Moreover, in many cases girls have excelled to levels above those achieved by boys in terms of academic qualities and achievements in contemporary society.
The results from 1979-80 demonstrate that the amount of A to C grades at O-level achieved by girls in English was very high compared to the figure achieved by the boys. However, the results obtained in both Mathematics and Science in the same year show that boys had achieved more A to C grades than girls. In comparison, the results from the academic year 1998-99 illustrate the amount of A to C grades at GCSE level in English and Sciences achieved by girls exceeded the achievements of the boys. The 1998-99 results concerning A to C grades in Mathematics at GCSE level were more or less the same, but the data showed that boys only marginally achieved better results than the girls. The changes in trends over the past decade or so, in terms of academic achievements suggest that girls are now achieving better grades overall in the core subjects of English, Mathematics and Sciences as illustrated by the statistics. The data also supports the idea that girls are excelling academically at a faster rate than boys and are exceeding, in most cases the achievements of boys in contemporary society.
When studying and comparing qualifications levels across social groups, in this case gender it is essential to obtain data and statistics so as to prove or disprove certain assumptions, which have been related to such issues. For example, there is a commonly recognised notion that in recent years girls have been achieving better results than boys at GCSE level in most subjects. This assumption is actually supported by the statistics; however, the data is also evidential in supporting the idea that in previous years, up until the 1990s boys had mainly achieved better grades at O-level.
The notion of "Underachieving boys" is now considered the key point for discussion relative to academic achievement at secondary school levels.
