Schools inquiry called for as report highlights “frightening” gender attainment gap

New data released by the Welsh Government on how well school children are faring in core subject areas has revealed a “frightening” and “unacceptable” gender attainment gap.

Published today via ‘Statistics for Wales’, an annual report* reveals that girls aged from seven to 14 years old – from Foundation Phase to Key Stage 2 and 3 – have this year outperformed boys in all subjects and areas of learning.

For the first time since the report was introduced in 2012, the performance gap between boys and girls has widened in the Foundation Phase Indicator (FPI), which is a crucial stage of cognitive development.

The percentage of girls achieving the expected level of 5 (or above) in FPI has increased every year since 2012, and is the highest ever recorded, whereas the percentage of boys achieving this score (or higher) has slightly decreased (down 0.1%) for the first time ever.

Factoring in the achievements of both girls and boys, Welsh language, literacy and communication skills was the subject area hardest hit by a performance decline (down 0.7%).

In a separate report** on Welsh pupils’ performance in non-core subject areas, data shows that Welsh Second Language was defined by the biggest gulf in attainment levels between boys and girls, with the latter outperforming boys by 12.8% in Key Stage 3.

Responding to the reports, Welsh Conservative Shadow Secretary for Skills, Mohammad Ashgar AM, said:

“The data paints a frightening picture of education in Wales, where the educational needs of boys are clearly being ignored by the Labour-led Welsh Government.

“More research needs to be done to explain why boys are consistently being outperformed by their female classmates.

“The lack of educational attainment has implications beyond the classroom and will undoubtedly impact their competitiveness on the job market in future.

“The imbalance is unacceptable and I call on the Cabinet Secretary to launch an inquiry into this matter as soon as possible so that we can once and for all get to the bottom of this.”