Boys’
Underachievement
in Education
An ExplorAtion in SElEctEd
commonwEAlth countriES
By Jyotsna Jha and Fatimah Kelleher


Gender Section
Social Transformation Programmes Division
Commonwealth Secretariat
Marlborough House
Pall Mall, London SW1Y 5HX
United Kingdom
E-mail: gad@commonwealth.int
www.thecommonwealth.org/gender
Commonwealth of Learning
1055 West Hastings, Suite 1200
Vancouver, British Columbia
Canada V6E 2E9
E-mail: info@col.org
www.col.org
© Commonwealth Secretariat and Commonwealth of Learning, 2006
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policy of the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Commonwealth of Learning or any other
agency or government identified.
Publication editor: Tina Johnson
Cover and layout design: Alex Hennig
Printed by Ultratech Printing Ltd, Vancouver, Canada
Co-published by the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Commonwealth of Learning
Copies of this publication may be ordered direct from:
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ISBN: 0-85092-845-1 / 978-0-85092-845-7

Boys’
Underachievement
in Education
An ExplorAtion in SElEctEd
commonwEAlth countriES
By Jyotsna Jha and Fatimah Kelleher




AcKnowlEdgEmEntS
Acknowledgements are due to:
Dr Tony Sewell (the lead consultant and coordinator of the case studies) and his
team of researchers, including Ms Emma Charlton, Ms Pulane J Lefoka and Ms
Elaine U Lameta for undertaking the research and preparation of the first set of
reports.
Prof David Plummer, Prof Mark Figueroa and Ms Helena Fehr for providing
helpful feedback on the first draft.
Ms Pauletta Chevannes for reviewing the Jamaican case study and providing
useful information.
Ms Ann Keeling and Dr Henry Kaluba for their support and encouragement.
And all the others who contributed by providing information and preparing the
final report.



boys’UNDErACHIEVEMENT
contents
list of Acronyms and Abbreviations ...................... xi
Foreword .....................................................xiii
pArt i: croSS-countrY AnAlYSiS
1. introduction and Background ........................... 3

the issue ......................................................................................... 3


participation ............................................................................... 4


performance ............................................................................... 8


understanding and Addressing the issue ........................................ 8

gender Equality in Education and Boys’ underachievement ..................... 9

how the report is Structured ............................................................ 11
2. what the Existing literature Says ................... 13

common theories and practical Analyses ............................................ 13

gender identity: debating masculinity ................................................ 16


gender roles and the ‘Feminisation of Academia’........................... 17


male role models ...................................................................... 19


teacher Expectations ................................................................. 21


Single Sex or co-education? ....................................................... 21

the interaction of Socio-Economic Factors and gender ......................... 22


Economics, class and gender identity .......................................... 23


Ethnicity, language and gender identity ...................................... 24


cultural Economic Alignments with gender roles ........................... 27

Boys’ underachievement in the wider gender Equity context ................ 28
vii

boys’UNDErACHIEVEMENT
3. Varying dimensions and lessons Emerging
from Selected commonwealth countries .......... 30

Social and Economic Background of the countries ................................ 30

the issue: commonalities and divergences ........................................ 32


relative under-participation of Boys in Schooling ........................... 33


relative underperformance of Boys in Schooling ............................ 34

what Explains these trends? ............................................................ 39


i Social, Economic and occupational practices ........................... 41


ii paucity of School places and Facilities ..................................... 42


iii conformity to ‘masculine’ gender identity and


‘Feminisation’ of Schools ....................................................... 43

the initiatives ................................................................................. 46


i creating a learning organisation in a multicultural,


poor Socio-Economic neighbourhood, Australia......................... 46


ii implementing a project, ‘change from within’, in


a Single-Sex Boys’ Secondary School, Jamaica ........................ 48


iii A Basic Education programme through distance


mode, lesotho .................................................................... 50


iV A Vocational Education Alternative to Secondary


Education, Samoa ............................................................... 53

how to Address the issue: lessons and Questions from the initiatives .... 56


School leadership plays a major role ........................................... 56


AnEmphasisonCooperation,Confidence-Buildingand


ConflictResolutionHelpsCreateanEnablingEnvironment ................. 57


A Focus on Active learning and respect for Students


helps to Engage them ............................................................... 57


Female teachers a Barrier: myth or reality? .................................. 58


Are Single-Sex Schools a Solution? .............................................. 59


Alternative modes of Schooling have potential ............................... 59


Schools Should Actively Question Stereotyped gender identity ........ 61

the need for Further research and its nature ..................................... 62

conclusion...................................................................................... 63
pArt ii: thE cASE StudiES
4. Australia: Socialisation and Socio-Economics .... 67

what does piSA indicate? ................................................................ 68

A government primary School in Queensland ..................................... 72
viii

boys’UNDErACHIEVEMENT


Background .............................................................................. 72


what made learning Experiences different ................................... 74


the School as a learning organisation ......................................... 79

conclusions .................................................................................... 80
5. Jamaica: Alienation and high drop-out rates .... 82

