OECD Reports On Reading and Mathematics

Daily Telegraph, 28 May 2009; The West Australian, 28 May 2009

The Equally Prepared for Life? How 15-Year-Old Boys and Girls Perform in School report released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has claimed that the gap in reading performance between boys and girls is increasing in Australia.

The OECD analysis of international benchmark testing of 15 year olds found that girls across the world tended to perform better on reading tests than boys at the end of primary school, and that the gap tended to increase at the secondary level. The report also argued that the gap between girls and boys had 'grown significantly since 2000 in several countries', including Australia.

By contrast, while there was little difference at the end of primary school between boys’ and girls’ performance on mathematics tests, boys tended to perform better than girls by age 15. The report argued that girls tended to have a higher interest in reading than boys, but that they tended to be more anxious about mathematics.

The report recommended that 'teachers can do more to promote gender equality through strategies to build self-confidence and motivation and by reassessing their own expectations. But action is also needed at home and across society as a whole ... Attitudes such as reading is not for boys or maths is not for girls must not be allowed to persist: they are too costly in terms of lost potential.'

For a synopsis of the Equally Prepared for Life?How 15-Year-Old Boys and Girls Perform in Schoolreport, click here…

 

 

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