Let's Hear It from the Boys
- John Bolton
- Apr 4, 2021
- 3 min read
Wr. Gary Wilson
Pub. Bloomsbury
It's a well-known fact that girls outperform boys across every stage of the UK education system. Of the boys who underachieve, white working-class boys are consistently in last place. In this unique practical guide to raising boys achievement in secondary settings, Gary lets the students do the talking through real-life testimonies. Tackling various aspects of learning in the secondary classroom, from exams, essay-writing and academic setting to punishments and rewards, this book offers a fresh perspective on boys experiences of education, helping teachers to understand the various reasons why boys may underachieve and how teachers can tackle this.
"a superb blueprint for a schoolwide philosophy"
The gender divide in achievement is a recurring theme in education, a profession where the same problems - and many of the same buzzwords and frameworks and strategies - are cyclical. It was a problem when I was at school, it was a problem when I did my degree, it was a problem when I first explored teaching back in the late nineties, and it remains a problem to this day. Even now, I'm waiting for a rebranded National Literacy Strategy to be introduced. Give it time.
In Let's Hear It from the Boys, Wilson talks openly about his own personal and professional experiences, and provides all manner of practical examples, exercises to work through, even proforma letters to parents. It's all-encompassing and, although Wilson insists the book isn't a treatise, it is nevertheless a superb blueprint for a schoolwide philosophy.
The chapter that stuck in my mind was Chapter 8, in which Wilson talks about punishments. He notes that isolation rooms don't work, detentions don't work, and using writing as a punishment is entirely counter-productive. I've worked in several schools where this was how undesirable behaviour was addressed. Wilson's right: they don't work. Isolation rooms and detentions don't deal with the roots of behaviour and, as an English lead in my current school, the notion of using writing punitively is risible. Instead, Wilson proposes restorative justice, something which is mercifully becoming more and more common in schools.
For me, the real strength of the book - and what makes it a superb CPD resource - is the provision of calls to action. Every chapter empowers the reader to actually put some of Wilson's suggestions into practice. Whether that be instilling cross-phase buddy reading or simply asking students what they think makes a good teacher, Wilson urges you to act. Like the best CPD training, the book challenges your preconceptions, offers new insights, and then motivates you to try things out. During your PGCE and NQT years, you're encouraged to experiment and step outside your comfort zone. It's easy to fall out of practice once you're bedded in to the profession. What Wilson encourages is an acknowledgement that maybe there's a better way: that "oh, but that's the way we've always done it" isn't a good enough reason to do anything. His experience is solid, he suggestions are sound, and for those reasons, this is one of the best CPD books I've read in a long while.
Contents
My School Days
Gender on the agenda
Boys will be...
Reaching out to parents
You would have thought I'd have got it sorted by now
What makes a good teacher
Getting rewards
Punishments
Peer pressure
Academic setting
Seating plans
How teachers talk to boys and girls
Single sex grouping
Homework
Reflection
Writing
Reading
What makes a good lesson
What can help
What doesn't help and what gets in the way
The problem with the problems with boys: getting teachers on board
Be the change you'd like to see
Street culture
Pupil voice
Turning things around
Mentoring boys: the Breakthrough way
Raising boys' achievement in an inner London school: a case study
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