DefiningtheProblem ....................................................................... 82

Situational context .......................................................................... 87

An innovative Approach Adopted by Four inner-city Schools ................. 88


the ‘change from within’ programme .......................................... 89


Blue mountain high School ......................................................... 93

conclusions .................................................................................... 95
6. lesotho: A case of under-participation ............ 96

the macro-level picture .................................................................. 96

the lesotho distance teaching centre ...............................................102


learning post programme: A Flexible option for the


underprivileged .......................................................................102

conclusions ...................................................................................105
7. Samoa: A major challenge to the
Education System ........................................106

the nature of Boys’ underachievement .............................................106

post-Secondary Education and Employment .......................................111

cultural context: masculinity, gender identity and Societal

responsibility ................................................................................114

don Bosco technical centre .............................................................116


Background .............................................................................116


Boys’ Experience of Barriers to Achievement in mainstream


Schools ...................................................................................116


Aspirations and Achievements at the centre ...............................117


Effective Approaches and processes at the centre.........................118


gender identity: notions of masculinity .......................................120

conclusions ...................................................................................120
Bibliography ...................................................122
About the Authors ...........................................133
ix

boys’UNDErACHIEVEMENT
list of Figures
1: gender disparities in reading literacy in Sub-Saharan African

countries ....................................................................................... 97
2: obstacles that contribute to Failure to Attain a Formal Education,

lesotho .........................................................................................100
3: gender of individuals who have completed university by

Five-Year Age groups 15-75+, Samoa ...............................................111
list of tables
1: School life Expectancy (SlE) by region:

A global picture (2002 and change since 1998) ..................................... 5
2: number of out-of-primary-School children:

A global picture (1998 and 2002) ........................................................ 5
3: transition to Secondary Education and net Enrolment

ratios at Secondary level in Selected commonwealth countries .............. 7
4: Selected development indicators for Australia,

Jamaica, lesotho and Samoa ........................................................... 31
5: Selected Educational indicators for Australia,

Jamaica, lesotho and Samoa (percentages) ........................................ 33
6: Economic and political participation of women in

Australia, Jamaica, lesotho and Samoa: Selected indicators ................. 40
7: Enrolment ratios in primary Education, Jamaica .................................. 83
8: Enrolment ratios in Secondary Education, Jamaica .............................. 83
9: gross Enrolment ratio (gEr) in tertiary Education, Jamaica .................. 84
10: performance of Jamaican Secondary School Students in the cSEc

atGeneralandTechnicalProficiencyLevelsbySex,2005 ...................... 85
11: Selected Educational indicators, lesotho (percentages) ........................ 96
12: percentage of pupils who are repeaters, lesotho ................................. 98
13:PercentageofTeacherswhoareUnqualifiedbyLocation,Lesotho ..........101
14: percentage primary net Enrolment ratio, 5-14-Year-olds,

1995-2004, Samoa .........................................................................107
15: percentage Secondary net Enrolment ratio, 15-19-Year-olds,

1995-2004, Samoa ...........................................................................107
16:PercentageofPrimaryStudentsIdentifiedasAtRisk,Year4,Samoa .....108
17:PercentageofPrimaryStudentsIdentifiedasAtRisk,Year6,Samoa .....108
18: national Year 8 mean Score results by Subject and Sex, Samoa ...........109
19: national Year 12 mean Score results by Subject and Sex, Samoa ..........110
20: distribution of Employment by industry, 2001, Samoa .........................113
21: Suicide numbers by Sex, 2000-2005, Samoa .....................................115
x

boys’UNDErACHIEVEMENT
liSt oF AcronYmS
And ABBrEViAtionS
AArE
Australian Association for research in Education
ACEr
Australian Council for Educational research
ADB

Asian Development Bank
AEU

Australian Education Union
BOCODOL
Botswana Centre for Distance and Open Learning
CArICOM
Caribbean Community
CCEM
Commonwealth Conference of Education Ministers
CFW
Change from Within
COL

Commonwealth of Learning
CSEC
Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate
CXC

Caribbean Examinations Council
DFID
Department for International Development, UK
EFA

Education for All
GDI

gender-related development index
GDP

gross domestic product
GEr

gross enrolment ratio
GPI

gender parity index
HDI

human development index
ICT

information and communications technology
IrI

Interactive radio Instruction
LDTC
Lesotho Distance Teaching Centre
LP

Learning Post
MDGs
Millennium Development Goals
MUSTEr
Multi-Site Teacher Education research Project
NAMCOL
Namibian College of Open Learning
NCNE
National Commission for Nomadic Education
xi

boys’UNDErACHIEVEMENT
NEr
net enrolment ratio
ODL
open and distance learning
OECD
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development
OFSTED
Office for Standards in Education
PISA
Programme for International Student Assessment
PPSEAWA
Women for Peace, Understanding and Advancement
SACMEQ
Southern and Eastern Consortium for Monitoring Educational


