Are Boys Better at Maths?

Earlier research from other countries suggests that teachers and parents tend to associate ‘natural’ mathematical ability with boys more often than girls and stereotype mathematics as a male domain. There has been less attention on why teachers and parents form these judgements and whether they partly reflect children’s own engagement with mathematics.

This paper examines whether mothers and teachers estimate girls’ mathematics performance less highly than that of boys’, when taking account of their performance on mathematics tests. Being exposed on a daily basis to their pupils’ mathematics performance, we might expect that teachers might be less influenced by gender stereotypes than mothers who are only likely to be exposed to their own child’s mathematics performance.

Mothers and teachers may also use other indicators (such as a liking for mathematics, diligence in performing homework) in making assessments, and thus we also take account of these.

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