摘要：Since the 1990s until today there has been an increasing number of empirical evidence about girls' higher achievements within the educational system in the majority of developed countries. This trend is still present, even in school areas and subjects in which boys have traditionally been considered to be more successful. This article presents a critical analysis of the existing research as well as a summary of the existing findings with their possible explanations. A few groups of explanations can be separated, i.e. differences in specific abilities, personality traits, learning styles, ability to satisfy desired learning methods and differences in the interaction with teachers. Finally, this article presents findings from a wide band of research studies which presume the negative effect of teacher gender on pupils' academic achievement. The explanations of gender differences provide only a part of the possible reasons. Reviews of the existing research clearly show the lack of comprehensive, satisfactory and nonambiguous explanation of the reasons for girls' higher academic achievement.
关键词：elementary school; gender differences in academic achievement; pupil gender.
