Wales to Challenge Macho Culture to Get Boys Off the Bottom of the Class
By Abbie Wightwick
Boys do worse than girls at school because they are encouraged to feel that academic work is not a masculine thing to do, a new study has found. The macho anti-learning culture is now being challenged in Wales in an attempt to close enduring gaps in achievement between girls and boys.
On the back of the research, Wales’ second biggest city yesterday announced plans to send education advisers into all its schools to draw up a strategy with teachers to encourage boys to do better.
The Swansea Council initiative comes after girls outperformed boys in A-levels, GCSEs and in teacher assessment tests across Wales once again this year. Education Minister Jane Hutt has asked schools inspectorate Estyn to look into the issue.
Next term education advisers will go to all primary and secondary schools to discuss best practice in a move which has been supported by Ms Hutt.
A study by Swansea Council in September shows social, economic and cultural factors make boys less likely to engage in school than girls.
These include boys thinking that academic work is not masculine and that understanding their feelings and emotions is not masculine, a feeling strengthened by stereotypes in toys, the media and language.
Boys are also less likely to take responsibility for their own learning than girls and consequently blame others for their lack of success, the research discovered.
The study also found that some pupils identify certain school subjects with a particular gender, meaning they are more or less likely to concentrate on them.
The council has produced a draft strategy suggesting ways to engage boys more.
This includes:
Asking men in their families to help with school work;
Asking schools to note whether there is an anti-learning culture in the local male community;
Asking teachers to avoid using phrases such as “I need a big strong boy to help me” or “big boys don’t cry”;
Asking schools to consider whether sport is taught in a way which makes winning more important than taking part and whether parents’ attitudes on the touchline reinforces negative gender stereotypes in sport;
Holding meetings with parents to ask their suggestions.
Robert Barbour, head of educational effectiveness at Swansea City Council, headed the project.
He said, “We are working in partnership with schools.
“There are no simplistic answers to this. What we have asked each of our 110 schools to do is look at the issues and discuss them.
“If we work on making school culture more inclusive and make our teaching and learning really high quality then hopefully it will have an impact on boys’ learning.”
Final guidance to schools is expected to be published by the council next September, he said.
Mike Day, Swansea Council’s cabinet member for education, said, “Much impressive and innovative work in this area has already taken place in Swansea schools.
“This position statement we have drawn up enables us to open out the discussion with schools and close the gap even further.
“Our schools are working hard to address the difference in achievement but the council’s education department and schools are taking an in-depth look at a wide range of factors that lead to that difference, and how to address them.”
On visits to schools next term council advisers will discuss the draft strategy and responses. These will be used to develop a final city-wide strategy to tackle the issue.
Ms Hutt said, “I have read the position statement with great interest; it offers a very concise review of possible underlying factors and some very interesting suggestions as to how the issue might be approached.”
A total of 21.3% of girls got grades A*-A in WJEC GCSEs in Wales this year, compared to15.9% of boys. More than 66% of girls got grades A*-C, 7% more than boys. Teacher assessments also show that in some area girls outperformed boys by more than 20% in the first years of secondary school in Wales this year, while figures prove that the gap grows as pupils work their way through the schooling system.: FROM PAGE 11: School experiment showed that a split decision could improve results:Splitting boys and girls up for science classes improved results of both groups, an experiment in one Welsh school shows.
Results from research at Bettws Comprehensive in Newport show both groups did better apart but said they preferred learning together.
Headteacher Gary Schlick , said, The aim was to increase the performance of boys aged 14 and 15. The schools Year 10 triple science group, comprising 60 pupils, was split into two groups based on gender. Students have been surveyed and the general feedback is that more than 70% of boys and girls felt they were able to concentrate more.
The majority felt that they learned more in single sex classes but the majority still felt they would prefer to be taught in mixed classes.
It is difficult to draw conclusions based on academic results at this early stage, however module results do show value added scores for both groups are higher than previous years and more girls are on target for A*/A.
The school was given a Welsh Assembly Government RAISE grant for the project in 2006/07.
Similar experiments in other Welsh schools show mixed results. Splitting boys and girls for classes in Pembroke School did not improve results.
Education experts say boys and girls learn differently and that the female brain may be more geared towards language and literacy. Boys may have more initiative and respond better to drama and film to express themselves.
Coursework, for instance, is also more geared towards the way girls learn, according to Professor Margaret Farrell from the University of Glamorgan.
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