Quality
SLE

school life expectancy
SPELL
Samoa Primary Education Literacy Level
TES

Tertiary Entrance Score
TIMSS
Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study
UIS

UNESCO Institute for Statistics
UNDP
United Nations Development Programme
UNESCO
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNICEF
United Nations Children’s Fund
UPE

universal primary education

xii

boys’UNDErACHIEVEMENT
ForEword
The Commonwealth is a voluntary association of 53 States bound by a set
of shared values and principles. One of those principles is that every child
in the Commonwealth, girl or boy, has the right to a quality education. It
will take some time for this right to be realised, however, since the majority
of the 115 million children globally not in school live in Commonwealth
countries. The majority of these children are girls. It is therefore right that the
Commonwealth has focused attention on removing the barriers faced by girls
in accessing education. More recently, however, Ministers of Education from
across the Commonwealth have raised the issue of boys’ underachievement and
poor attendance at school, a growing phenomenon in all regions. This study,
undertaken jointly by the Commonwealth of Learning and the Commonwealth
Secretariat, responds to that concern.
The underachievement of boys in education is a subject that raises heated debate
and a host of conflicting hypotheses. Three persistent myths surround the
subject:
Myth one is that this is about ‘boys versus girls’. It is not. The Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) agreed by all Commonwealth governments in
2000, commit States to eliminating gender disparities in education. That means
addressing the needs of whichever gender – girls or boys – is falling behind in
either access to education or achievement. We want therefore to understand and
address boys’ underachievement in education in the contexts where it is an issue
whilst continuing to focus on girls’ access to education elsewhere. It is not either
one or the other. We are committed to doing both.
Myth two is that boys’ underachievement results from ‘a war of the sexes’, and
that somehow girls and maybe female teachers are responsible for boys falling
behind. The roots of girls’ exclusion from education lay in discrimination
whereby girls in some places were banned from education, or more school
places were provided for boys than girls. There is no such suggestion here that
boys’ underachievement is a result of any similar formal discrimination. In fact,
this study argues that the same socially determined gender roles may impact
negatively on both boys and girls. Both sexes can be victims of a culture that, for
example, prescribes education as not ‘cool’ for boys and also tolerates violence
against girls.
xiii

boys’UNDErACHIEVEMENT
Myth three is that boys’ achievement at school should be measured against that
of girls. To further demonstrate that this is not a war of the sexes, both boys’
and girls’ achievement at school should be measured against objective education
standards for all children at that stage of education. We are not saying, therefore,
that boys are underachieving in education compared to their female classmates
but that they are doing so against objective standards of literacy, numeracy, etc
for their peer group.
A pan-Commonwealth study of boys’ underachievement in education was an
ambitious endeavour. Inevitably, there have been challenges concerning the
availability and comparability of data. Inevitably also, given the diversity of the
Commonwealth, there were differences in the social and educational contexts of
the four case study countries. For example, the cattle herding duties that keep
large numbers of boys out of school in Lesotho are unlikely to be a factor in
Samoa. It is noteworthy, however, that despite the diversity of the countries it
has been possible to identify common elements and trends.
It is generally accepted that a child’s achievement at school will be determined
by factors both inside and outside the school environment. The big question
for many Ministries of Education will be what can be done inside the education
system to improve the attendance and performance of boys. This study identifies
examples of successful practice and initial recommendations for policy direction.
Surprisingly, there were few examples of open and distance learning (ODL)
strategies contributing to better performance in education by boys. This is an
area COL will now pursue.
We believe this first Commonwealth policy study on boys’ underachievement
in education will spark important discussion at the 16th Conference of
Commonwealth Education Ministers in Cape Town, December 2006.
We anticipate that the issue will remain a significant one in our drive to
ensure quality education for all in the Commonwealth and meet our shared
commitment to eliminating gender disparities.
Ann Keeling
Sir John Daniel
Director
President & CEO
Social Transformation Programmes Division
Commonwealth of Learning
Commonwealth Secretariat
October 2006
xiv

PArT I:
cross-country
analysis


boys’UNDErACHIEVEMENT
introduction & BAcKground
1.
introduction and
background
thE iSSuE
Gender disparity in education is an old phenomenon. Traditionally, girls have
been at a disadvantage in most parts of the globe, and they continue to be so
even today. This is especially the case in the Commonwealth, where gender
disparity is apparent in schooling participation rates in many countries.
Although a number of Commonwealth countries in the Caribbean, Europe, East
Asia and the Pacific have achieved gender parity in primary and
even secondary enrolment rates, most Commonwealth countries
Gender disparity
in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia still have significant gaps,
in education is an
with the proportion of girls not attending schools being much
old phenomenon.
higher than that of boys. In fact, the Commonwealth is home
Traditionally,
to more than two thirds of the world’s out-of-school children:
girls have been at a
nearly 75 million of about 115 million primary-school-age
disadvantage in most
children in the world estimated to be not attending school. Girls
parts of the globe,
have a disproportionate share, as about 35 to 40 million of the
nearly 65 million girls out of primary school globally are in the
and they continue
Commonwealth.
to be so even today.
However, a number of countries, many of them in the Commonwealth, have
also made tremendous progress in girls’ education in the last one to three
decades. As a result, gender disparities are narrowing in many parts of the
globe. At the same time, a new phenomenon has emerged in certain countries
where gender disparities in education are turning in favour of girls, and
therefore against boys, both in terms of participation and performance. This is
particularly evident in countries that have achieved universal access and have
3

