Girls extend lead over boys in getting top GCSEs: Proportion of exams by female pupils marked 7 or above is 33% compared to male rivals on 24% - with gender gap widening 1% on 2020

Girls have extended their lead over boys in the top GCSE grades this year, with one expert saying it's time to 'just accept' that girls 'are cleverer'.

The proportion of female entries awarded 7/A or above was 33.4 per cent - 9.0 percentage points higher than male entries, which stood at 24.4 per cent.

Last year, girls led boys by 8.0 percentage points - 30.2 per cent for girls, 22.2 per cent for boys. This year's figures are the highest on record for both girls and boys.   

Of the youngsters who achieved a clean sweep, 64 per cent were girls and 36 per cent were boys, according to an analysis by exams regulator Ofqual. 

Addressing the widening gender gap at GCSE, Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders , told the PA news agency: 'It does seem to be the case that girls tend to fare better under a more holistic form of assessment - as has happened this year - whereas some boys have a tendency to cram at the last minute for exams.  

'It is a stereotype which obviously does not hold true for all girls and all boys but certainly enough to make a difference to overall outcomes.'

Girls have extended their lead over boys in the top GCSE grades this year, with one expert saying it's time to 'just accept' that girls 'are cleverer'. Pictured: Aleigha Nelson and Atlanta Greer open their results at Nendrum College on Thursday

Professor Alan Smithers, an author of a report on the results by Buckingham University's Centre for Education and Employment said the way girls learn may have little to do with the fact that their results regularly outperform those of their male classmates.

Smithers wrote in his report that there had been little difference between boys' and girls' grades at O-level but that changed with the creation of the GSCE almost 40 years ago.

'This was explained as being due to the new modular structure of GCSEs, which favoured the consistent and conscientious application of girls, in contrast to boys who showed up best in final exams,' it said.

Girls have extended their lead over boys in the top grades. The proportion of female entries awarded 7/A or above was 33.4%, 9.0 percentage points higher than male (24.4%). In 2020, girls led boys by 8.0 percentage points (30.2% girls, 22.2% boys)

'When GCSEs were reformed, however, to become more like O-levels, the girls' lead was dented only slightly. Now, with teacher assessment, girls have gone further ahead and it has been suggested this is because teachers favour them.'

'Girls have long been ahead in school work, but the tendency has been to explain away their superior performance. 

'When they did better in the 11-plus, it was said that they matured earlier, when they leapt ahead in GCSEs it was said that it was because they worked harder, and now with teacher assessment the impression is that they are favoured by the teachers. 

'Why can't we just accept that they are cleverer?,' Smithers asked.

Reforms introduced in 2017, which saw coursework scrapped and greater emphasis placed on final exams, did lead to some narrowing of the attainment gap between girls and boys.