Girls of 13 more positive on university than boys

Sally Weale reported for the Guardian on Believing in Better

Girls as young as 13 are more likely to have a positive attitude towards going to university than their male classmates, according to new research published by education charity the Sutton Trust. The study by Oxford University found that by year 9 at secondary school, when children are 13 or 14, almost 65% of girls thought it was “very important” to go to university, compared with just 58% of boys.

At the other end of the scale, while just one in 10 girls attached no importance to going to university and getting a degree, 15% of boys did not see the point in continuing into higher education, according to the report published on Friday.

The research comes at a time of growing concern about a gender gap in education – girls are outperforming boys at school, and more of them are now going into higher education than their male peers. Statistics for 2015 show that women are now 35% more likely to go to university than men, with white men from poorer backgrounds the least likely group to go – only 8.9% choose to continue their studies.

The Sutton Trust report, called Believing in Better, is based on data from more than 3,000 pupils who were tracked from the age of three, and examines whether aspirations and attitudes towards university affect academic outcomes after GCSE. Results suggest that students’ aspirations – measured in the survey by the importance they attach to going to university and getting a degree – are shaped at an early age by their background.

Read her full report here