Educational achievement of boys and girls This review uses data from a number of different sources in order to compare educational outcomes of boys and girls. The main sources of data used were obtained from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Council for Educational Research and NSW Board of Studies. Education participation rate is the estimate of persons attending an educational institution in any group expressed as a percentage of the civilian population in the same group. Post-compulsory schooling is participation in a recognised educational course by people aged 15 or over in all States and Territories except Tasmania where school is compulsory to age 16. As a unit is worth 50 marks, each aggregate has a maximum possible value of 500.
Literacy comprises both reading and writing tasks.
In a 1980 Australian Education Council study of 10 year olds, girls outperformed boys on all literacy tasks tested. In this national survey of Year 3 and Year 5 students, girls gained consistently higher marks than boys. The relative difference was similar for the Year 3 group. These differences were still apparent in older children. ACER analysed results, on items common to both tests, from studies of 14 year olds conducted in 1975 and 1995.