1. Attitudes - boys perceive maths as easy, girls perceive difficulty
2. Girls have lower expectations
3. Boys are connected thinkers and respond better to traditional teaching methods
4. Girls are more attentive and willing to learn
5. Boys can memorise abstract facts and rules
6. Girls do well in open ended tasks
7. Boys sacrifice understanding for speedy results
8. Girls want to understand in depth

Despite all these differences studies have shown that there is very little difference in attainment.

• At age 11 boys do better than girls at maths although the opposite is true in reading, writing and science
• At age 14 girls are slightly ahead of boys in mathematics
• At 16 performance is similar although girls do better in every other subject
• At 18 boys outperform girls by numbers purely because more continue to study maths. The individual girls who continue do achieve better grades than boys.. 50 of girls choose not to continue with a science or maths, as opposed to30% boys. At 18 they revert to gender stereotyping.

Expectation of teachers has a great bearing on achievement and teachers must encourage students and also challenge their own perceptions.

Grouping of students is important - girls prefer co-operative supportive working environments whereas boys do better in competitive pressurised environments. .Some schools are experimenting with single sex classes for teaching mathematics and English. Some schools seat boy / girl pairings.

Mathematics lessons are set on ability from an early age as a rule and almost always in secondary schools.

Detailed analyses of data suggest that:

• boys tend to show greater variability in attainment, getting proportionately more very high or very low grades
• boys tend to perform better on recall and explanation tasks while girls are better at handling information, observing, inferring and investigating
• boys seem to perform better at multiple choice items and girls at coursework and essays
• girls do particularly well in language and communication and creative subjects and boys do consistently better in the performance element of physical education.

In mathematics, science and information and communications technology:

• boys have generally more positive, or sometimes more polarised, attitudes to mathematics and science
• in physics and technology, boys tend to have more confidence than girls in the use of physical concepts, as a result of which their designs are more likely to be judged as having 'innovation and rigour'
• in mathematics, boys have more confidence and are less dependent on teachers' explanations and devise their own methods and short-cuts to solutions
• more boys than girls see computing as enjoyable and necessary to their future prospects; in computing, girls often have lower expectations and less motivation.

Schools could usefully develop a policy on addressing gender issues supported by a school 'gender database' comprising the school information as outlined in section 2. Below is a list of suggested approaches to investigating and dealing with gender issues.

• Investigate how they respond to boys and girls in their teaching; this can involve peer observation or the use of video.
• Investigate who and what is praised; pupils like to feel they can do well and that their teacher cares.
• Encourage all pupils to take a more active part in lessons.
• Encourage all pupils to take more responsibility for their own learning and celebrate successes.
• Exploit pupils' competitiveness constructively as part of teaching and learning (to provide contexts, analogies to help effort, types of activity) and/or as part of a system of rewards and incentives to complete work well.
• Involve pupils in observation and discussion of their own behaviour to alert them to gender-related issues.

• Provide early and frequent feedback to pupils on their attainment.
• Consider the composition of groups; how often do boys and girls work in mixed pairs or groups? Are seating arrangements conducive to learning?
• Review teachers' expectations of pupils' organisation and presentation of notes, jotters, folders and of the prompt submission of homework.
• Review the extent to which assessment and feedback to pupils encourage them to identify and set themselves realistic personal targets for improvement.
• Consider the extent to which the strengths of under-achieving pupils are recognised and built upon.
• Build on some pupils' preference for using computers for organising and presenting work; provide supervised access to computers for study purposes at particular times within and outwith the school day.
• Ensure that pupils' experiences early in S1 and S2 do not demotivate either boys or girls in particular subjects.

• Establish a peer 'study buddy' system, using more senior pupils as partners/role models.
• Work with pupils to set and review short-term personal targets regularly.
• Ensure equity by gender in rewards and sanctions.
• Ensure that careers guidance and work experience is offered equitably to all pupils regardless of gender.
• Discuss and address stereotypes and myths with pupils at an early stage, especially by the end of S2.
• Review the gender balance and roles of visiting speakers who have contact with pupils about their future plans.
• Identify and target under-achievers.

• Build a culture of achievement: celebrate success.
• Ensure that the School Board/Parent Teacher Association has the opportunity to discuss any initiative to address under-achievement of boys and/or girls and how the school plans to go about it.
• Provide information to employers who have links with the school about approaches to gender issues and encourage them to support a culture of achievement in any contacts with pupils.
• Ensure agenda for action for individual pupils are shared with parents/carers in a positive and constructive way and at an early stage, so that they feel that their child can succeed.