This investigation of gender differences in Scottish Education supports the idea that pupils views on their educational experiences need to be both taken into account and treated seriously, a point made by other researchers investigating the school experience (see SooHoo (1993); Rudduck, Chaplain and Walters (1996)) . Summaries of the evidence presented will draw from pupils perceptions of their life experiences. This paper represents one aspect of a much wider research study relating to gender attainment from work recently conducted on behalf of the Scottish Executive by the Centre for Educational Sociology (Tinklin et al, 2001). This paper will focus upon gender differences in school-based performance in Scotland with particular reference to the perspective of pupils. It is common knowledge in Scotland that boys do not do as well, on average, as girls in attaining Standard and Higher Grade qualifications at ages 16, 17 and 18., it was of interest to discover what pupils considered to be the reasons for this.