Raising Boys’ Achievement

1 Raising boys Achievement Mike Younger and Molly Warrington with John Gray, Jean Rudduck, Ros McLellan, Eva Bearne, Ruth Kershner and Pat Bricheno University of Cambridge Faculty of Education Research Report RR636 RESEARCHR esearch Report No 636 Raising boys Achievement Mike Younger and Molly Warrington with John Gray, Jean Rudduck, Ros McLellan, Eva Bearne, Ruth Kershner and Pat Bricheno University of Cambridge Faculty of Education The views expressed in this report are the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Department for Education and Skills. Queen s Printer and Controller of HMSO 2005. Published with the permission of DfES on behalf of the Controller of Her Majesty's Stationery Office. Applications for reproduction should be made in writing to The Crown Copyright Unit, Her Majesty's Stationery Office, St Clements House, 2-16 Colegate, Norwich NR3 1BQ.

2 ISBN 1 84478 458 4 2 Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .. 7 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .. 8 boys Under- Achievement ? .. 8 Intervention Strategies .. 9 Pedagogic 9 Individual approaches .. 11 Whole school organisational 12 Socio-cultural 12 Interventions within Special 14 The Broader Issues .. 14 Conclusion .. 14 CHAPTER 1: The Context of the Project .. 16 Why Differential Achievement ?.. 17 Which boys ? Which Girls? .. 18 CHAPTER 2: The Gender Gap: Dilemmas and Debates .. 20 The Nature of the Gender 20 Interpreting the Gender Gap: the case for care and vigilance .. 25 Concluding Comments .. 27 CHAPTER 3: Intervention Strategies .. 28 The Project s Framework and Approach .. 28 The Outcomes of the Pilot 29 Research Design for the Intervention Stage .. 31 Selection of schools .. 31 The research strategy: aim .. 33 The research strategy: process .. 33 CHAPTER 4: Pedagogy I: Raising Achievement in Literacy at Key Stage 36 Approaches to Literacy: processes and 36 Case study 37 The background.

3 37 Reading involving homes and 37 Assessing progress in reading at key stage 2 .. 39 3 Extending the strategy .. 40 Case Study 2 .. 42 The background .. 42 A whole school 42 Becoming a 43 The importance of talk .. 44 Classroom approaches to support boys 45 Case Study 3 .. 46 The background .. 46 Improving writing through 47 Assessing progress in writing and drama .. 47 The extension 48 Evidence for drama leading to better writing: effects on writers and writing .. 49 Classroom practices .. 50 Factors which supported curriculum development: across 50 Overview .. 51 CHAPTER 5: Pedagogy II: Issues about Teaching-Learning 53 Teaching Learning Styles .. 54 Case Study 1: Accessing Kinaesthetic Learners more effectively .. 54 Impact .. 56 Case Study 2: An approach based around multiple 57 The Nature of the 58 Outcomes in the Originator School: Patterns of Achievement .. 58 Outcomes in the Originator School: Students Views and Perspectives from the staffroom.

4 59 The Intervention within one Partner School .. 60 Case Study 3: A Primary 61 Impact .. 63 Reflections on Pedagogic Approaches Focusing on Preferred Learning 64 Important Pre-Conditions .. 66 CHAPTER 6: The Context of the Individual: Target-Setting and Mentoring .. 68 Target-Setting and Mentoring within the Raising boys Achievement Project .. 68 Case Study 1 .. 69 4 The background: .. 69 Case Study 2 .. 70 The background .. 70 Target-Setting and Mentoring Approaches .. 72 Students Perspectives .. 72 Assertive Mentoring .. 74 Pre-conditions for Successful Mentoring and Target-setting .. 75 An 78 CHAPTER 7: Organisational Contexts - Equal Opportunities in the Single-Sex Classroom .. 80 Single-Sex Classes in Mixed Comprehensive Schools : the issues .. 80 Single-Sex Classes within the RBA Project: initial work .. 80 A Case Study .. 81 Learning in Single-Sex Classes: the Students 83 Teaching single-sex classes.

