2008
TES Cymru reported on findings from Estyn that the test ban in Wales will benefit girls but boys will gain long term from new vocational initiatives. The scrapping of tests for seven, 11 and 14-year-olds in Wales will probably favour girls who are already outperforming boys, the landmark report suggested. But the introduction of the foundation phase for under-sevens, 14-19 learning pathways and the Welsh Baccalaureate could champion boys in the long run. Poor literacy skills were cited as a major reason for poor performance. Boys are also much more likely to suffer from negative peer pressure. They also lack male role models. Only 15% of primary teachers are male and recruitment is expected go down, the report says. (TES Cymru, 14 March 2008)

The Independent revealed government figures which show the gap in performance at GCSE between white working-class pupils and those from better-off homes to be higher than for any other ethnic group. The figures showed the percentage of white pupils on free school meals with five A* to C grade GCSE passes was 33 percentage points lower than for other young people. Knight said: "We have been improving the attainment of Afro-Caribbean youngsters by trying to understand their culture and making use of mentors from that culture who have succeeded and can act as role models." He added: "We should do that for white youngsters as well and get schools to invite in people from the community who have succeeded." For more on the power of role models, including celebrities, visit the NLT's Reading Champions website – www.readingchampions.org.uk. (Independent, 3 January 2008)

2007
The Guardian and the Independent have reported on figures from the DCSF which show that black pupils are closing the gap at GCSE. Ministers have said that the figures prove that policies to target black boys in particular are working: 49% of black Caribbean pupils got five good GCSEs in 2007, compared with 44% in 2006 and 35% in 2004. Working class boys, regardless of ethnicity, are the lowest achieving group. Less than a third of boys on free school meals got five good GCSEs in 2007.
(Guardian/Independent, 28 November 2007)

The TES reported on early signs in Scotland that girls’ academic performance is dropping in relative terms. Education leaders are now questioning whether schemes to encourage boys to do better have been detrimental to girls. ‘Ladette’ culture has also been marked out as a possible cause of failing achievement. Fife Council has announced plans to investigate the reasons for this drop in attainment. (TESS, 5 October 2007)

A survey from the Equal Opportunities Commission in September suggested that school strategies to boost boys’ attainment and close the gender divide with girls are ‘divisive and counterproductive’. The underachievement of boys relative to girls at school has become a recurring theme of educational debate and significant resources are invested in raising boys’ achievement. The Equal Opportunities Commission said playing up the difference will exacerbate the divide.

A report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in June 2007 found that white, working-class, British boys were persistently the worse performers over any other ethnic or gender group in schools. The study found that this group accounted for almost half of school-leavers with no or low qualifications. The report suggested that such low achievement was due to parents failing to talk to their children at home and a community culture of learning being ‘uncool’. 62% of white British boys on free school meals were in the bottom 10% of performers compared with 43% of the next lowest ethnic group- black Caribbeans. The study found children from middle class homes had three times as much conversation with their parents thus helping them become more articulate before they start school.

The report said: “A key factor is the home learning environment. The amount parents read to their children, the number of books in the home, the degree to which parents support their children in and out of school. Language development is a further factor.” It also warned of “particular boy problems” with reading saying: “Boys may indeed identify reading as feminine or an unmanly thing to do.”

Tackling low educational achievement is available in electronic format from http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/tackling-low-educational-achievement

In March 2007 the Guardian covered education secretary Alan Johnson's speech to the Fabian Society concerning how to engage working class boys in education. Mr Johnson put forward ideas for every secondary school library to have "a boys' bookshelf stacked with contemporary authors such as Melvyn Burgess and Anthony Horowitz to provide 'positive, modern, relevant role models'." View the full article at http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,,2034289,00.html

2006
A study by psychologists from Suffolk University in 2006 showed that the subject of reading tests makes a real difference when it comes to minding the gender gap. The report found that boys will only do well in literacy tests if the subject matter interests them. They asked girls and boys to complete two key stage 2 reading comprehension tests. One paper presented them with a passage about spiders, while the other tested their understanding of a story about wartime evacuees.

