Different exams set for girls and boys

One of the country's biggest exam boards is developing different GCSE courses for boys and girls, it emerged today.

The Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA) said it was looking into creating a science GCSE with more coursework in it for girls, and one which gave more weighting to exam marks for boys.

Studies have shown that girls perform better in coursework than boys, while boys do better in exams.

AQA said it would not prevent boys from taking the girls' course and vice versa.

The courses in English, maths and science could be available from September next year.

Bill Alexander, the exam board's director of curriculum and assessment, told the Times Educational Supplement: "We could offer a route for boys that is very different to a route for girls.

John Bangs, head of education at the National Union of Teachers, said it was "extremely dangerous" to get into gender stereotyping. "There are lots of boys who like the investigative element of coursework as well," he said.

John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said it was a "wild generalisation" to state that boys did better in exams, while girls performed better in coursework, but that it had "more than a grain of truth" to it.

However, he suggested that as well as sitting the gender-specific exams, pupils' work should be marked in part by professional assessors.

Experts believe that this year could end a 20-year trend for girls to outperform boys in GCSEs because many new courses have no coursework. Instead, pupils complete work over a prolonged period, but under exam conditions.