Boys Don't Try? Rethinking Masculinity in Schools

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This book is easy to read, but hard to listen to. I’m reassured by the solutions, but frustrated by all the mistakes we’ve been making for so long. The Research Schools Network is anetwork of schools that support the use of evidence to improve teaching practice. 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.’ 4 | Focus on productivity Each chapter hammers home another area of our failure. We’re forced to dwell on the failure, re-live the stories and problems, and then we are treated to a well-explained and carefully written summary of research in the area, before getting solutions. These are not ground-breaking – they are simple and straightforward – but each is something we are (mostly) not doing well at the moment.

Be warned though: sarcasm as a form of humour is a huge no-no. ‘Banter’ with the boys is not appreciated. Even when boys seem to be enjoying it, they’re probably not. In their new book, Boys Don't Try? Rethinking Masculinity in Schools, teachers Matt Pinkett and Mark Roberts examine the research and drill down to a core conclusion: boys are not hitting their heights because of a fear of failure.Boys (and girls) have more respect for teachers who know their stuff. Being an expert in your subject (or subjects) is a must. In Boys Don’t Try? Matt Pinkett and Mark Roberts directly link boys’ relative educational underachievement to mistaken attempts to aspire to an “outdated, but nonetheless widespread idea” about what it means to be a “real man” and “a brand of masculinity that leaves many boys floundering” - and make no mistake, it is a brand, sold hard yet often unthinkingly, with very real casualties. The message is clear: we have a lot of work to do. Plan time into your week to develop and strengthen your subject knowledge. It’s far more valuable than filling in spreadsheets and writing to-do lists!

The fact is, these myths, like all myths, are totally fallacious. If teachers really want to improve outcomes for boys, then they need to build positive relationships with them. We recommend the following steps to getting boys on side: 1 | Avoid confrontation 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.We’ve seen a shift in the gender gap over the last few decades from where it was the male students who went to university, to the females more likely to do so. That gap is now in favour of girls, in a number of domains. It’s not huge,” she says. Here Roberts explores anumber of reasons why this is problematic. One reason is that boys get bored of things that interest them eventually. Willingham ( 2009) in Why Don’t Students Like School? states: The two schools-based authors write chapters in turn. In chapter one, Mark Roberts tells of his early success as a teacher with a reputation for teaching boys well and describes his popular classroom strategies. He is a strong believer in the school’s role in adding to a student’s “cultural capital” – the idea that we accumulate certain knowledge valued in society that gives us cultural competence and determines our social status.

The situation is worsened by what the authors call the “engagement myth” that boys like competition, leading teachers to make activities competitive so male students are more motivated to learn. There’s a danger of treating boys differently and patronising them, says Roberts. “So, for example, you’ve got a boy you think doesn’t like reading, so you decide to pander to his love of football and give him a book about that to read. But in narrowing your expectations, you’re narrowing his. It’s the same with, for example, teaching boys about Shakespeare by concentrating on the sword fights or the fighting: it’s like we’re hoodwinking them into learning, and it doesn’t work. What we need is a big shift in ethos: too many teachers believe boys can do less, they don’t think boys can succeed as well as girls at school. I don’t think it’s about watering it down: it’s about having high expectations for boys as well as for girls.” One of the most powerful features of the book is the inclusion by the authors of various reflections on the effects of gender stereotyping on their own school experiences, as students and teachers. Pinkett’s descriptions of his difficulties fitting in at university and Roberts’ stories of his own response to subtle secondary school peer-pressure are moving and recognisable, lending passionate credence to the sections of the book which report key findings from research too. The authors were similarly honest in their interview for this great episode of the TES English podcast as well. It’s refreshing that both are truly walking the walk here, standing as great role models of the kind of masculinity they want to advocate. If we mask this fear with the bravura of ‘not trying,’ it allows us to hide our vulnerabilities and provide an excuse for underachieving.

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Similarly, the author makes a cogent argument for not making all boys’ learning “relevant”. First, he refers to cognitive social scientist Daniel T Willingham’s example of how content doesn’t always drive interest. For instance, we’ve all attended an event or lecture we thought would be boring but ended up being fascinating. To get boys putting pen to paper, teachers need to have relentless high expectations when it comes to what you want them to produce. We often hear teachers saying that boys respond well to praise. Actually, this isn’t always the case. It can be concluded, then, that boys’ underachievement at school, and the social, biological and cultural forces that give rise to it, form part of a worrying trajectory for boys as they mature and become men. What we do know is that for some boys, public praise is not welcomed, because being praised publicly, in front of other boys, could damage their valuable masculine status.

As Roberts and Pinkett make clear throughout Boys Don’t Try, high expectations are far more useful to build student self-esteem. Similar classes I’ve taught more recently have completed the same tasks as top sets, with often just as good results. Again supporting Roberts’ assertion that setting is rarely just about ability. Dozens of studies have been conducted along these general lines, including studies using materials more like those used in classrooms, and overall the theory is not supported. Matching the ​ “preferred” modality of astudent doesn’t give that student any edge in learning.’ As aresult, Roberts states that ​ ‘boys continue to wander and fondle for no good reason.’ Schools are not the only drivers with regards to societal norms around gender but they certainly have the opportunity to dispel archaic workplace gender stereotypes.” Boys Don’t Try is also devoted to improving boys’ social and emotional wellbeing, arguing that much low achievement in boys is rooted in social and cultural contexts.Myths abound: engage boys by introducing a competitive element to your lessons; engage boys by using technology; engage boys by choosing topics that are relevant to their own lives… the list goes on. Chapter 8: Violence– Some really thought-provoking questions asked as part of a suggested approach for dealing with violence in schools: Explanation – Reflection – Expression (E-R-E). This could be particularly helpful re playground incidents. I also appreciated the highlighted need for conversation and support for those who walk away from a confrontation as I hadn’t considered the impacts of this before.