gareth malone extraordinary school for boys... Are you watching

[VoldemortsNipple]

I cant wait. It looks very interesting!

BBC 2 Tonight at 9pm

HT on Newsnight is so narrow minded.

I turned it off about 9.30 as it irritated me- the staff were very sneery. and I would be concerned if my ds was taught by those yr 5 teachers.
Joni- my ds has access to books, but is a sporadic reader.

Quite, Mollie, same aspirations here. Looks like it's working so far - while a lot of kids in his class have reached the stage where they will only play with others of the same gender, ds has friends of both sexes.

No-one's stopping those boys reading, are they? Looked like in one case, at least, the parents weren't helping. Footage of them at home playing on the X-box with the parents making excuses about how computer games are more exciting and you can't expect children to pick up a book.

Of course teachers should encourage all children, whether they are high achievers, chugging along happily or struggling. There is a problem when teachers just shrug their shoulders about any child who is struggling and blame it on them belonging to a category, whether that category is race or gender or class or disability or whatever.

Back in the olden days when I was at school I saw teachers like that - acting on class grounds and on gender (but discriminating against girls). It is not on, however jaundiced they are.

My BIL teaches performing arts at a secondary school. Says some of the badly behaved and low achieving children do well in his classes because the subject grabs their interest. So they end up being prepared to work on literature that they would reject in an English class.

Dunno how you transfer that to other subjects, or to primary, though.

My ds is 8 and in Yr 4 and i think, his school are just about losing him. He is not enjoying lessons, hates writing (tho does like reading) and says the lessons are too hard and he is rubbish

He has never enjoyed sitting, writing, colouring and much prefers hand on activities.

How can we make it easier for our boys to feel valued?

That's a huge shame, DrNortherner. What does his teacher say? Shouldn't he or she be differentiating the work as standard, so your ds can feel he is completing tasks to a good standard?

I have a friend who makes his living leading drama and writing workshops in schools. He isn't a qualified teacher, either.

Everything Gareth Malone said last night about the short-comings of modern education methods, especially for boys, is exactly what my friend constantly says (and has done for years). So last night's viewing was very eerie. My friend couldn't stand to watch a programme like it, though, he'd end up throwing things at the telly shouting "Isn't this all bleeding obvious, why do we need a television programme to state the bleedin' obvious?!"

I must say .... The ignorance and strange tangents on the other thread (In The News topic) are driving me up the wall!

No one may be stopping them reading but no one is encouraging them either. At ds's school if I did nothing as a parent to encourage and help his reading the teacher would be having a word with me.

Ds is a very reluctant reader and struggles (has extra support too). His teacher uses a variety of methods and rewards to encourage him. I have struggled with his reluctance as I can never remember a time when I didn't love reading (I could read well before I started school). Having said that he has very limited access to computer games (we don't have game consoles) and I encourage him to play outside as much as he is able.

He is in year 2 now and they do sports 3 times a week which I'm sure can only be a good thing.

Ds currently has female teachers but as he progresses through the school he will have more male teachers (has male teachers for sports now). He also hopefully has me as a strong female role model (full time working single parent in a male-dominated profession).

what the programme is based on is biological determinism which in turn is based on common folklore about the differences between boys and girls. but in order for that to be true it would have to be a global problem in every country where the education system resembles that of the uk, without that knowledge it is impossible to know whether the problem is cultural in terms of gender stereotyping and expectations. that's why the programme was nonsense - it trotted out commonly-accepted beliefs about biological differences without investigating any of the underying cultural causes of gnder differences. it also failed to investigate whether girls would also do better in a 'free range' type of learning.

The point of the programme isn't to find a best style of learning & teaching for boys (or girls, or anyone); the point is to see if these approaches could help close the growing and relatively recent gender gap in literacy between boys and girls at these ages. GM's approach would be a radical departure for state schools if done regularly, and is done here in a telegenic way -- it's hardly meant to be or able to be a thorough or definitive research study.

Sheesh, what do some of you expect?