boys’UNDErACHIEVEMENT
introduction & BAcKground
high participation rates for both girls and boys, at least at the primary stage of
schooling (including a number of Commonwealth countries in the Caribbean,
Europe, East Asia and the Pacific, and some in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
A commitment to achieving gender parity and equality in education in the
Commonwealth makes it important to take note of this trend and to understand
it better. This is the background leading to the present study, which was
initiated as a response to this issue being raised by member countries at the 15th
Commonwealth Conference of Education Ministers (CCEM) in Edinburgh in
December 2003.
The fact that the entire debate on boys’ underachievement views this in relation
to the achievement of girls makes it look like a question of rivalry between boys
and girls. Although it is unavoidable to compare the achievement of boys with
that of girls in such a discussion, the framework used for the present analysis
is not that of gender rivalry. On the contrary, this discussion views the issue as
another manifestation of gendered social processes and uses the frame of gender
equality to understand it.
The two aspects of boys’ underachievement in education that will be considered
are participation and performance, underachievement being used here as a
relative term. This section initially focuses on participation followed by an
analysis of trends in performance or learning outcomes at a later stage.
participation
Table 1 shows school life expectancy (SLE), representing the average number of
years of schooling that individuals can expect to receive in different regions.
It is clear from the table that while SLE is higher for boys in sub-Saharan
Africa, East Asia and the Pacific, and South and West Asia, it is higher for girls
in Latin America and the Caribbean, North America and Western Europe.
Both boys and girls experienced an improvement in SLE during 1998–2002
in all regions except for North America and Western Europe, which actually
witnessed a decline in boys’ SLE. However, the regions where SLE is higher
for girls than boys are also the regions where SLE is higher for both boys and
girls as compared to those where SLE is lower for both. Hence, though regional
analysis has its limitations, as what is true for the region might not be true for all
the countries therein, it can still be safely inferred that there is no uniform
4

boys’UNDErACHIEVEMENT
introduction & BAcKground
tABlE 1: School liFE ExpEctAncY (SlE) BY rEgion:
A gloBAl picturE (2002 And chAngE SincE 1998)




SLE in yEarS, 2002
ChangE (1998-2002)
rEgionS


ToTaL
FEmaLE
maLE
ToTaL
FEmaLE
maLE
SuB-SAhArAn AFricA
7.8
7.0
8.5
+1.1
+1.0
+1.1
ArAB StAtES
10.2
9.6
10.7
+0.4
+0.5
+0.2
cEntrAl ASiA
11.5
11.4
11.6
+0.7
+0.7
+0.6
EASt ASiA And thE pAciFic
11.2
11.0
11.3
+1.0
+1.1
+0.9
South And wESt ASiA
9.1
8.4
9.7
+0.6
+1.0
+0.3
lAtin AmEricA And thE cAriBBEAn
13.1
13.3
12.8
+1.0
+1.1
+0.7
north AmEricA And wEStErn EuropE
16.4
17.0
15.3
+0.2
+0.4
- 0.5
cEntrAl And EAStErn EuropE
12.8
12.8
12.8
+1.0
+1.0
+0.9
Source: UNESCO, 2005.

pattern and that this trend of boys’ under-participation is largely confined to
areas that have experienced higher growth in educational attainment rates.
The absolute number of children adds another dimension to this phenomenon.
The number of out-of-primary-school children, especially girls, is much higher
in regions where SLE is lower for girls. Sub-Saharan African and South Asian
Commonwealth countries fall in this category. It is interesting to note that the
number of out-of-primary-school girls is higher than for boys even in Latin
America and the Caribbean, where the SLE is estimated to be higher for girls.
This means that the phenomenon of boys’ under-participation concerns relatively
smaller numbers and is not a major concern at the primary stage of education in
any region (Table 2).
tABlE 2: numBEr oF out-oF-primArY-School childrEn:
A gloBAl picturE (1998 And 2002)




