Boys Education
Males make up fewer than one percent of early childhood teachers and one in five primary school teachers, so it is perhaps not surprising that male students are falling behind in what is essentially now a female dominated environment. In the words of one educationalist, Dr Paul Baker, who has served as a Government advisor, the Ministry of Education “is stuck fighting the girls can do anything” battle. “There is a reluctance in the Ministry to accept that the emphasis needs now to be more on boys.” This is despite the fact that for every six girls that pass NCEA level one, only five boys pass. Boys make up close to three-quarters of referrals for literacy help, speech/language therapy and behavioural difficulties. At the higher end, women make up nearly 60% of our University population now and this percentage appears to be growing.
It is UnitedFuture policy to:
- Address the growing achievement gap between male and female students.
- Encourage more men to join the teaching profession at all levels.
- Recruit more Maori and Pacific teachers.
- Investigate the use of single-sex classrooms within coeducational schools.
- Find other ways to make the current educational environment more boy-friendly, without being detrimental to female students.