As another set of high school exams roll through, there will undoubtedly be significant focus on how boys’ results differ from those of girls’.
This is part of an ongoing focus on the trend of girls’ academic results being consistently higher than boys, at least as measured by such exams as New South Wales' Higher School Certificate (HSC) results and university entrance scores.
The 2011 cohort will almost certainly be analysed in the same way, with quite possibly the same conclusion drawn as in years past – that girls do better at school than boys, with the implication being that boys are “floundering” when it comes to study, or that “boys don’t succeed at school”.
However it is achieved, a solid education is one of the foundations to success throughout life. While there are many approaches and views on what makes a good education, it’s widely recognised that education is a key driver of health status in life, for both genders.
Education is also recognised as being a fundamental determinant of being healthy – the World Health Organisation (WHO) lists it as one of 14 social determinants of health. The social determinants approach to health is one that examines all the factors that go into making a person healthy.
So the success or failure of boys'education clearly impacts heavily on other aspects of life that add up to being healthy and finding better ways to engage boys in their education really is important.
And it follows that a significant contributor to future male health in Australia will come from improving the levels of engagement and, therefore, benefits that boys gain from a complete and rounded schooling.
Engaging boys in education
There’s a growing body of research and practice on ways to better engage boys with education and schooling.
And the fact that boys’ educational outcomes are heavily influenced by positive male role models and through effective models of discipline that enable them to understand boundaries is gaining widespread recognition.
Steve Biddulph calls this a mixture of “warmth and sternness” that combines with “undefensiveness” – that is, an ability to manage the needs of a boy while engaging his interest in the subject at hand.
Several, mostly private, schools have found specific approaches that are working well to improve how boys interact with their schooling environment.
Tudor House in New South Wales, for instance, encourages active breaks during the day that enable boys to engage in physical activity that better balances the need for quiet learning with more active pursuits.
The King’s School, also in New South Wales, is renowned for an approach that encourages an environment blending sport, practical classes and other hands-on pursuits.
And many other schools are putting similar approaches that recognise ways that boys learn and how that differs girls’ learning, in place.
The inclusion of “rough” or “active” play during the schoolday seems consistent with research that shows the biological effects on boys and girls when dads use rough and tumble play.
There is increasing evidence that biochemical responses and changes occur in dads when they interact with their children.
And there’s some physiological evidence suggesting that boys in particular need a male’s interaction in their lives to develop normally.
Research by the University of Newcastle has demonstrated a hormonal response from rough play, which adds evidence that males have evolved to learn through active play as much as by verbal or written learning.
Dr Richard Fletcher speaks to Radio RTRFM in Perth about new research that uncovered how dads' oxytocin levels increase after rough play sessions:
So, schools like Tudor House have found a strategy that works and seems to have its basis in the natural biological differences.
Education and male health
Successfully educating boys, and finding and implementing strategies that work to keep boys engaged, needs to become part of the health debate.
There needs to be broader discussion about the lifelong connection to health that being educated and being engaged with learning brings, especially among boys.
If boys can interact safely with male role models and enjoy schooling and therefore do well in life after school, then great strides will be made towards improving aspects of male health, especially in marginalised male populations.
This may be a highly important factor for health improvement throughout the life course. And it comes back to engaging boys with positive male role models – good fathers and good male teachers – who can show them what it means to learn effectively while enforcing the boundaries of acceptable behaviour.
What other approaches do you know of that are being put in place to better engage boys? How much impact does effective schooling have on health outcomes of men in the life course?
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Comments (11)
jim morris
(logged in via email @yahoo.com)
The widespread indoctrination by feminists during the last 30+ years has been so 'successful' that I won't even attempt to discuss the plight of boys. It is a bit like being bound and gagged on the back seat of Thelma and Louisa's car.
Dale Bloom
Laboratory analyst (logged in via email @mail.com)
There was a federal inquiry carried out into boys education in 2002.
http://www.deewr.gov.au/schooling/BoysEducation/Pages/default.aspx
Speaking to a number of teachers and principals after the inquiry, not one had heard of it, nor did any teacher or principal have any interest in it. One principal passed off their lack of knowledge about the inquiry by saying that “There are always these types of things happening”, which is totally incorrect, as there has not been any inquiry since.
