Sophia Network

Boys - artistic and emotional?

New research into the merits of single-sex education for boys was presented at a conference for Heads of both private and state boys' schools this week. It's generally accepted that boys do better in mixed schools while girls do better in single sex schools, but this research argues that boys at single sex schools are more likely to 'get involved in cultural and artistic activities that helped develop their emotional expressiveness, rather than feeling they had to conform to the "boy code" of hiding their emotions to be a "real man" ', according to this report.

In mixed settings, the research argues, boys get demoralised when girls do better at reading earlier because their brains develop at a different rate, and quickly learn that it's better to be cool rather than study. In single-sex schools teachers can tailor lessons to boys' learning style, and boys feel less pressure to conform to gender stereotypes that they see in the media. Abigail Norfleet James, the author of the report, has written books on strategies for teaching male and female brains.

It's not surprising that single-sex schools will highlight research that shows that the way they do things is beneficial to their pupils; girls' schools have been doing that for years. Another study by Alan Smithers  argued that there's no benefit to single-sex education for either boys or girls, and that teaching boys in single-sex classes in coed settings failed to improve their performance. I think studies like these show that there are lots more factors influencing educational attainment than simply gender - for example, parental involvement, socio-economic background. And we need to have a good philosophy behind single-sex groups - what are we trying to achieve? How will young people benefit? What will they get here that they can't get in a mixed group?

Back to school

This is the time of year when Clarks is full of small children being fitted for new school shoes. Spare a thought for all those littlies who will be starting Big School in the next couple of weeks, some of them only just past their fourth birthday. Stats from the DCSF last month showed how many children had reached early learning goals as a baseline before the implementation of the Early Years Foundation Stage from September 2008, and revealed a gender gap with girls outperforming boys. One in four boys couldn't write their own name compared with 15% of girls, and one in five couldn't count to ten. Girls were also found to be more creative than boys, whereas boys had a slightly better 'knowledge and understanding of the world' with 54% able to build objects with appropriate tools and techniques compared with 48% of girls.

Does it matter? Teachers have long recognised that boys and girls develop at different rates and some people would argue that boys' motor skills aren't as well developed as girls' at age five, so it's not surprising that they find it difficult to write - they'll catch up. But it does matter if boys get labelled as underperforming, or their lack of success puts them off school, or one-size-fits-all targets means that they're seen as problems right at the start of their school career.  Others would argue that all children should start formal school later and small children need more freedom to play. This publication from the DCSF is really interesting, addressing some of the myths of the role of gender in education while the Teachernet website has research and evidence from the DCFS current emphasis on gender in education.

Wanted: men...

... to teach in primary schools. The Training and Development Agency for Schools is launching a major push to increase the number of male teachers, particularly in primary schools according to this report. For the first time in 100 years, there's been an increase recently in the number of enquiries from men about teaching, the number of men applying to teaching courses and the number of men being accepted onto them. "Whenever I talk about the need to get more men into primaries, the unions say I'm being anti-women, but it's not that," said Graham Holley, chief executive of the TDAS. "Everyone is trained to handle boys and girls in the classroom and it [the gender mix of staff] does not affect attainment. But education is about more than just academic achievement; it is about preparation for adulthood, and there is a need for a mix of role models in primary classrooms." According to one survey, girls in primary schools aren't bothered about whether they are taught by men or women but the boys are. And as I've blogged about before, parents are keen to have more men teaching their children.

Why aren't churches talking about this issue? It seems a great opportunity for Christian men to contribute to the education and development of the next generation.

Girls do better at single-sex schools

A recent analysis of GCSE results shows that girls are more likely to get better exam grades and stay in education at single-sex schools according to this report. In particular, girls who are struggling when they start secondary school make the most progress in all-girls schools. Whether that's down to girls working harder because they're not distracted by boys, or the fact that the type of parents who seek out single-sex education are more likely to be supportive is open to debate.

I go into schools regularly to do sixth form conferences and I've noticed that consistently girls in mixed schools are much less likely to speak in public; it's always the boys who volunteer. It's not that the girls have nothing to say, but they seem to lack the confidence to say it in front of others. Doing the same conferences at an all-girls school recently I was reminded how articulate, intelligent and confident teenage girls can be, and I'm frustrated that mixed schools don't seem to address the issues that silence the girls. I went to an all-girls school where I did ok academically, but feel I missed out on growing up alongside boys. (Having three sisters didn't help!) What can mixed schools do differently to create environments where girls can thrive to the same extent that they do at all-girls schools?

