| At first glance, higher education today might | | | | education in 2004, compared to 37% of young |
| seem like a woman's world. | | | | men. |
| | | | |
| Government officials have warned that men | | | | Hefce chief executive Professor David |
| will face a struggle for good jobs in future | | | | Eastwood said: "We need to understand better |
| as teenage boys shun university. | | | | why this is happening and start taking some |
| | | | action sooner rather than later." |
| In 2006, 22,500 more young women than men | | | | |
| went on to higher education. Ministers are | | | | Higher Education Minister Bill Rammell said |
| increasingly concerned at the widening gender | | | | "The government has introduced a number of |
| gap in higher education. Employers | | | | strategies to address the gap in gender |
| increasingly look to hire staff with degrees. | | | | achievement and to raise the performance of |
| | | | all pupil". |
| Consequently, men might find themselves | | | | |
| marginalised in the jobs market. | | | | The Raising Boys' Achievement Project which |
| | | | looked at exciting and innovative ways of |
| Girls have been outperforming boys at GCSE, | | | | raising achievement across a range of |
| A-level and in university for years. But now | | | | primary, secondary, and special schools to |
| girls are doing better at work too, earning | | | | identify and evaluate strategies which are |
| more than boys in the first eight years of | | | | particularly helping motivating boys. |
| their careers. | | | | |
| | | | Schools will be better able to address |
| In 2005, 80% of girls passed national | | | | underachievement in the performance of boys |
| curriculum tests in English, compared with | | | | and girls if they know when and where they |
| 67% of boys. | | | | emerge. A careful analysis of data, mapping |
| | | | the development of male and female pupils, |
| At A level, girls passed 23.9% of exams at | | | | particularly the value-added data, including |
| grade A, compared with 21.5% of boys. | | | | a breakdown of data by key pupil sub-groups, |
| | | | will enable schools to plan when andhow to |
| According to Higher Education Funding Council | | | | intervene. Schools should monitor pupils' |
| for England Figures last year showed 47% of | | | | progress regularly by gender. |
| 17-30 year-old women had gone into higher | | | | |