1998 (in ThouSandS)
2002 (in ThouSandS)
rEgionS
ToTaL
FEmaLE
maLE
ToTaL
FEmaLE maLE
SuB-SAhArAn AFricA
44,581
23,933
20,648
40,370
22,003 18,367
ArAB StAtES
8,491
4,991
3,501
6,906
4,025
2,882
cEntrAl ASiA
775
400
375
635
341
294
EASt ASiA And thE pAciFic
8,309
4,151
4,158
14,782
7,372
7,410
South And wESt ASiA
35,722
23,189
12,534
30,109
17,411 12,698
lAtin AmEricA And thE cAriBBEAn
3,620
1,997
1,623
2,084
1,226
858
north AmEricA And wEStErn EuropE
1,885
918
967
2,421
1,101
1,320
cEntrAl And EAStErn EuropE
3,340
1,830
1,510
2,569
1,366
1,203
Source: UNESCO, 2005.
5

boys’UNDErACHIEVEMENT
introduction & BAcKground
The issue of boys’ underachievement, however, assumes importance for later
stages as evidenced in terms of lower transition and participation rates for boys
in secondary and higher levels of education in many Commonwealth countries
– not only in the Caribbean and the Pacific, but also in sub-Saharan Africa and
Asia. Nevertheless, the analysis makes it apparent that lower transition rates
from the primary to the secondary stage for boys in some countries might be
a reflection of girls’ low participation at the primary stage, and hence cannot
be labelled as boys’ underachievement. A lower net enrolment ratio (NEr) for
boys at the secondary stage, on the other hand, is a clearer indicator of gender
disparity against boys for that level.
Table 3 selectively presents the picture from those Commonwealth countries
that have reported either a higher transition rate from the basic to the secondary
education stage or higher NEr or both. The table does not include those
Commonwealth countries, nearly 40 per cent of all, where both transition and
NErs at the secondary stage are lower for girls. A perusal of the table indicates
that the situation is quite varied even for these countries that show lower
transition or enrolment ratios for boys. The diversity in the trend makes careful
analysis and interpretation important.
A higher transition rate for girls in countries with a large disparity at primary
level in favour of boys simply reflects a situation where a smaller percentage of
girls reaches the final grade of primary, and hence a larger proportion continues
to secondary, whereas a larger proportion of boys reaches the last grade and
therefore a smaller proportion continues thereafter. In such situations, despite a
higher transition rate, NEr for girls remains lower than for boys at secondary
level. Countries like India, The Gambia, Uganda and Zambia fall in this
category. Boys’ underachievement is therefore not an issue in such cases.
There is another set of countries where the transition rates are higher for boys
but this still does not translate into higher participation rates at the secondary
stage. This implies that a high level of drop out occurs for boys within the
secondary stage. Then there are those countries where both transition rates and
NEr are higher for girls. Boys’ under-participation is a concern in both of these
circumstances. The countries in these two categories are also differentiated by
the fact that the rates for boys’ participation are lower than girls’ in a situation of
overall low enrolment rates in some countries (for example, a number of African
and Asian countries such as Bangladesh, Lesotho, Namibia and Swaziland).
6

boys’UNDErACHIEVEMENT
introduction & BAcKground
tABlE 3: trAnSition to SEcondArY EducAtion
And nEt EnrolmEnt rAtioS At SEcondArY lEVEl
in SElEctEd commonwEAlth countriES



2001-2002

2002-2003



TranSiTion raTE
nET EnroLmEnT raTio (nEr)



To SECondary STagE (%) aT SECondary STagE (%)
rEgion and CounTry
ToTaL FEmaLE maLE
ToTaL FEmaLE
maLE
aFriCa





BotSwAnA
93.9
94.3
93.6
53.6
57.4
49.9
gAmBiA, thE
78.5
79.8
77.5
27.9
23.9
32.0
lESotho
66.9
66.7
67.0
22.5
27.2
17.8
mAuritiuS
62.7
68.4
57.4
74.4
74.5
74.3
nAmiBiA
83.3
85.2
81.2
44.2
49.7
38.7
SEYchEllES
99.0
98.9
99.1
99.9
99.7
100.0
South AFricA
91.9
93.0
90.7
65.5
68.4
62.7
SwAzilAnd
78.1
79.6
76.6
32.4
35.6
29.3
ugAndA
42.2
44.1
40.7
16.5
15.6
17.4
zAmBiA
54.5
55.6
53.5
22.2
20.6
24.9
CaribbEan





BAhAmAS
79.4
77.9
81.0
75.8
77.3
74.4
dominicA
96.5
97.4
95.8
91.8
97.8
86.0
guYAnA
67.6A
70.7
64.7
76.4
77.9
75.0
JAmAicA
95.2B
90.7
100.0
75.4
77.0
73.9
St luciA
65.7
74.6
56.6
76.1
84.7
67.6
St VincEnt/grEnAdinES
51.1
57.8
44.2
58.4
60.8
55.9
trinidAd & toBAgo
97.4B 100.8
94.8
72.0
74.7
69.4
EaST aSia and PaCiFiC





AuStrAliA
nA


88.0
89.1
87.0
FiJi
98.4
96.6
100.0
76.0
78.7
73.4
SAmoA
97.5
99.4
95.7
62.1
65.4
59.1
mAlAYSiA
99.7
99.5
100.0
70.0
73.8
66.4
nEw zEAlAnd
nA


