Why schools are failing our boys

The system is leaving boys behind ... Photo: Getty Images

Boys will be boys, they tell us, but how many of us actually take this adage to heart and embrace it?

I am the mother of four boys, now all adults. If I think back to their childhoods and adolescence, it’s a whirlwind of movement and physicality, adventure and injury, rough and tumble play, of fart jokes and stinky sports shoes, short and to-the-point communication, and lots and lots of food and Milo. (Actually, it’s not so different when we all get together now.)

This description of life with boys won’t surprise most people – and yet why is it that the one place where children spend most of their time, school, is so stacked against meeting boys’ needs?

A recent survey in WA found that girls are starting to outperform boys in maths and science, which hasn’t been the case previously. Fantastic news for our girls – these fields badly need some gender balance, but it’s a shame if it’s at boys’ expense. We are also seeing disturbing numbers of boys in remedial classes and in behaviour management units in our schools across the country.

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Girls outperforming boys in "masculine" subjects (UK)

Girls are outperforming boys in traditionally “masculine” subjects such as engineering and construction, despite repeated attempts to close the education gender gap, it emerged today.

New figures show teenage girls are more likely to achieve good grades in practical courses designed to lead straight to a job in traditionally male-dominated industries.

They were almost twice as likely to score highly in vocational qualifications sat between the age of 14 and 16, while results were around a third higher in courses sat in the sixth-form.

The disclosure – in data published by one of Britain’s biggest exam providers – comes amid continuing concerns over the gulf in standards between boys and girls.

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Gareth Malone's Extraordinary School for Boys (UK)

About The Program

Choirmaster Gareth Malone teaches in a primary school in Essex for one term. It is a school like many across Britain, with a significant gap between girls' and boys' achievement in literacy. Last week we saw Gareth and the boys tree-climbing and sharpening their speaking skills with a debate. This time Gareth faces a new mission: to get the boys reading.

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EMALE Issue 106 (January 2012)

In this month's issue:

wellmale program launched

Men’s health SERVICES - 2012 training programs (Effective Ways of Engaging Men CANBERRA, PARRAMATTA and WAGGA WAGGA)

Culture camp for men

Ben Jenkins personal story

stress and wellbeing survey results

race against time by Bettina Arndt

news briefs

• Men seek out info on health in magazines and online less than women do
• New Men’s Living magazine launched
• New view on men’s tolerance to alcohol
• Social networks can affect weight, happiness
• 4% fall in the number of men teaching in NSW public schools.

Male teacher numbers falling over abuse and pay concerns

FEAR of being accused of child sex crimes and higher pay in non-government schools are being blamed for a 4 per cent fall in the number of men teaching in NSW public schools.

While the number of male teachers in private schools has risen 20 per cent, government schools are suffering a lack of men.The "alarming" figures contained in a Social Trends report released yesterday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics were damned by the NSW Federation of Parents and Citizens Associations.

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