Boys in comprehensives abandon English A-level

English A-level is a boy-free zone in mixed comprehensives because boys think it is a subject for girls, a leading academic researcher said yesterday.

The observation by Professor Caroline Gipps, an adviser to the Government's exams watchdog, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, was backed by John Dunford, general secretary of the Secondary Heads Association. He said there were also too few male English teachers to act as role models.

"If you have had five years in a secondary school and all of your teachers for English have been women, then you're almost inevitably less attracted to it as a boy,'' he added.

Professor Gipps, told the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference: "In single-sex schools, it is much easier [for boys] to be good at subjects like English.

"There is less anxiety about working hard and asking questions in class because it is not in front of the girls. Virtually no boy in a mixed comprehensive does English up to A-level. It is quite extraordinary.''