In a ground breaking report issued this week by the Training and Development Agency (link), the following statistics were revealed:-
- three-quarters (76 per cent) of boys aged eight to 11 are in favour of schools having teachers of both genders.
- two in five boys (39 per cent) currently have no men teaching them – and one in 12 (eight per cent) have never been taught by a man.
- it also suggests that English primary schools have an average of just three male teachers, with one in 10 having no male teachers at all.
- children aged eight to 11 shows 51% of boys believe they are better behaved with a male teacher - and 42% say they work harder.
- 44% agreeing that male teachers "help them to enjoy school more" and 37% of boys saying it made them feel more self-confident.
(* Waiting for a web-link to the actual report)
The report was well covered in the media (BBC -link); (Sky - link); (Guardian - link); (Mail - link); (Independent - link) and others. The Guardian aricle is excellent.
The TDA have been campaigning for male primary school teachers for some time now (link).
With boys GSCE results being seven years behind girls; with 4 men going to university for every five women; with reading 87% of girls, compared with 79% of boys, achieved level 4 or above at key stage 2; while for writing, three-quarters of girls reached the required standard, compared with 59% of boys; it is clear that boys are falling way behind girls.
After decades of feminist ideology percolating through the education establishment a system has now been created that largely benefits girls at the expense of boys, the issue of boys underachievement is at last being officially recognised. It has been covered on this site before (link).
The lack of male teachers (particularly serious for boys who do not have a father living at home) at primary level is having a knock-on effect throughout boys education system. It is clear, especially from reading a recent Ofsted report (link) that boys and girls have different educational needs.
Graham Holley, chief executive at the TDA, points out that the lack of male teachers is not a direct cause of boys' lower scores in literacy. "The attainment gap is not due to having male or female teachers," he says, "but to the way education is delivered, which plays to girls' strengths."
If the government is really interested in pursuing its gender equality aims, then issue of boys underachievement must be the biggest priority it has in the education field. It has to create one system that benefits boys and another that benefits girls, that is genuinely tailoring a service based on individuals and not on the current one-size-fits-all system which fails boys.
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