Boys generally get the best grades for science subjects. Girls are better at languages. Boys get better grades for technology. Girls perform better in English exams. Boys perform better at economics or business studies.
While not all of these assumptions are a perfect representation of the local situation, these statements drawn up by the British Council reflect the current concern in Malta and in the UK.
The BBC recently reported that boys were unwilling to learn languages in the UK. "Teenage boys can barely be encouraged to speak English let alone learn another language," Chief Inspector of Schools David Bell said.
The report stated that in the UK, languages have faced a period of decline in secondary schools. "But why might boys not be doing it? Does it come back to confidence? Or is it that 'teenage thing' of boys not being prepared to speak English, let alone French or German... It should cause us some concern, because we want more people to learn a modern language."
In Malta, the SEC Examinations 2005 Statistical Report confirms that more girls sit for exams in languages: 2,702 girls sat for Maltese, compared to 2,455 boys; 3,336 girls sat for English, compared to 2,893 boys; 1,562 girls sat for Italian, compared to 1,365 boys; and 1,410 girls sat for French, compared to a mere 829 boys.
A larger number of boys register for computer studies, economics and technical design: 1,081 boys registered for computer studies compared to 593 girls; 239 boys sat for economics compared to 194 girls; and 636 boys sat for technical design, compared to only 85 girls.
Following a recent evaluation of girls' and boys' performance in languages, the Scottish executive said that the difference between boys' and girls' performance in modern languages is the same as the average difference between boys and girls across all subjects. Modern languages have traditionally been regarded as a subject in which girls perform better than boys. However, a recent review of research into girls' and boys' performance across the curriculum has shown that girls have been outperforming boys in school examinations in almost all subject areas since the 1970s.
The difference between boys and girls in most of the subjects seems to be of local concern too, especially at sixth form level. The foreword to the Matriculation Certificate Examinations 2005 Statistical Report, by Professor Frank Ventura, chairman of the Matsec Examinations Board, stated that the gap between males and females has widened even more than in previous years. "In 2005, the proportion of female candidates was 58.1 per cent. This gender difference is even more evident when one considers the results of the 18-year-old cohort. Out of the 5,314 children born in 1987, 23.2 per cent were awarded the Matriculation Certificate in 2005 and gained admission to University.
These represented 30.3 per cent of the girls and only 16.5 per cent of the boys who were born in 1987.
This gender gap requires further study and action." The gap is evident when comparing registration by gender and subjects, especially in languages, commerce, computing and certain science subjects.
A total of 245, 580, 234 and 79 females registered for their Advanced levels in Maltese, English, Italian and French respectively, compared to 108, 210, 107 and 21 males.
On the other hand, more males register for computing (162 males compared to 76 females), economics (134 makes compared to 123 females) and physics (329 males compared to 146 females).