Hard To Believe But True: British Research Reveals Boys Different Than Girls

The Guardian:

One in four boys still struggle to write their own name by the age of five, according to new government figures that reveal a huge gender gap in young children‘s abilities.

Three in 10 five-year-old boys have trouble reciting the alphabet and one in five are unable to count to 10, according to statistics representing England and Wales, published for the first time today.

The figures from the Department for Children, Schools and Families show how many five-year-olds reached specific early learning goals last year.

Girls outperform boys at most levels with 78% of girls able to hold a pencil and write recognisable letters, compared with 62% of boys.

Nearly three-quarters of five-year-old girls (74%) could write a simple shopping list, or a letter to Father Christmas, but only half of boys (54%) could do so at the same age. Just over a quarter (26%) of boys aged five could not write their names, compared with 15% of girls.

Girls were also shown to be more creative than boys: 71% of five-year-old girls were found to be imaginative in art and design, music, dance, role play and stories. They responded in a variety of ways to what they saw, heard, smelt, touched and felt, compared with just over half (52%) of boys.

But boys showed a slightly better “knowledge and understanding of the world” – one of the early years goals. More than half (54%) could build objects using appropriate tools and techniques compared with 48% of girls and more could identify everyday technology (76% as opposed to 74%). Around 7% of boys and 6% of girls could add and subtract.

The “experimental” results show that only a fraction of five-year-olds achieved all the early learning goals or consistently worked beyond them. The 2007-08 results were based on observations by teachers and nursery workers, taken before last September’s introduction of the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) – the so-called “nappy curriculum”, which covers children’s physical, intellectual, emotional and social development.

Children’s progress towards early learning goals set by the government must now be monitored in every nursery, childminder and reception class.

Children’s minister, Dawn Primarolo, said: “I am pleased to see the improvements in young children’s achievement last year, with 21,000 more children reaching a good level of development and I am particularly pleased to see that the lowest-achieving children have not only kept pace but improved faster than the rest.

“We are making progress on narrowing the gender gap in young children’s achievement but we know that we need to do more. The summary results from last year showed an improvement in boys’ achievement across all areas of learning and that in some they are improving at a faster rate than girls.

“We are improving access to early years services and raising their quality. Our investment and reform meant that last year that there were not only improvements in overall achievement but also that the lowest achievers are doing even better and starting to catch up.”

Anne Longfield, chief executive of the charity 4Children, said the data would help to track very young children’s development: “Progress made in the early years is crucial in furthering children’s educational development and the likelihood of them achieving their full potential.”

She said girls outperforming boys in communication and creativity was of particular concern and boys should be encouraged to develop these skills so they did not lag behind in school or later life.