CLOSING THE GENDER GAP IN OUR SCHOOLS Education is an issue which concerns many people in the UK as well as round the world. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland pupils sit GCSE (General Certificate in Secondary Education) exams followed two years later by A (Advanced) levels. Pupils in Scotland follow a different system, finishing their time at school with the Higher Leaving Certificate. One particular worry - why are boys doing so badly? Vote and tell us what you think. Some twenty years ago, the performance of girls and boys in class was compared. Boys scored better in exams, so various measures were introduced to improve the performance of girls, including having single sex girl-only classes. Now, the situation is reversed, with girls consistently out-performing boys. So, what has gone wrong with boys, and what can be done about it? John Duns ford, leader of the association of head teachers of secondary schools in Britain, says that the academic failure of boys is a problem which has its roots in society rather than the classroom. Girls, more than boys, see education as a passport to a good job. On the other hand, according to Penny Lewis, a head teacher, young men lack confidence, which they hide with a show of bravado. They’re uncertain about their place in society. This could be due to the fact that some boys grow up in families where there is no male role model to follow. Moreover, boys may learn in a different way to girls, preferring small amounts of work with immediate deadlines rather than large projects stretching into the distance. And education is not seen as ‘cool’. As one secondary school teacher said, 'Girls achieve more at school because they are watching the future, while the boys are watching the girls.’ This is not just a problem in Britain. In a study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and UNESCO, girls outperformed boys at reading at the age of 15 in all 45 countries, where the study was made. The UK ranks ninth out of the 45 countries for reading despite the fact that pupils in the UK spend less time reading than in most other countries. Only 3.5% of girls in the UK survey said they read for two hours a day or more and only 2.5% of boys said the same. Now have you say: Are single-sex classes best? создать 10 вопросов: общий,альтернативный разделительный, специальный, вопрос к подлежащему