Girls' world or anxious times. what's really happening at school in the gender war?

This paper investigates relatively poor male GCSE scores at Stanground College, Peterborough. By 1995 girls outperformed boys by an average half grade across all subjects, although NFER cognitive ability tests showed no significant differences between the sexes. Staff interviews, a student questionnaire and lesson observation identified a male agenda ill adapted to public examinations and yielded ideas to help boys connect with academic success. Also examined is the contrast between the account of female disadvantage offered by much of the literature on gender and current worries about an unskilled make underclass. Perceptions of gender-related behaviour may be shaped by hidden social and political anxieties.