Boys, Girls and Achievement

Book excerpt: Girls are now out-performing boys at GCSE level, giving rise to a debate in the media on boys' underachievement. However, often such work has been a 'knee-jerk' response, led by media, not based on solid research. Boys, Girls and Achievement - Addressing the Classroom Issues fills that gap and: *provides a critical overview of the current debate on achievement; *Focuses on interviews with young people and classroom observations to examine how boys and girls see themselves as learners; *analyses the strategies teachers can use to improve the educational achievements of both boys and girls. Becky Francis provides teachers with a thorough analysis of the various ways in which secondary school pupils construct their gender identities in the classroom. The book also discusses methods teachers might use challenge these gender constructions in the classroom and thereby address the 'gender-gap' in achievement.