A new study has pinpointed the moment in schooling when boys begin to pull ahead of girls in mathematical performance, suggesting environmental influences rather than innate differences are the cause of the gender gap.
An analysis of almost three million children in France has shown that the well-known ‘mathematical gender gap’ appears during the first year of school.
While boys and girls receive similar maths scores at the start of school, boys pull ahead of girls after just four months, with a more dramatic gap emerging after 12 months of schooling.
This culminates into trends seen around the world, where teenage boys outperform girls on maths tests, and men are more likely to pursue STEM related careers.
In Australia, research released last year showed the nation’s education gender gap to be ranked the worst in the 58 countries tested by the International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS). The study has been running for 30 years, and the countries from the Middle East, Europe, Asia and the Americas all outperformed Australia across maths and science subjects.
The new findings, published in nature, could help countries focus efforts to stop girls falling behind in mathematics tests in school.
“This paper suggests that the gender inequalities in children’s maths performance aren’t innate or inevitable,” says psychologist Jillian Lauer at the University of Cambridge, UK. “If we want to stop girls from falling behind, we need to focus on their early experiences at school.”
Environmental causes
The study covers four cohorts of children in France, all of whom started their first year of school in either 2018, 2019, 2020 or 2021. The children start school the September of the calendar year that they turn six, with researchers comparing children who were born just a few days apart but are placed into different school years.
The gender gap is present for boys and girls born in December entering their second year of school, but it’s absent among peers born days later in January who have only just started school.
This disparity suggest the cause of the ‘mathematical gender gap’ lies in environmental factors rather than innate differences interest or ability, according to the researchers.
“There might be some biological factor that we haven’t been able to clearly link to maths or spatial reasoning,” says Lauer. “But this paper suggests that their experiences with the world matter more than anything else.”
The study cannot explain what it is about starting school that prompts a gender division in maths to occur, however, the authors have proposed several possible explanations and solutions.
Some possible reasons for girls to fall behind include them having more anxiety about maths compared to boys, which could affect performance in competitive maths tests. Gender stereotypes could also play a role, with girls’ confidence levels being undermined if boys are considered inherently better than them at maths. Teachers could unknowingly further this stereotype by treating girls differently.
To address these possible causes, the authors suggest schools provide support to children to reduce anxiety around maths, have teachers encourage participation from girls as often as boys and encourage curiosity and problem-solving outside of the classroom.
More research is needed to test and develop various interventions to implement these suggestions in schools and ensure students learn mathematics effectively.
“Changing attitudes and ingrained behaviours is never easy. But it is crucial that society and educational systems do not make excelling at a fundamental aspect of the human endeavour harder than it already is,” researchers say, noting that this study is a wake-up call for parents and carers, educators and scientists.
“Schools and wider society should offer all children the best possible chance to succeed, in line with the latest evidence.”