The head did invite him -- well, technically, GM & co. asked lots of schools if they would be interested and then GM & his people chose Pear Tree Mead among the willing schools. I can't see that the governors could have successfully pressured head into it if she didn't want to give it a try. Like I said, my mate makes a living by running multi-day literacy workshops that end up being A LOT like what GM is doing here; there's plenty appetite for trying these things, especially in schools where staff can see children are badly underachieving.

If the HT actively encouraged GM's presence in her school I am surprised that she is so negative in the programme. Whilst slanted editing may be responsible for that she was also very negative on Newsnight last night, which is a live unedited programme. Left me thinking that her views expressed on the programme were edited accurately to reflect what she really thought.

Chatty has said it very well. I agree completely.

I didn't pick up on her negativity at all on Newsnight? When did she say anything negative? I thought she came across better on Newsnight than she did on the actual programme. She seemed quite dedicated to making a change.

Anyone watching this week?

fartmeister have just seen your post. She came across on NN as if she had little to say and what she did say didn't strike me as particularly positive. Not compared to Gareth and the other man.

Just me then. Gareth is mine, all mine.

Really, just me? Horrific to think that a child who wants to read can get to the end of primary school being unable to do so.

I watched it! I agree, MollieO. Also, horrific that a child can't sleep because he's been playing Xbox all evening. I was so glad when Gareth got the dads reading with them. As a children's book publisher my house is filled with books and my DS, aged 16 months, is obsessed with books. But I know that won't necessarily last. Especially as his father, a reader in theory, now only reads stuff on his iPad. But he could also be playing games on it (and in fact does, more than read anything other than the FT). Not a great example to set. I worry about the future if you can't see what other people are reading or doing on their electronic devices, and, as a child, assume they're playing a game.

My 8 year old ds loves books, but is too lazy to pick up a novel and read it all, for him it just seems like too much work. But if I read it to him, he'll happily snuggle up and listen.

I always have a book on the go, from a young age I remember my Dad getting annoyed because I would ignore him due to having my head stuck in a book. Dh, has never read a book in his whole adult life. He reads cycling magazines, sports books and stuff like Guiness book of records, but stuff he can read in short snippets. Maybe this is the answer for our boys?

We watched it too. We're lucky in that both our DSs (7 & 8) love reading, books and bookshops. I'm hoping it lasts! We've put a bit of work into it though. We've read to them pretty much every night since they were born and they see both of us reading a lot (although DH reads pretty much nothing except Terry Pratchett books and New Scientist).

I really want Gareth to succeed in his reading challenge!

I have just caught up with last night's episode. I am that that poor boy (who is clearly capable of more, and wants to do more) could be heading for secondary school with such low confidence and reading levels. Now of course he, and his parents, must take some responsibility - but how is it that GM seems to be getting some results where his teachers have not? He now wants so badly to improve, why was he left to sink before? Because as soon as he gets into secondary school, he will be lost. He will not be able to keep up with any of his subjects if his basic literacy doesn't improve. It just seems like he's been failed because of the negative "oh boys, they don't like reading attitude" that seems to pervade.

What a smashing group of boys though!

They are obviously bright, as they have shown themselves to be thoughtful and articulate when they are interviewed. I loved the fact that one of them wanted to read Shakespeare!! (although it was the version for children).

I think that shows what a lot is going on in his head, but still they all seem to have such low expections of what they are capable of achieving, and just assume that girls will be better than them at anything in the classroom. It is a tragic waste.

This is such a brilliant thing to be on tv to hopefully teach parents as well the importance of taking managed risks. I work in childcare myself and until I did my degree I never thought in depth about how children are stifled nowadays due to blame culture and the media and it has really opened my eyes.

That is why I think this programme is a brilliant one and in my setting we have been working on a similar theme but involving all the children though. I do personally think boys in general do learn better through this way especially though.

He did it. You bunch of pessimistic naysayers. He totally achieved what he set out to do. Neener neener neener.

(Says she who totally loved this series and believed what GM was trying to do).

awwwwwww. I was one of the cynics but have to admit I was impressed by the final programme. Would like to have a fuller breakdown of the test results but it was clear from the play just how far they've come and how they are flourishing.

Just hope the poor old girls get to enjoy the outdoor classroom and new approaches as well...

Yay! Have wondered whether Scottish teachers think that this kind of teaching is what Curriculum for Excellence looks like?