From what I have read I do feel Austrailan schools have a higher expectaion of its pupils than the uk, what might have been seen as a failure there might not have been so in the UK .
Behaviour among girls was no less or worse than boys
Untrue – contrary to the protestations of certain people, teachers have long understood that misbehaviour among girls is typically (though not universally) less prevalent than among boys. There is, frankly, virtually nothing in educational or psychological research to contradict this, however much it doesn’t match some people’s views of the world as they wish it was. Girls have tended to both misbehave more and been punished more severely and readily when they did so – than boys.