Boys Don't Try? Rethinking Masculinity in Schools

Product Information

Members should read this book as the dominant theme running throughout its 10 chapters is the need for challenge for all students.

This is an honest, human and reflective approach to rethinking masculinity in schools, based on the authors’ own journeys as students as well as teachers and leaders. Without putting the blame on schools for the current situation, the authors are clear about just how much good we can do for society if we can do better with our boys in school.So, next time a boy is acting up in class, do your best to remain calm and quiet as you address the problem, even if inside you’re shouting and swearing like a sailor who’s trod on an upturned plug. Teachers are confronted with proof of our own negative bias against boys - “a simple tally of comments revealed 54 positive comments about girls compared with 22 negative […] 32 positive comments about boys compared with 54 negative comments” - alongside our prejudice against children from low-income families: “It’s us we need to focus on”, because with hard-to-reach families “perseverance - not prejudice - gets results”. Positive climate: Try a variety of teaching methods with active involvement from students and move away from punitive discipline into a more positive school climate. Sometimes, this might mean ‘spoon-feeding’ an answer to a boy in a 1:1 chat and then asking him to tell the class the answer in a whole class discussion later on so he can experience the pleasure of ‘being right. conversations about literature, I definitely haven’t yet normalised the ‘no song and dance’ approach that Pinkett advocates.

The Education Endowment Foundation found that “overall, setting or streaming appears to benefit higher attaining pupils and be detrimental to the learning of mid-range and lower attaining learners”.

With humility, but not the masochism that sometimes goes with teachers’ blogs, they trace the changes that experience has required of their thinking and practice. In Ireland, we found that wasn't really the case: young fellas who were disengaged were admiring of others doing well, with a kind of: 'Fair play to them, but it's not for me' attitude. As an English teacher and a feminist, I like to think that I’m quite attuned to the ways in which language reveals certain social assumptions. The pressure for boys to gain acceptance in peer groups over academic achievement are weighed against teacher bias, gender stereotypes and the influence of pornography, as the foundations of misogyny in UK schools and society are explored. And though it’s a complicated problem, and there’s a long road ahead, this is definitely the moment to start – for everyone’s sake.

Be clear on exactly what you want everybody to produce and praise boys discreetly when they meet your demands. As aresult of this attainment gap, schools up and down the country have invested time and money in training aimed at raising boys’ attainment.The topics are grounded in real-life scenarios, which also help to give the views credibility and a sense of familiarity for teachers. There’s a pressure on us to think of ourselves as saints: to admit our fallibilities is to admit you’re human, yes – but who wants a robot for a teacher?