Boys perform better when surrounded by girls, claims study

Having more girls in the school could help boost boys' educational performance, according to a recent study. The research investigated how the school environment influenced boys' and girls' educational performance in secondary schools. Studying the reading test scores of more than 2,00,000 15-year-olds from over 8,000 mixed-sex schools around the world, researchers discovered that boys' performance was significantly better in schools where more than 60 per cent of the pupils were girls.

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The implication is that the higher the number of girls in the school, the more productive the learning environment. The authors suggested that characteristics more commonly associated with girls' academic behaviour, such as higher levels of concentration and motivation to perform well, may help to explain their positive influence. The study is published in School Effectiveness and School Improvement.