Gender and Achievement: the experiences of, and attitudes to, education of high achieving boys and girls at the end of the primary phase.

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This study will critically evaluate the educational experiences and attitudes of high achieving pupils at the end of the primary phase in Northern Ireland. The majority of educational research focuses on underachievement, particularly during the secondary phase of schooling. The focus on gender and achievement has also been predominantly situated around the position that boys are underachieving and girls are overachieving. This study aims to systematically investigate both male and female high achievers and their lived experiences of education in order to dispel current simplistic understandings of gender and its relationship to achievement. The study will adopt a mixed-methods approach carried out within three research strands. Strand one will involve a desk-based analysis of outcome data by gender at the end of the primary phase. This will seek to establish performance patterns between girls and boys from a variety of schools and socioeconomic areas. Strand two will involve the use of an online questionnaire to seek the views of primary school teachers in relation to boys' and girls' achievements. The third strand will consist of ten case study visits to primary schools to conduct semi-structured interviews with teachers and focus group interviews with boys and girls at the end of the primary phase. The research will make an original contribution to the field by understanding the characteristics of learning, teaching and assessment at the end of the primary education that may contribute to differences in performance between high achievers and factors that might affect boys' and girls' achievements more generally.