Low Self-Confidence of Girls Frequently Influences Their Performance in Mathematics

At the end of secondary school, 15-year-old girls have, on average, lower grades in mathematics than boys of the same age. One reason for this gap between boys and girls could be the fact that girls are less confident about their own mathematical performance. Furthermore, a significantly higher number of boys than girls believe that mathematical skills will be very valuable in their future job. This conviction is an additional motivation for mathematics. These are the findings of a study conducted by the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Mannheim, based on the data of the complementary national PISA 2003 survey in Germany.

According to scientific findings, the performance gap in mathematics between boys and girls occurs already in primary school. It has lasting consequences for the university and career choices of girls. Significantly fewer girls than boys choose courses of study with a mathematical and scientific orientation. This imbalance has unfavourable effects on the availability of skilled workers, which are urgently needed in companies. However, another finding of the ZEW study gives hope that this situation can be changed: Girls who come from a family background where education is considered very important perform as well in mathematics as boys and no difference could be found in the self-confidence of girls and boys in this group. A possible explanation for this finding might be that these families have considerably less gender stereotypes in mathematical talent - a factor that reinforces the confidence of girls in their mathematical abilities.

In the discussion on the gender gap in mathematics, it is often suggested that the performances of students improve when they are taught by teachers of the same sex. Therefore, a higher share of female mathematics teachers may provide a positive role model for female pupils and may lead to the use of didactical methods by female mathematic teachers that are more adapted to girls. However, this thesis could not be clearly proved by the ZEW-study. The researchers did not find a significant effect of the share of female mathematical teachers in secondary school on the gender test score gap in mathematics. Based on these results, it seems ineffective to increase the share of female mathematics teachers in order to reduce the test score gap.

The data from the PISA 2003 national complementary questionnaire for Germany, which provides the basis for the ZEW-study, contain detailed information on around 3,000 15-year-olds about, inter alia, their performance in mathematics and their self-assessment of their performance. The study also considered information on the parents, such as their level of education, their employment status and the support they give to their children. Furthermore, data on the mathematics teachers and the schools, such as aspects of the infrastructure and the size of classes, was included.

For further information please contact

Dr. Maresa Sprietsma, Phone +49 621/1235-375, E-mail sprietsma@zew.de