, females reported more out-of-school time studying mathematics and science than males did.

A recent OECD study, PISA 2000, which measured the skills of 15-year-olds in mostly industrialised countries, found that boys performed significantly better than girls in mathematical literacy in about half of the countries tested. In Australia the difference was not found to be significant.

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