In N.Z. educational equity concern has traditionally been focused on provision for girls and Maori. It is a mandated requirement since 1989 that all schools analysis and compare the academic performance of girls and Maori against that of the whole school co hort.
In the last two years there has been a gradual - indeed hesitant, articulation of the plight of boys in education. Boys are vastly over represented in all the 'damning' statistics
- suspensions and expulsions
- youth justice
- youth suicide
- N.Z. Reading Recovery programmes
Suddenly, there is a major educational issue of addressing the specific problem of boys.
The Ministry of Education has commissioned a major review of this area. It has made a preliminary study and looked at a variety of data from 1986-97. It found two main areas of concern - boys' suspension rates and achievement in English. Three quarters of all pupils suspended from 1996 -97 were boys. The Ministry's study found that in terms of academic performance between 1986 -97, while boys educational achievement didn't decline, girls consistently outperformed boys in almost all figures related to language and literacy.
Why are boys causing such concern in the areas of discipline and academic performance?
Three reasons immediately spring to mind
- family breakdown and consequent parenting and discipline issues plus the lack of a father figure in the home
- the lack of male teachers and role models in primary schools. While 20% of primary teachers are men, most are in intermediate schools.(It is not uncommon for a child to go through primary school without ever having a male teacher)
- the feminisation of education and teaching style.
The first two reason are relatively self-evident and well explored. Norman Austin from Melville High School feels the lack of a father figure can effect boys' education and behaviour.
"Where there is no male role model, boys are likely to look at peers and media images for an indication of how to behave."
Warwick Pudney of 'Man Alive' a group working with boys in West Auckland and Bill Hagan of Manukau Tech have also written on this issue.
The third reason is less well documented and approached very tentatively for fear of a political correctiveness backlash. The concept of "feminisation of education" was first coined by Cal Greer, principal of Oratia School in West Auckland.
"Feminism has gained much in the education of girls but has there been an unexpected casualty in the form of boy's education?" he asks.
Greer believes that over the last 30 years "it has become fashionable to deny masculinity - boys and girls were seen as the same."
This denies, he says, that girls and boys are biologically and behaviourally different. The "feminisation of education" also involves a teaching style, a discipline style, a range of reinforced behaviours and a range of curriculum and recreation options that together with the first two reasons, may severely disadvantage boys in schools. "New Image" modified sports, a lack of rough and tumble, a disapproval of overt discipline and 'natural justice', the banning of kids being allowed to climb trees or play 'bull rush' may deny boys opportunities to be boys. Greer suggests "that a good game of supervised rugby during lunch hour can be beneficial for many boys."
Appreciation of the unique learning styles of boys is of importance. Boys traditionally are not as neat presenters of written work as girls and consequently receive fewer 'warm fuzzies'.
Dougal Fraser at St Pauls Collegiate in Hamilton observes that boys are good at physical or spatial intelligences and tries to incorporate this in his teaching.
John Tait at Motueka High School believes the key factors for boys' relatively poor education performance "appear to be that boys learn to read more slowly than girls". Certainly boys are over represented in reading recovery admissions.
Madeleine East at Farm Cove Intermediate offers boys more "hands-on, practical learning experience as well as more traditional reading and writing based activities".
What in summary can schools do to assist boys in education?
Provision of good male role models either through teachers or community imput is an obvious start. Recognising that boys learn, behave and respond differently to girls is very important. To quote Greer: "Boys respond to structure [and routine]. They need to know who is in charge, what are the rules. They require teachers who have qualities of kindness, fairness and strictness." It is time to celebrate the differences between girls and boys. We need to include in schools a range of traditional 'boy' activities and to realise that boys may respond better to a more direct style of discipline. The work at Motueka High School and Farm Cove Intermediate gives us important clues into the learning styles of boys.
Formal, concrete, task orientated teaching with plenty of structure, routine and expectation may hold the key to more successful teaching and achievement of boys in our schools.
References:
"Where Have All the Boys Gone"
Cal Greer, New Zealand Principals Federation Magazine
"A Matter of Gender"
John Gerritsen N.Z. Educational Gazette (June 1999)
