A WIDENING gap between boys and girls’ GCSE results has caused Oxfordshire’s results to fall below the national average for the first time.

New Department for Education figures show 56.8 per cent of pupils achieved five A* to C grades including English and maths, down from 57.3 per cent last year.

That compares to 57.9 per cent of state school pupils nationally.

It is the first time since the Government adopted the measure in 2004 that Oxfordshire has fallen below the national average, and the first time the county’s results have fallen from the previous year.

Analysis shows that while girls across Oxfordshire did better than ever, it was the county’s boys who underperformed.

Just 52.5 per cent of boys achieved five A* to C grades including English and maths, compared to 54.1 per cent last year.

But the proportion of girls achieving that level rose, from 59.9 per cent in 2010, to 61.4 per cent this year.

And while 78.4 per cent of girls got five A* to C grades in any subject, just 68.8 per cent of boys managed the same.

Sue Funge, who set up national courses to improve youngsters’ ambitions from her Greater Leys home, said many boys only engaged with school when they realised the impact on their future earnings and prospects.

She said: “Boys get called nerds and geeks if they are perceived to enjoy learning. We have to try to encourage them to see the long-term view.

“It is about boys realising their future is at stake in a tough world and they have got to get qualifications.”

She added: “There is not the same pressure on girls because they celebrate doing well.”

And Wallingford School head Wyll Willis, who in 2005 co-auth-ored a book about boys’ underperfomance, said boys were sometimes forgotten because of efforts to boost girls’ aspirations.

He said: “At worst, the default position is to treat boys as failed girls and just accept they don’t do as well as girls.

“Girls work hard over a long time, they take great care over presentation, they have rich language and are very sociable.

“Boys are very competitive, they work very hard for short periods of time, and it is usually boys that bring humour into the room. What we have got to do is meet their needs.

“Boys want to do well, but don’t know how to change their habits.”

The county councillor responsible for school improvement, Melinda Tilley, said the dip in results was “very disappointing” and schools must do better.

She added: “Governors need to be far more active in getting some heads and teachers out of their comfort zone and raising aspirations in their schools.

“Schools need to become more ambitious for their own futures and for the futures of our children and young people so we can do better.”