Girls ahead of boys at five

The education gender gap exists even in the first two years of primary school, according to the first national statistics on the achievement of five-year-olds, published today.

It shows that girls are ahead of boys by the age of five in the beginnings of literacy and numeracy and in social and emotional development.

The results also show that as many as one in five children have failed to pass the first milestones in their education - such as sounding out the alphabet - by the age of five.

But as the first national results were published of the Foundation Stage Profile, a new row emerged over the demands it places on schools, and the reliability of the statistics.

The Department for Education and Skills acknowledged that the results should be treated "with caution" and that some of the data was of "poor quality and completeness". Teachers' leaders said that given the severity of the Government's own warning, it was "astonishing" that the statistics had been published at all.

The information released today reflects assessments carried out by teachers across the country last year on the development of four and five-year-olds in their first two years at school.

Teachers are required to assess children in six areas of development: personal, social and emotional; communication, language and literacy; mathematics; knowledge and understanding of the world; physical development; creative development-There are 13 assessment scales covering these six areas, each of which has a nine-point scale - meaning teachers have a total of 117 judgments to make for each child.

The administrative burden on schools has been condemned by teachers' leaders while chief schools inspector David Bell has questioned the value of the information the assessments give to schools and parents.

The DfES defended the decision to publish the information, saying it was responding to demand by schools and local education authorities.

A spokesman said that despite the doubts about individual statistics, the national picture of the development of the nation's four and five-year-olds was "not significantly affected".

It shows how the gap between the achievement of boys and girls, now well established at GCSE, A-level and university, starts very early.

Girls consistently outstrip boys in all aspects of the assessment. In writing, 38 per cent achieve the highest level compared to 26 per cent of boys.

In reading, 43per cent of girls achieve the highest level compared with 35 per cent of boys. In maths, 44 per cent of girls can "use a range of strategies for addition and subtraction, including some mental recall of number bonds", compared with 40 per cent of boys.