13 out of 16 boys questioned said that they preferred to read the text about spiders, while all but one of the 16 girls were more interested in the paper on the Second World War. This preference was reflected in the boys' scores. However, the girls' preference was not reflected in their results: they performed equally well in both tests. In 2006, primary schools recorded significant improvements in the KS2 writing test results. Teachers attributed this to a question referring to lizards, which boys particularly enjoyed. The psychologists concluded that if we wish to encourage boys to do more reading, then it is important to ensure that they are directed to books with content that they find interesting and motivating. For a copy of the report, contact: janeo@sussex.ac.uk

In the same year boys GSCE results showed that they had cut the gap in the numbers achieving five A* to C grade passes by 0.5% to 7.7%. In the overall pass rate and in the percentage of A* and A-grade passes, they also narrowed the gap, by 0.1%. Headteachers' told the Independent that all-action books had helped boys to improve their scores.

A study of 2,200 twins by Wisconsin-Madison University and King's College London, found that poor behaviour and reading were intertwined in young boys, though not girls. Read the full article at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4693712.stm

2005
In 2005 a group of Bradford schools set out to raise boy's school marks, behaviour and aspirations. A pilot group of 22 primary schools began the work, and 18 of them improved boys attainments within the year, with 13 seeing an average increase of 5% in literacy and 10% in numeracy in national test scores.

One of the key findings from research by a team from Strathclyde and Glasgow Universities was that boys' underachievement in reading and, more generally, in literacy causes the greatest concern about inequalities between the sexes. The researchers warned that in treating gender equality as part of a broader approach to social justice and social inclusion, there is "a danger that gender becomes lost or fudged. Schools and authorities should check that, where necessary, specific attention is given to issues in relation to learning and teaching." The researchers found that the key features of a successful school approach to gender equality were:

• A recognition that gender is only one of a number of factors recognised by schools as having an impact on pupils' educational opportunities and achievement as well as future career possibilities
• The initiative has a number of strands designed to address motivation, self-esteem and confidence and to challenge stereotypical ideas about roles, choices and behaviour
• There are sound educational reasons that can be communicated to parents, for adopting new strategies and approaches (which were often grounded in an understanding of theory and/or research)
• There is a buy-in across staff, pupils and parents, with all three involved in the consultation, decision-making and the ongoing monitoring and further development of the initiative
• Deliberate steps are taken to build the initiative into the day-to-day practice of the school and authority
• There is ongoing monitoring that allows modifications and adjustments to be made as practices develop
• While some funding and the existence of a 'champion' in the initial stages are important, if not essential, these factors are not, of themselves, sufficient to sustain long-term development and success, nor is it realistic to expect to turn around achievement levels, for example, in a short period of time.

To read Review of Strategies to Address Gender Inequalities in Scottish Schools, Final Report (2006) visit www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/05/03105823/0

In April 2005, Canadian researchers Heather Blair of Alberta University and Katy Sanford of Victoria University said computer game-playing expands vocabulary, teaches children to solve problems, and improves boys' literacy. The researchers studied 20 young adolescent boys at home and school over a three-year period.

2004
In 2004, Michael Younger, head of the postgraduate certificate of education at Cambridge's education faculty and his colleague, Dr Molly Warrington, submitted a review of the findings to the DfES from the Raising Boys' Achievement project. They found that boys were doing as well as girls in only 25 secondary schools. In some of those, the good results were a bit of a mystery. The schools were often simply throwing every strategy they could think of at the problem. Their teachers were not sure which worked well, or why. Read about the review of findings in more detail at the Independent Online: http://news.independent.co.uk/education/education_news/article29539.ece Visit the Raising Boys' Achievement website at: www-rba.educ.cam.ac.uk/

2002
In August 2000, the TES reported on a survey of boys' reading habits by the Horncastle Curriculum Centre in Lincolnshire. The survey showed that the number of boys who said they liked reading dropped by a third between the ages of five and nine. It also found that twice as many girls as boys said they read at home. The questionnaires were completed by 569 pupils in Years 1 and 2, 787 pupils in Years 3 and 4, and 761 pupils in Years 5 and 6 at primary schools in Lincolnshire. Responses showed that in the early years of school, boys were twice as likely to read comics as girls, who preferred books. One girl in five said she would rather read than watch TV or use computers but less than one boy in 10 expressed this preference.

Between infant and junior classes the number of boys who say they enjoy reading dropped from 72% to 46%, compared to girls' 77% and 68%. The junior girls were more likely than boys to find their favourite books in school and boys were increasingly less likely to borrow books from the library. In the last primary years, magazines were popular with both sexes although subject matter differed: boys chose sport, computers and wrestling; girls chose pop, animals and chat.