NAAIDT: Gender Differences

	Statistical analysis of 1995 GCSE results
	Contributing Factors
	Assessment of Performance Unit
	Learning skills

Achievement in KS3 & KS4 Design & Technology: Gender Differences

Statistical analysis of 1995 GCSE results:

For English comprehensive schools 39.7% of candidates achieved 5 A* - C grades.

Girls achieved 44.5% A* - C in 5 subjects.
Boys achieved 35.1% A* - C in 5 subjects.

This indicates that for candidates achieving 5 A* - C grades girls achieved nearly 10% more A* - C grades than boys.

In 1995, 304522 candidates were entered for a GCSE in Design & Technology and 40.5% achieved A* - C grades.
Girls achieved 48.2% A* - C in D&T.
Boys achieved 32.3% A* - C in D&T.

Using these statistics it can be seen that in Design and Technology girls achieved 16% more A* - C grades than boys indicating that boys achieve 6% lower grades in Design & Technology than in their other GCSEs.

A* - C grades may not be a reliable indicator for comparing achievement between a school and national figures because the entry policy of the school can significantly affect the percentage of A*-C grades achieved.

A more reliable indicator is to use subject residuals which convert grades into a numerical score. For example: A* = 8; A = 7; B = 6; C = 5; D = 4; E = 3; F = 2; G = 1. This method of statistical analysis gives schools the opportunity to compare a pupil's performance in Design & Technology, or any other subject, with the average of the grades they achieved in all the other subjects they studied. It also permits comparisons to be made across the full range of grades A* - G and not just A* - C.

National figures indicate that the subject residual for Design & Technology is -0.29, i.e. pupils achieved approximately one third of a grade less in Design & Technology than in their other subjects. For many pupils this may well result in them achieving a grade D rather than a grade C.

National subject residuals indicate that in Design & Technology for girls the figure is -0.17 and for boys -0.43.

These figures clearly show that girls are achieving much better GCSE grades in Design & Technology than boys.

Questions can be posed about the content and nature of syllabus requirements; that is a wider debate that can be tackled in this document and the question here focus specifically on those issues which may be addressed in school.

Some of the factors that may contribute to the under achievement of boys in Design & Technology are:

Do the teaching styles used in Key Stage 3, characterised at times by an over reliance on the production of design folders, demotivate boys?
Is there too much emphasis on the linear approach to designing and does this affect boys' performance in their major GCSE project?
Is the structure of Key Stage 4, which may include two minor projects and a major project, appropriate for boys?
Why are Year 10 projects often of better quality than Year 11 projects? Is this because teachers do not do enough teaching of time management in Year 11?

Assessment of Performance Unit

Work carried out by the Assessment of Performance Unit indicates that boys do best when challenged with short achievable focused activities and girls achieve higher standards when presented with more open ended activities.

Does the ethos of the department encourage all pupils to want to do their best? Are boys more susceptible to negative peer group pressure, resulting in individual boys not wanting to be seen to do well?
Is there a correlation between ability in GCSE English and grades in Design & Technology?
Do teachers of Design & Technology give sufficient emphasis to correcting spelling and the redrafting of work?
Is it a department's policy to mark work before it is redrafted?
When marking design folders is too much credit given to girls for, what is often, a higher standard of presentation of work with insufficient attention to content?
Is the work of pupils who are challenging to teach (often boys) subconsciously marked down by teachers?
Evidence suggests that pupils of all abilities do well when their work is marked as it progresses by teachers, using the assessment criteria detailed in the GCSE syllabuses. Do teachers give frequent feedback by indicating to pupils what they have to do in order to achieve higher marks for a particular part of their design folder?
Are GCSE syllabus selected carefully? It is important because teachers need to be able to use the assessment criteria for formative marking of pupils' work.

Only marking folders at the end of a project does not help pupils to improve their work and can have a detrimental effect on pace of learning and motivation.

Learning skills

Are pupils taught how to:

develop research skills?
write questionnaires?
analyse information?
synthesise information and write conclusion?
use evidence to influence designing?
develop graphic communication skills?
redraft work?
develop evaluation skills?
manage time and work to deadlines?

If they have learnt these skills in other subjects, it must not be assumed that pupils will transfer them to Design and Technology.

Analysis of information and summative evaluation is often a weakness in design folders.

Are pupils encouraged to use their design specification as a framework to analyse their research, their initial ideas and for the summative evaluation of their work?

Many of the questions posed raise issues appropriate to the achievement of boys and girls. The important thing is to analyse the departments results, to raise relevant questions and set targets to improve the attainment of all pupils.

Please send any comments on this Guideline to: Guideline@naaidt.org.uk
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