92.7
94.1
91.3
tongA
78.9
77.6
80.1
71.1
76.7
67.5
EuroPE and n. amEriCa





mAltA
90.7
92.0
89.6
86.8
87.8
85.8
cAnAdA
nA


97.6
97.9
97.4
cYpruS
99.4
98.9
99.8
92.8
94.3
91.4
uK
nA


95.2
96.6
93.8
SouTh aSia





BAnglAdESh
89.3
95.7
83.0
44.5
46.9
42.1
indiA
86.7
89.0
84.9
nA

Sri lAnKA
97.0
97.7
96.4
nA

A rEFErS to 1998-1999
B rEFErS to 2000 (unESco, 2004)
Source: UNESCO, 2005.
7

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introduction & BAcKground
On the other hand, in some of the Caribbean and Pacific countries in the
Commonwealth, the relative under-participation occurs in the context of overall
high enrolment ratios.
performance
Underperformance of boys is another dimension of underachievement. It is not
easy to assess performance and information is not readily available, especially
such as would facilitate cross-country comparisons. Different learning outcome
tests conducted in some countries are the major source of information. These
include the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), the survey
of the Southern and Eastern African Consortium for Monitoring Educational
Quality (SACMEQ) and the Trends in International Mathematics and Science
Study (TIMSS) being conducted in different groups of countries. Using these
tests as the indicator for performance has limitations as learning outcome is
only one aspect of performance. Moreover, the coverage of such tests has been
limited to specific geographical areas. Nevertheless, they help to explicate certain
significant aspects of educational outcome in those areas, and the available
evidence shows the following important trends1 :
• Girls tend to perform better than boys in countries where they have equal
access to the school system, irrespective of the income level. In countries
where girls are disadvantaged in terms of access, gender differences in
achievement are generally small or insignificant, implying that girls do not
usually underperform even when they are under-participating.
• Girls are usually more confident and perform better in reading as compared
to boys. The gender differences are usually not high in performance in
mathematics but girls feel less confident of performing well against boys.
understanding and addressing the issue
The above analysis establishes that though girls continue to be more
disadvantaged in education and face inequalities in many ways, the emerging
trend of boys’ underachievement also needs attention, especially in terms of
underperformance and in some cases even of under-participation. It is important
to understand the nature and causes of the problem and look at the possible
ways in which it could be addressed.
1
Based largely on trends as reported in unESco, 2005.
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This study is based on the analysis of secondary data from
… though girls
various sources and case studies of specific examples conducted
continue to be more
in four Commonwealth countries: Australia, Jamaica, Lesotho
disadvantaged in
and Samoa. The conceptual framework used for the analysis
education and face
is derived from the notion of gender equality in education as
elaborated in the following section.
inequalities in many
ways, the emerging
trend of boys’
underachievement

gEndEr EQuAlitY in
also needs attention,
EducAtion And BoYS’
especially in terms of
undErAchiEVEmEnt
underperformance and
in some cases even of