I believe…
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Alex A. Sanchez
Doctoral Candidate in Clinical Psychology (logged in via email @alumni.brown.edu)
Re: Dale
I do behavioral work with students, teachers and parents alike. I agree that setting concrete goals is important in that it gives a tangible, quantifiable mark for the student (in this case) to work for. However, in setting any goal, the mark has to be realistic.
Take the U.S.'s current No Child Left Behind policy as an example. The goals that were set for this piece of legislation are unrealistic given the demands that are placed on teachers, the resources they have available, and the…
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Wayne Thwaites
Self employed (logged in via email @bigpond.com)
I am the dad to one 16 year old boy and quiet mentor to another 2 of similar ages. Engaging these young men is about keeping it realistic talking with rather than at them. Ruff and Tumble yes please! although at 6'4" hes nearly got the wood on me, is it beneficial ? does it improve his learning? what i note is seemingly his attentiveness rises he becomes more alert yet relaxed, and focused. This is conducive to being open at least to learning.
Nicole Peel
(logged in via Facebook)
This conversation is a great start to begin looking at male issues more. As a mother of 3 very active boys it is suprising the negative or thats not appropriate comments I recieve around the activities we undertake as a family. However my childrens friends all ask to come with us when we undertake our activities. We regularly participate in outdoor activities like fishing, hunting, boating, camping, building , campfires etc. What has happened to the way we allow boys to interact with each other in their free time and organised recreational activity time. It has become so mundane and regimented. We have really lost the notion of free play and creative minds in not only this current generation but the previous generation and have been caught up in a world of preparing kids to pass school tests and create happy family drones.
Tony Bowring
Relationship Counsellor - specialising in male issues (logged in via email @aussiebroadband.com.au)
Christopher Johnson, (my thoughts) the main point in rough-play is on play & the chance to teach that responsibility, care, concern & connectedness are to be observed in the act of winning. As opposed to all out kill or be killed.
It is about getting civilised.
It's also nice to see men like Ross Wiseman & Alan Marshall on this list.
Alan J Marshall
Retired medical radiographer (logged in via email @hotmail.com)
"....an ability to manage the needs of a boy while engaging his interest in the subject at hand.".....
Surely, don't you think that a boy/young man needs to have some idea of what his goals in life are, what's out there that can engage his interest, what is worth fighting for and who is going to show him at least part of the way to that goal, whatever it is?
If the only "jobs" he can see are also being competed for by his girl friend/s, where does he come into the picture? What's out there for…
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Ross Wiseman
Retired Community Worker (logged in via email @uqconnect.net)
I can concur with all of the above findings, as long as we remember that all boys are individuals with different personalties, family upbringing, and cultures. Meaning that we need to be careful about stereotyping our understanding of and responses to boys' learning needs and styles.
Christopher Johnson
(logged in via Facebook)
I agree that research needs to be done into more effectively engaging boys in education, but 'rough play'? Is that the best answer we can get?
Even if true, that boys may perform better with physical activity and 'rough play', surely we can try some sort of 'work around'? I think the history of men has shown that fighting and physicality is a natural part of being male, but, like chomping into a raw leg of Wilder beast, surely it's time to get civilised.
As a result of finally being permitted…
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Alex A. Sanchez
Doctoral Candidate in Clinical Psychology (logged in via email @alumni.brown.edu)
Re: Christopher
You are viewing the information presented in this article through a lens that does not apply. The discussion is not about gender roles in society, but about the different neurological wiring in the brain. Men and women have different hormonal balances, among other subtle neurological differences in brain shape and functioning. These are not absolute differences and they don't apply in every individual, but there are feminine qualities and there are male qualities to the outward behavioral…
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Christopher Johnson
(logged in via Facebook)
I very much appreciate the response, Alex, and I suspect that I have overlooked a great deal of detail that is better left to the experts such as you.
However, what I do consider myself expert at is my own social milieu, my preference for what are appropriate gender roles and my hopes for a society into which I have contributed two children of different genders.
My point is that, in this context, I consider research would be better targeted at studying ways to overcome detrimental physiological gender…
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