Transition to higher levels of education and differences between the performance of boys and girls in external examinations of knowledge

Gašper Cankar

Summary:   The author presents differences between the performance of boys and girls in external examinations in Slovenia at the beginning of upper secondary and tertiary education. Based on their achievements in mathematics and the Slovenian language at the national examination of knowledge (NPZ), which is obligatory for all pupils, the author demonstrates that girls on average tend to enlist in more demanding educational tracks with lower achievements in external examinations than do boys. This can be observed with achievements in mathematics while achievements in the Slovene language for girls is on average much greater than for boys and masks the trend which can only be seen relative to the population of girls compared with the population of boys. Yearly published results about admission to university compare the gender structure of all enlisted and admitted students and claim that the selection procedure has shown no sign of preference for either gender. Analyzing admission to university, the author shows on selected one-year data that the selection procedure under certain circumstances is preferential to female students. Since they gain slightly better results in the Matura, the external examination at the end of upper secondary education, but they gain even more on the final grades from secondary schools both of which are common selection criteria for most university courses.