Gender differentials in educational achievement in Trinidad and Tobago

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Gender differentials in educational achievement
in Trinidad and Tobago

• June M. George, Ph.D.
• School of Education
• UWI, St. Augustine

June 15, 2007
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Sub-study 1

• Achievement in the CEE/SEA examinations
• 1995-2003

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Some Findings

• More females than males entered for the
  examination. Gap closing
• Females have out-performed males in every
  sub-test. Differences small or negligible EXCEPT
  for essay writing where small to medium
  differences observed
• Differences bigger in SEA math and English
  (constructed) than in CEE (MC)

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Findings continued.

• F/M ratios for top 10 gt1 for each year F/M
  ratios for bottom 10 lt1 each year
• Before USE, greater of males gained secondary
  places
• Greater of males gained 1st and 2nd choice
  places
• Some top achieving female pupils were not placed
  in first choice schools while lower achieving
  male pupils were so placed

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Sub-study 2

• Achievement in the
• CXC-CSEC examinations
• 2000-2004

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(No Transcript)
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Entry gaps Science and Mathematics
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Entry gaps - Humanities
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Entry gaps Business subjects
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Entry gaps Technical subjects
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Entry gaps Home Economics
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Entry Gaps The Arts
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Achievement Gap
Achievement gap (Gorard et al., 2001) (GP
BP)/(GP BP) 100 - Entry gap GP girls
attaining a specific level of achievement BP
boys attaining a specific level of achievement
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Achievement gaps (I-III) - Math and Science
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Gaps for Physics
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Achievement gaps (I-III) - Humanities
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Achievement gaps (I-III) Business subjects
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Overall summary

• More girls than boys sat the exams except for
  physics and some technical subjects
• The physical sciences were not popular
• Numbers in the arts, home economics, and
  technical subjects were relatively small
• Pass rate gt 50 in most subjects, but not for
  mathematics
• In the Grade I-III band, girls performed at least
  as well as boys and in some cases, outperformed
  boys, except for mathematics
• At the Grade 1 level, girls outperformed boys,
  except in the case of mathematics

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Sub-study 3

• Achievement in the
• UWI undergraduate examinations
• 2000-2004

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Overall findings

• More females than males graduated except for
  Engineering

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Graduation rates - Humanities

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Graduating rates - Engineering
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Overall findings contd

• Top-performing students (1st and U 2nd)
• All F/M ratios gt1 except for Engineering
• In Engineering, these F/M ratios are greater
  than F/M ratios of students in the class e.g.
• All Top group
• 2000 0.23 0.35
• 2002 0.32 0.48
• 2004 0.37 0.50

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Overall findings contd

• Top-performing students Education
• F/M ratios gt1 but similar to F/M ratios for
  total class each year
• Thus, more females than males but levels of
  achievement similar

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Overall findings contd

• Top-performing students Natural Sciences,
  Humanities, and Social Sciences
• F/M ratios for top performers generally higher
  than F/M ratios for each class for each year