EDUCATION:
- The OECD reveals, “boys are significantly more likely than girls to be disengaged from school, get lower marks, repeat grades, and play video games in their free time.” (Page 123)
- The World Bank reports, “more than 100 countries have lower levels of male secondary and tertiary education enrollment and completion. Learning poverty rates—the proportion of children unable to read and understand a simple text at 10 years of age—are higher for boys than for girls in all regions and almost all countries of the world.”
- Editorial:
- Richard Reeves: Missing Misters: The Worrying Decline in the Share of Male Teachers
- Press Releases:
- Video: False beliefs that are a prime cause of boys’ educational struggles.
- Article: Study finds more than half of colleges ‘facially violate’ Title IX with women-only scholarships
Strategies and Solutions:
- Assertively speak out when boys’ educational issues are shortchanged or ignored in the media or by policy-makers.
- Participate in the International Education Day, which is observed every year on January 24.
- All-Party Parliamentary Group: Closing the Gender Attainment Gap
- Develop school policies to improve parental support in creating a pro-learning environment at home.
- Governments must prioritize funding for research to minimize boys’ educational underachievement.
- Promote teacher training on developmental and psychological differences between boys and girls, e.g., how does puberty affect learning development.
- Equi-law UK: Guidance for Schools
- School systems need to develop policies to dispel common myths of boys as underachievers and that focus on whole-school culture change.
- Develop policies that encourage the use of role-modelling, peer mentoring, literacy support, and consistent discipline.
- Develop policies that publicize the successes of boys. Boys need to see examples of boys being successful in a range of areas.