Both equal access to education and equal opportunities to succeed at school are very important issues on the policy agenda and for sociologists. One reason is that education is a key determinant of future earnings.
Gender differences in educational attainment have become a major concern in England. This is always emphasised by the media each year after the GCSE results come out. As shown in Figure 1, girls have been doing better than boys in exams at school and this attainment gap has been evident and persistent since the late 1980s. For instance, in 2011 the proportion of girls attaining the minimum governmental requirement of at least 5 GCSEs at grade A*–C was 83%, compared with only 76% of boys.
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