Thought teachers/parents of sons may be interested in this . .

[KnittingisbetterthanTherapy]

I'm both a teacher and a mum of two boys so will definitely be watching!

Extraordinary School for Boys

I will definitely be watching this.

I never thought I'd say this (and never would have before I had boys x4), but there are innate differences between boys and girls on top of the interindividual differences. And, IMO, stereotypes/clichees are there for a reason: there is often more than a grain of truth in them.

Gender equalitity on a greater scale is another thing, of course, but I do think that there are situations where boys/men are now in danger of being marginalised on grounds of their gender alone.

Interesting article, I'll try to catch the programme. I think part of the problem is the sidelining of PE itself. In DS1's school they get an hour a week. he's only 4 and should be spending at least 50% of his time charging around IMHO, but there you are.

In the playground they have built lots of nice sitting areas under the trees and are talking about doing more outdoor education, but there's a low wall (about 3' high) running the length of the playground and they're apparently not allowed to walk along it at breaktime. Of course ALL of them want to walk along it, that's what 4 and 5 year olds do, part of the job description.

I think both girls and boys should be exposed to the same outdoor activities and competition. There should be no mollycoddling involved. Girls will benefit from traditional schooling just as much as boys. But I think the reason that Gareth Malone chose boys for his experiment, is that he will be able to prove that the politically correct methods were wrong. There has been a problem with literacy for many boys, and he will be able to show remarkable success in overturning this. Having shown how to solve the problem, traditional systems should then be used for both girls and boys.

Hmm, not sure that it's just about 'traditional schooling' though, is it?

I don't know what they do at Roedean, but I bet they have real sports days and lots of competitive team sports. I bet it is a traditional tried and tested system, but I may be wrong and the PC crowd may have even breached the walls of Roedean.

Have set to record this already!

Gareth Malone is fab

by traditioanl, I mean competitive, no mollycoddling or wrapping children in cotton wool.

Agree with edam.

Being a bit of a tomboy myself, I do agree with everybody else that the same methods would be A Good Thing for girls as well and might distract them from pink sparkly things and a career as a pop singer/model/actress long enough to develop some other interets .

Sorry, I felt obliged to add a girl stereotype as well .

I am very glad that at my son's state primary school there is 4 hours sport/week and sports day comes with 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 'participation' medals.

We are introducing Forest Schools for both boys and girls in KS1 (already do it in FS) but already work in a way similar to the trailers depict much to the horror of some other schools we encounter who feel they must wrap children in cotton wool then bubble wrap in case they stub a toe.

Just looked at the Roedean school's website to see what they are like. They look good. They have a junior school for girls and boys, and the senior school is for boys only. They have a section about what it is like for a boy at the junior school. What stands out about the boy's comments are his love of sport and competition against other schools.

What is it like being a boy at the junior school?
"Fun! I have so much fun at school. I play football, get trained by Mr Miller and play with my friends. I have maths and English, learn to play the recorder and I can travel abroad with the choir.
We have a sports lesson every day, but my favourite things are swimming in the big pool at Roedean and competing against other schools."
(Year 4 boy)

woops and the senior school is for girls only

Sorry, this makes me cross - so much of the 'push' in KS1 assumes that boys need this, boys need that...get boys books they like.... make literacy exciting for the boys.... I think there is a boy/girl developmental/social lag in many cases at this age, but boys often pick up in Y3 and Y4. All of this pandering to boys is set on expected outcome at the end of KS1, set by government.

The girls in my class like creative outside learning just as much as the boys. They too can think outside the box. ALL teaching should include some outside learning and experiences - NOT JUST FOR BOYS!!!

I think we should be worried about the acquiescent little 'pink' girls, who are happy to sit in the classroom without questioning. Let's do something for them... oh! Let's take them outside too and give them a fun curriculum!

Sorry... rant over.

I don't think anyone's suggesting that only boys should be allowed to learn outside/climb trees/whatever, are they? For the purposes of this programme, it was only boys, because they are exploring a particular issue.

Claig, what's your interest in Roedean? It's not that great a school is it? IME it produces lots of posh sporty gals. And tbh, it's kind of irrelevant to the discussion, because most children who go there, do so from an extremely privileged background which will give them all sorts of social advantages from the get-go.

I agree that this should be for boys and girls. I have one of each and my DD was horrified before she did Forest School and cried when she got mud over her the first week (she is very pink and girly) but then as the weeks progressed she really enjoyed it and it has made her much more outdoorsy and into nature, which has been a good outcome. It is not just boys lagging behind as somebody mentioned earlier, girls have to be academically better and harder to cope and earn money in the World of work than boys and so need every competitive advantage they can get. They have to prove themselves more in many companies.

Has anyone taken a look at the school featured in the programme's website?

Yes, the point is that primary schools should be providing an active curriculum for ALL children. Gender should not matter.

The particular issue is 'that boys lag behind girls'. I am saying that this may be due to their development/pre-school expectations/whatever...

There is an obsession with boys' underachievement at 7. If the boy/girl comparison were made in Y4, we would find that the achievement of each gender evens out, thus raising questions about all this angst about boys achievement at the end of ks1.

I just used Roedean because it springs to my mind as being one of the top girls' schools in the country. Don't really know if that is the case or not, but it is a name that stands out in my mind. I just imagined that being a top school, they would probably have a very high-aiming, competitive ethos unlike some of the cotton wool approach taken by other schools who take an egalitarian approach.

Gareth Malone's documentary focuses on boys aged 10-11 i.e. years 5 and 6, and he says that "nationally, boys do fine in maths and science, but lag behind girls in reading by 6 percentage points and writing by 15 percentage points." He says that this is the age that many boys begin to turn off literacy and this attitude can continue into secondary school, leading to poor behaviour and poor exam results. If it can be nipped in the bud by teaching methods which fire boys up and get them excited about literacy, then it is worth making use of these methods.

www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/sep/01/girls-boys-schools-gender-gap

Quite, rollacoasta.

Claig, yes indeed let's use methods that get children fired up but they should ALL be encouraged to go outside and get mucky, no matter what gender they are!

Claig - boys are 'turned off' literacy at 4,5,and 6. Many schools (like my own) are using the method of 'firing up boys to get them excited about literacy' throughout the primary years, starting in FS. We have been using this type of curriculum for several years, with little effect on boys' writing at the age of 7, but with significant improvements by Y4 and 5.

The boys love literacy in KS1 - they don't know they're doing it as it nearly always has some relevance to a current topic.

We do lots and lots of talking, questioning, practical models and drama in preparation for the later years.

edam, agree, both girls and boys should receive the same education and it should be competitive and outdoors etc. I think both girls and boys would benefit from this type of education.

Rollacoasta, good to hear that. But it looks like the school that Gareth goes to is different.

The school obviously has problems which is why he's been invited in

Which is good.... but I think they should have included the girls too!!! After all, it's not exactly an empirical experiment is it? I feel that the boys may have a little more motivation than usual just because Gareth's around!