Boys' Underachievement Labour's Failure

Monday 20 Sep 2004 Deborah Coddington Press Releases -- Education

ACT New Zealand Education Spokesman Deborah Coddington today slammed the Labour Government for allowing boys to underachieve in the classroom.

"It is a disgrace that, according to the OECD's Education at a Glance 2004 report, New Zealand has the largest gap between girls and boys educational achievement," Miss Coddington said.

"The report highlights a 27-point gap between the reading literacy skills of ten-year-old boys and girls, the highest of the 16 countries measured.

"Further, the study shows the literacy gap between the sexes has widened over the last decade. New Zealand now has the highest gap between the literacy levels of boys and girls of the 27 OECD countries measured.

"The tests covered reading, mathematical and scientific literacy. New Zealand was one of only two countries where females outranked males on all three measures.

"Education Minister Trevor Mallard should be ashamed of these findings - it's a stunning indictment on his stewardship of the education portfolio.

"ACT would begin to address the problem of boys' underachievement by bringing back national standards and external exams," Miss Coddington said.

ENDS

For more information visit ACT online at http://www.act.org.nz or contact the ACT Parliamentary Office at act@parliament.govt.nz.

© Scoop Media