Gender equality in education can be defined in several ways.
under-participation.
Taking a cue from the capability approach, it can be defined
as ensuring equality of entitlement, equality of opportunities and equality in the
capacity to exercise the entitlements and use the opportunities for both girls and
boys belonging to diverse social, ethnic, linguistic or economic groups. The notion
of equality also refers to relational aspects and is linked to the issues of justice and
freedom. Any practice or trend that prevents either boys or girls, or both, from
realising their ful potential to grow into responsible and aware individuals needs
to be perceived as a hindrance.
Gender is a social construct, referring to the ways in which societies distinguish
women and men and assign them social roles. Often mistakenly equated with
the biological category of ‘women’, gender is actually a conceptual category
referring to masculine and feminine qualities, behaviour patterns, roles and
responsibilities. Femininity does not exist in isolation from masculinity as the
construction and power of the one determines the construction and power
of the other. This also leads to various forms of inequality and disparity
between women and men that affect their capacities and lives in significant
ways. It often works to the disadvantage of both: girls have to face restrictions
and confinements in various forms; boys have to face the pressure of being
breadwinners and protectors. It is in the interest of both men and women to
move away from existing unequal relations of gender. Education can be and
often is perceived as a process of expanding human capacities to contribute
to the making of a just, equal and compassionate society. However, it is
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It is in the interest of not necessarily always a process of empowerment and
transformation. It has equal potential or danger of being a
both men and women to process of socialising learners into existing norms, values and
move away from existing power structures and reinforcing unequal relations.
unequal relations of In this context, it is important to note that gender
gender. Education can equality cannot be viewed in isolation from other forms
be and often is perceived of inequalities that exist in different societies. Societies
as a process of expanding are stratified in most parts of the world, and gendered
human capacities to differences often get sharpened by other dimensions such as
contribute to the making race, ethnicity, location, class and other social or economic
of a just, equal and groupings that divide societies. Gender equality in education
compassionate society. should encompass the issue of disparities and inequalities
existing between different social and economic groups even
within the same sex. Similarly, it should also encompass the diverse nature and
extent of gender inequalities that exist within different groups.
The issue of boys’ underachievement needs to be understood in light of the
notion of gender equality as defined above. The questions that need to be
addressed in this context are:
• What are the finer aspects of this phenomenon as they are seen in different
countries?
• What are the variations in the nature of the trend as seen in different
countries?
• What are the trends when it comes to specific social/ geographical/ ethnic
groups in a particular country or region?
• Do socio-economic practices play any role in this and if so, what are these
and how do they operate?
• How are these related to the socialisation process of boys and girls and to
the expected gender roles in particular societies?
• How is this connected to curriculum and teaching-learning practices
adopted in schools?
• Does this have any link with teachers’ expectations, and if yes, what are
these?
• Is there any difference in the level of motivation between girls and boys
and, if so, what are the reasons?
• Do school and schooling processes question or reinforce the existing
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societal norms of masculine and feminine behaviours, images and practices?
• How do these various factors, socio-economic backgrounds, socialisation,
expected gender roles and schooling processes act on and interact with each
other and get manifested in boys’ underachievement?
• Does the trend of boys’ underachievement mean a situation of gender
privilege for girls?
Answers to these questions should help in understanding the trend, appreciating
the underlying causes and developing various ways to address the issue.
how thE rEport iS StructurEd
The report is organised into two parts and seven chapters. In Part I, this
introductory chapter is followed by a review of literature on the issue
of boys’ underachievement. The review helps in classifying the available
literature on the basis of the arguments that have been used to explain the
trend and therefore sets a context. The third chapter summarises the country
case studies – from Australia, Jamaica, Lesotho and Samoa – and attempts
to find answers to the questions posed above using both the
A specific advantage
available literature as well as the understanding emanating
that this study offers
from the case studies. The discussion on the background
of the identified countries also brings out their specific
is that it is one of the
economic and social contexts. In addition, Chapter 3 points
first to provide a cross-
out to the limitations of this work and provides pointers for
regional analysis, as
further research.
most existing studies
Part II contains the four country studies. The choice of
have so far looked at
countries from three different continents was determined by
the phenomenon in one
the desire to have regional representation of countries where
specific context only.
the trend has been evident and that offer the potential to
provide insights into the diverse nature of the issue. The case studies have
largely focused on an in-depth understanding of one example of a school/
educational institution/ programme that has been perceived as a solution to
the issue in the particular country. The interventions chosen include both
formal and outside-formal2 schooling initiatives, providing an insight into
2
the term ‘non-formal’ is being avoided deliberately as it has different connotations

ineducationandisidentifiedwithparticularprogrammesinvariouscountries.
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both kinds of strategies. The objective was to identify the commonalities as
well as differences in the causes and the potential solutions to the issue of
boys’ underachievement.
A specific advantage that this study offers is that it is one of the first to provide
a cross-regional analysis, as most existing studies have so far looked at the
phenomenon in one specific context only.

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2.
what the existing
literature says
common thEoriES
And prActicAl AnAlYSES
It is important to note firstly that when speaking of boys’ underachievement,
much of the literature does so in a comparative context relative to girls’
achievement in terms of indicators such as examination results, transitions
to secondary school, repetition and adult literacy. This definition of
underachievement has presented its own problems within the overall debate.
Gorard, Salisbury and rees (1999) challenge the methodologies used to produce
calculations on achievement gaps in the United Kingdom between girls and
boys. Acknowledging the problems around indices has led to recent literature
including the term ‘apparent underachievement’ more often
…the statistics
within the dialogue. This has been further informed as research
themselves – when
has progressed to show that the statistics themselves – when
disaggregated by other
disaggregated by other factors that go beyond the gender
divide, such as region, ethnicity and parental income – show
factors that go beyond
more complex results than a purely comparative approach
the gender divide, such
between boys and girls would warrant.
as region, ethnicity
and parental income

