Boys who defy masculine stereotypes get higher grades in GCSEs, study suggests

Sign up for the Independent Women email for the latest news, opinion and features Get the Independent Women email for free Get the Independent Women email for free SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Boys who defy traditional masculine stereotypes appear to achieve higher grades in their GCSE exams than boys who embrace them, research suggests. Researchers said that while girls outperformed boys overall, there was also a link between achievement and a pupil’s approach to gender. The two categories of boys who strongly embraced masculine norms – cool guys and tough guys – performed worst overall, with average grades of 5.1 and 5.4 respectively, compared with 5.8 for resister boys. The study authors wrote: “By shifting the focus from ‘boys versus girls’ to ‘which boys and which girls’, this study reveals the invisibility of well-performing boys and underachieving girls in educational gender gap research.” Junlin Yu, a researcher at Cambridge University’s Faculty of Education, said: “There has been a lot of justifiable concern about low attainment among boys, but we really need to move on from looking at averages, and ask which specific groups of boys and girls are falling behind.