GIRLS in Northern Ireland are now picking up more top grades than boys in most public examinations, according to the Equal Opportunities Commission. However, overall performance for both sexes is improving with girls advancing slightly faster, according to Girls, Boys and Exam Results, a Northern Ireland Perspective.

The report, by Fiona Mulhern, Valerie Morgan and Gordon Rae at the University of Ulster, shows that traditional differences remain at the age of 16. Boys are more likely to do science, additional maths and geography, while girls opt in greater numbers for English literature, languages, music and home economics. By A level time, the boys' lead in science is narrowing, but the gap in favour of girls in languages and other subjects remains.

When it comes to achievement, boys are no longer ahead in any GCSE subjects. Girls are gaining more grades A-C in almost all of them and are level in the rest. In English, girls have had a big and consistent lead in the years 1988-1995 and in mathematics, the lead formerly enjoyed by boys has been whittled down to zero.

Girls are also doing slightly better in science and out-perform boys consistently in languages. But boys have maintained or increased the number of grades AC in almost all of these subjects; girls have simply improved more.

The authors speculate that the success of Northern girls at A level may be related to the special features of the Northern system, such as the Catholic/Protestant split, the selection procedure at the age of eleven and the considerable number of single-sex schools.