IS biology to blame for boys’ flagging performances in school?

Not according to Dr Wayne Martino from the Centre for Learning, Change and Development at Murdoch University.

“In the 1800’s, biology was touted as an reason to not educate girls - it was considered to be a scientific truth that girls were intellectually inferior,” said Dr Martino.

“We cannot look at biology in isolation from historical, cultural and social contexts and socio-economic factors.”

Dr Martino and Professor Bob Lingard from the University of Queensland are the principal investigators on a 12-month project ‘Addressing the educational needs of boys - strategies for schools and teachers’ funded by the ACT Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs for $228,000.

The research team will be undertaking case studies of 18 schools across Australia to identify the different factors affecting educational performance, including family, peer culture and their school environment.

“We are interested in analysing specific programs already used by schools to improve boys’ learning and social well being, and discover what is working and how teachers are approaching gender issues,” said Dr Martino.

“The study will record data from independent, public and private schools to examine boys’ learning performance in a broader social context.”

The results of the investigation will be used to recommend strategies for encouraging improved social and educational outcomes for boys and girls in Australian schools.

Dr Martino said society makes broad assumptions about what is normal for boys and girls, and forgets they can vary greatly within groups.

“Unfortunately the problem cannot be quickly solved by simple solutions such as recruiting more male primary teachers or single sex classes for boys,” said Dr Martino.

“We need to listen to what the students and teachers have to say so we can identify the problems and find out what strategies are working.”

Dr Martino and his colleague Dr Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli from Deakin University have made a start in this area, with their book for boys about to be published by Allen & Unwin called ‘Boys’ Stuff: Boys talk about what really matters’. The book is filled with quotes by Australian boys from a diverse range of boys who speak their minds and hearts.

“We wanted to hear what it was like to be a guy growing up. One of the major revelations of this research was that many boys said that they had never been asked questions like this before,” said Dr Martino.

Dr Martino said homophobia was a major issue in defining masculinity, and some boys tended to think of anything feminine as negative.

“Unfortunately for many boys it is not cool to be seen to study hard,” he said.

“There is a real need to teach boys to reflect and talk about the social issues of masculinity affecting their lives.”