5 86 Preconditions for Implementation? .. 90 CHAPTER 8: Socio-Cultural Approaches: the Secondary School Context .. 92 A Case Study .. 92 The key leaders / key befrienders scheme .. 93 The wider socio-cultural context .. 94 Impact of socio-cultural strategies .. 96 The wider 97 Pre-conditions for Successful Implementation of Socio-Cultural Strategies .. 99 Closing Perspectives .. 100 CHAPTER 9: Socio-cultural Approaches: the Primary School Context .. 102 Socio-cultural Strategies through a Whole-School 103 Case Study 1 .. 104 The background .. 104 The strategy: a focus on 104 Assessing progress .. 105 Case Study 2 .. 107 The background .. 107 The strategy: a focus on the arts .. 107 5 Assessing progress .. 108 A socio-cultural strategy through a classroom-based approach .. 111 Case Study 3 .. 111 The background .. 111 The strategy: peer support through a paired reading scheme .. 111 Assessing progress .. 112 Evidence of changing attitudes across the triads.

6 113 Conclusions .. 114 CHAPTER 10: Gender and Achievement in Special Schools .. 116 Introduction .. 116 The Research Participants and the Focus of Inquiry .. 117 Gender, Achievement and Special Education: some general findings .. 117 Developing Research Questions .. 119 Case Examples of School-Based Inquiries .. 120 Case Study 1: Teaching and learning English in Years 10 and 11 in the wider context of whole school development .. 120 Case Study 2: boys self-esteem and engagement in learning .. 123 Case Study 3: Expectations and inclusion .. 124 Case Study 4: Supporting concentration and independence in classroom learning 125 Some General Conclusions from the Case 126 Final Thoughts .. 129 CHAPTER 11: The Broader Concerns: Developing, Supporting and Sharing Innovative Ideas .. 131 Within 131 Understanding the context and meeting the preconditions for 131 Factors that impede steady progress.

7 133 The importance of a longterm approach .. 133 134 Across 134 Background: competition and 134 Focus and findings .. 135 From hierarchy to equality .. 135 The benefits of working in a triad .. 136 The role of the link researcher .. 137 6 Comment .. 137 CHAPTER 12: Concluding 139 Pedagogic 139 Individual 142 Whole School Organisational Issues .. 144 Socio-cultural issues .. 145 Interventions within Special 147 The broader issues .. 148 Conclusion .. 148 REFERENCES .. 150 158 Examples of research instruments .. 158 7 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The research team would like to thank all those who have worked so persistently and enthusiastically on this project over the period 2000 2004. In particular we acknowledge our debt to those school students who have shared their views and perspectives with us, with such tolerance and good humour, and to headteachers and school staff who have worked with us over the four-year span of the project.

8 The research team has been supported throughout by Research Officers at the DfES, to whom we give thanks, and by four part-time Research Assistants who have undertaken fieldwork in schools at various stages of the project: Mary Berry (who sadly died late in 2004), Suzanne Carter, Peter Jackson and Jennifer Reynolds. We are very grateful to them for their support and critical analysis. _____ 8 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Raising boys Achievement Project (RBA) was a four-year project (2000-2004) which focused on issues associated with the apparent differential academic Achievement of boys and girls at key stage 2 and key stage 4 in schools in England. This report highlights some of the dilemmas which are implicit within the debate, explores different interpretations and perspectives about boys under- Achievement , and challenges some common misconceptions.

9 Working with over fifty primary, secondary and special schools in England over four years, we have endeavoured to identify strategies which appear to have the potential to make a difference to boys (and girls ) learning, motivation and engagement with their schooling, and consequently to raise levels of academic Achievement . These strategies have been analysed in different school settings through time, in an attempt to identify their essential characteristics, so that they might be transferred to other schools in similar socio-economic contexts. The process of transfer of these intervention strategies has involved schools working together in learning triads (each triad consisting of one Originator School and two Partner Schools), with a total of seventeen triads studied, to introduce, refine and consolidate these strategies. The project team has worked with triads throughout this process, supporting, exploring and analysing the process of innovation transfer.

10 In so doing, we have aimed to clarify further the essential characteristics of each intervention strategy, and to identify essential pre-conditions which appear to need to be in place if the potential of the strategy is to be maximised. boys Under- Achievement ? The debate, about whether, and to what extent, boys under-achieve academically in English schools has been high profile since the early 1990s, and it is clear from national data that there is legitimate concern over the Achievement levels of some boys throughout their schooling. Rather more boys than girls fail to achieve level 4 in English national tests at the end of key stage 2; rather more boys than girls fail to achieve the 5A*-C benchmark grades in GCSE examinations taken at 16+. These patterns of academic Achievement are evident in most schools in England. It is crucial, though, to situate the debate carefully: Achievement levels in primary and secondary schools, as measured by national tests at the end of each key stage, are rising through time.