A mission to test Superman - getting our boys reading

Boys have been given the nod to read superhero comics, computer magazines or sporting almanacs in the classroom, while girls concentrate on Pride and Prejudice, to help to close the ever-increasing gap in exam results.

Last year's National Certificate of Educational Achievement results paint a familiar picture - girls have outdone boys again.

Steve Benson, senior manager of learning policy frameworks at the Ministry of Education, said the basic issue was that boys were not as good at reading or writing. Assessment was almost all written, so if boys had a literacy problem it affected everything they did at school.

"It does not matter what they read as long as they do read. It's getting them to read and write about things they are interested in."

For boys, that often meant non-fiction material, while teenage girls were frequently happier reading novels.

"If we think we can get everyone to read Pride and Prejudice we are joking," Mr Benson said.

Girls achieved almost 54 per cent of all three million qualifications awarded in the 2005 NCEA exams.

More than three-quarters of girls reached the Level 1 national literacy standard and 80 per cent of them made the numeracy standard.

Only two-thirds of boys achieved literacy and 77 per cent numeracy.

In Year 13, 52 per cent of girls achieved university entrance, but only 42 per cent of the boys.

Education Minister Steve Maharey said the gap was shared with most other countries.

Research was continuing, schools were doing their bit and parents had a part to play in boosting their sons' achievements, he said.

Analysis of the results was released yesterday by the Qualifications Authority. It showed that the overall percentage of students achieving qualifications increased from the previous year.
NZQA acting chief executive Karen Sewell said the percentage of students fulfilling NCEA Level 1 numeracy and literacy requirements had also increased since 2003.

She said the inconsistencies that blighted the exams in 2004 had been dealt with. Consistency was "significantly greater" between 2004 and 2005 than between 2003 and 2004.

"Results in the big subjects like English, biology, maths, science, chemistry and physics were consistent with what was expected.

"In the majority of standards the success rate was as expected, but in the remaining standards the actual performance was sometimes better than expected."

However, there were still issues with Maori and Pacific Island under-achievement, Ms Sewell said.

Mr Maharey said the comprehensive information over several years since NCEA was introduced meant emerging patterns could now be seen.

"It has given us a good platform and we can start improvements rather than going back to square one."

Post-Primary Teachers Association president Debbie Te Whaiti emphasised that people could have faith in this year's results.