Centre for Policy Research on Men and Boys chairs Boys Falling Behind In School commission
A new Boys’ Education Commission will spend the next year examining boys falling behind in school from early years through higher education after the Centre for Policy Research on Men and Boys asked the author to chair it. The commission will look at how education can better meet boys’ educational and developmental needs, with solutions aimed at the system rather than boys themselves.
North East Headteacher View
The push follows data and conversations with boys and headteachers across the country. A headteacher in the North East said some boys hide reading difficulties through behaviour in primary school, then begin to disengage in secondary school as school feels less like a place they want to be.
“When they are in primary, rather than a boy letting their friends know they can’t read a page, they mask it with their behaviour. Then they get into secondary school and it starts to be more difficult than it was in primary. They slowly, slowly disengage; combined with the fact that they don’t want to be there, they don’t want to be wearing that uniform. The truth is they don’t know what they’re supposed to do or who they are supposed to be. They have a real loss of identity. ‘What is masculinity? You’re telling me it’s not Andrew Tate. You’re telling me I can’t have that banter. What am I meant to do?’” the headteacher said.
Wide Scope For Boys
The commission will examine boys’ education in its widest sense, not just narrow exam success, and will explore the system from early years to the end of higher education. It will also look at how boys are brought up to flourish in a fast-paced, rapidly changing digital world, how they are shown they are valued, and how they are prepared to take their place as valued and successful members of society.
The author said the data shows boys are underperforming relative to girls in key areas such as literacy and higher education attainment. They also said many boys report feeling anxious, unhappy, angry or lost, and that many spend hours online with influencers while being bombarded by pressures from people selling cryptocurrency, gym maxxing and other routes to confidence and attractiveness.
Report And Wider Pressures
The author said the report Inside the Mind of a 16-year-old was co-authored before this article was published, and said they recently took part in the government review of young people not in education, employment or training. They said the commission starts from the view that boys are not a problem to be fixed.
That framing leaves the commission with a narrow job over the next year: turn the evidence into practical reforms for schools, colleges and universities while still accounting for pressures outside the classroom, including the online pull on boys and the continuing issues in girls’ education the author also named.