A job for the boys?

Parents want more men to work in early years education, according to research by the Children's Workforce Development Council. Fifty five per cent of parents say they want a male childcare worker for their nursery-aged children, with two thirds of lone parent mothers saying they would like a man involved in the care and development of their young children. The latest figures for nursery workers say that only 2% are male.

There are a number of different reasons why there are so few men in early years work - low pay and low status, a cultural suspicion of men who want to spend time with young children, the stereotypes that say this is women's work. But surely we know that raising healthy children needs the involvement of both men and women. Good male role models are crucial for little boys and little girls, as are good female role models. And where men are missing from familes, how much more important for children to have male teachers at nursery and infant schools?

Isn't it time that we overcame those stereotypes that keep men and children separate? Isn't this something that the church could be instrumental in addressing? But I think it needs Christian men to stand up and say this is important; it's not something that women can do for them. So where are you, guys? We'll support you all the way.

photo: mtretiakova

Panorama on sexual bullying

Last Monday's Panorama reported on sexual bullying in schools - defined in the programme as 'anything from sexualised name-calling to spreading rumours about someone's sexual behaviour, to criminal offences such as assault and rape.' A survey for the programme by the charity Young Voice which interviewed 273 young people between the ages of 11 to 19 found, for example, that 28 had been forced to do something sexual that they did not want to do.

You can read about the programme here, where you can also download the results of the survey. A column in the Guardian links sexual bullying in schools to a wider cultural sexism.

Mixed schools - sacrificing girls to benefit boys?

Vicky Tuck, head of Cheltenham Ladies College, claimed this week that girls' education is sacrificed in order to help struggling teenage boys. Speaking at the annual conference of the Girls' School Association, she said that girls are being used to improve their male classmates' education and are losing out on a focused women-only school life, according to this report. "What happens at boys' schools is there may be falling rolls, or their results may not be as good as they might like. They think they can solve that by widening the catchment and taking in girls. Girls are regarded as more diligent and they will pull up exam results and they assume the boys will respond and it will be a wake-up call for them."

The GSA website has interesting articles on why they believe girls are short-changed by the co-educational system, and how girls schools do things differently. Some of that could be really useful if you run single-sex groups or want to be more aware of how gender issues could be sabotaging your mixed youth work. But having identified some of the challenges inherent in educating girls and boys together, I'm not convinced that the answer is to educate them completey separately. I went to an all-girls secondary school, and I don't think it was a great preparation for the reality of living and working with men for the rest of my life. Of course, I wouldn't want to see boys or girls lose out from being educated together, but I'd like to see good examples of how co-ed schools are addressing some of these gender issues and finding ways of helping both girls and boys reach their full potential together. What do you think?

Do boys and girls learn differently?

The September issue of Teachers magazine has an article on whether boys and girls learn differently and how teaching can address the balance. Headteacher Robin Bevan writes: 'I've taught 20,000 maths lessons in my career and I've lost count of the number of times the boys and girls conform to gender stereoypes. During a lesson, I'll ask for a show of hands to see who's confident about the task they're engaged in. Later, I invariably find girls who had said they are unsure, now doing excellent work, and boys who had expressed confidence, now doing the activity without displaying real understanding at all! I've spoken about this to colleagues, and most conclude that, though every child is different, there are striking patterns in the learning behaviours of boys and girls.' You can read the article online here with a rather groovy page-turning effect, including some ideas for working with the differences. (It's on page 20 of the magazine in case that link doesn't work properly.)

The DCSF has launched an 18-month focus on gender and its impact on pupil performance called the Gender Agenda. You can read more about it here. So do we need to do youth work differently for boys and girls? And if so, what should it look like? I was talking to a friend yesterday who went to an all-girls Christian event recently where she felt the emphasis, partly through the Bible passages preached on, was on girls being victims and needing to be rescued by Jesus. The girls outside the church that she works with are feisty and opinionated; the girls inside the church are encouraged to be passive and wait. Have you seen anything similar? I think this area needs a lot more thought and would be interested to know who is working with single sex groups and what you're doing with them.