The debate on boys’ underachievement is not a new one in
several Commonwealth countries. Discussed since the 1970s,
– show more complex
it particularly came to the fore in the mid-1990s within the
results than a purely
Commonwealth’s developed countries of Australia, New
comparative approach
Zealand and the United Kingdom. Debates on the matter
between boys and girls
were also gaining increasing focus in the Commonwealth
would warrant.
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Caribbean. Outside of the Commonwealth, theories were being formulated
in other countries such as Germany, Japan and the United States. These
discussions were taken up at both popular and academic levels, and the period
has since been viewed as one of “moral panic” around the incidence of boys’
underachieving (Gorard, Salisbury and rees, 1999). As noted by Epstein et al
(1998), discussions prominent at the time need to be understood within their
historical context. They outline the existence of material that goes back to the
1970s on working class boys’ alienation from middle class schooling values, and
also look at the prevailing arguments debated at the time: ‘pity the poor boys’
– which attributed boys’ underachievement to ‘lost control’ and rising feminism;
‘failing schools failing boys’ – which challenged school effectiveness in the
provision of education for boys; and ‘boys will be boys’ – which tackled the issue
from an essentialist position of inherent differences of gender compatibility with
schooling.
In sub-Saharan Africa, although there have been reports from some countries
of boys’ underachieving (which seems to be largely tied to drop-out rates rather
than to poor performance), the continued problem of girls’ lack of access and
resultant academic underachievement means that the literature is still very
much in its infancy. Similarly, despite recent reports from some Commonwealth
countries in the Asia-Pacific region of boys’ underachievement, literature on
relevant countries has been difficult to locate except from Australia and New
Zealand. Assuming that the literature on these areas is in fact scant, this suggests
either that the phenomenon is very new or that the issue has so far stayed away
from both the journalistic and academic radars.
Out of the plethora of these inter-locking arguments, backlashes and already
existing reviews on the literature, this chapter seeks to locate the most common
strands within the material available on Commonwealth countries. As noted, the
literature on the situation in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom
is substantial. At the policy level also this issue has been thoroughly addressed in
these countries. In Australia, an inquiry into the issue led to a report called Boys:
Getting it Right
(House of representatives, Standing Committee on Education
and Training, 2002), while the New Zealand Education review Office
produced a publication on the Achievement of Boys (Aitken, 1999). In the UK,
the Office for Standards in Education published The Gender Divide: Performance
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Differences Between Boys and Girls at School (OFSTED, 1996), which focused
primarily on the increasing visibility of boys’ lower exam scores than girls’. The
debates in these countries have resulted in the rise of programmes targeted at
increasing boys’ achievement levels. This is true in the Caribbean as well, where
the Jamaican Government, for example, conducted a study and developed
programmes in response to its findings to address issues such as adolescent
disaffection.
Theoretically, there has been a strong focus on masculinity within gender
identity. These theories have evolved significantly over the last decade, going
from the ‘poor boys’ and ‘boys will be boys’ arguments that couched much of
the discussion within the framework of disadvantage (due to disaffection from
increasingly girl-centred school systems), towards calls for an acknowledgement
of multiple masculinities within society and the classroom context, and the
recognition of further societal factors affecting results-based underachievement.
Within the overall approach of masculinity studies, there are various sub-sections
that present themselves quite clearly for analysis.
Further theoretical considerations that take into account the interplay of socio-
economic factors and gender identity are also prevalent. The authors of these
writings put much of their analysis within situational contexts that allow the
discourse on boys’ underachievement in general to be unpacked by asking more
specifically: which boys? This has allowed in-country specificities to be more
deeply analysed. Pulled from this broad topic are three key, integrated themes
that have recurred regularly within the literature across several Commonwealth
countries: economic disadvantage and class; ethnicity and language; and
economic alignments within gender roles. An additional area of research that has
emerged in this context relates to school processes. A case study of an Australian
school (Lingard et al, 2002) falls in this category. The same school was revisited
by the present research, and the case study on Australia presented later in the
report looks at the observations made by Lingard et al in detail. Since not
many case studies discuss school processes as a separate causal aspect of boys’
underachievement, this review looks at the issue only within other contexts of
gender identity and masculinity.
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gEndEr idEntitY:
dEBAting mASculinitY
Concepts of the impact of masculinity on boys’ performance have been
popular throughout the debate on boys’ underachievement. Studies that
tackle the impact of gender stereotyping and set values of masculinity within
society and the classroom are found throughout the available literature. The
Caribbean experience in particular has been tackled from this standpoint.
A study conducted by CArICOM and the University of the West Indies
(Bailey and Bernard, 2003) shows strong indicators towards boys’ academic
underachievement in terms of performance and drop-out
Concepts of the impact rates. Figueroa (2000), in his study on male academic
of masculinity on boys’ underachievement in the English-speaking Caribbean, starts
performance have been with the premise that male underachievement is an ironic
popular throughout outcome of male privileging: men have traditionally occupied
a wider social space in Caribbean history, but are now the
the debate on boys’ victims of this privilege as women “carve out for themselves
underachievement. spaces which they hegemonise and within which the freedom
of the privileged group is restricted”. This “dialectic of privilege” is also referred
to by Davis (2002), who argues that the problem of boys’ underachievement in
Trinidad and Tobago, “like in other cultural contexts”, is defined by the issues
of “historical privilege, gender socialisation, masculine expectations and how
schools are organised for learning”.
The definition of masculinity itself has proved problematic for academics
tackling this issue, and has been caught between dominant, popular perceptions
of masculinity within societies on the one hand and a reality of multiple
masculinities on the other. Davis (2002) tackles the plurality of masculinity that
often arises by simply putting forward “the social and culturally constructed
meanings or definitions attributed to being male” as a working definition and,
although he also argues that masculinity should be considered in multiple forms,
he maintains that the “traditional” or “conservative” perspective of masculinity
usually dominates the discourse. In addressing the developing literature on
masculinities, West (1999) looks at the portrayal of masculinity in the media
using clichés that depict masculinity as natural and innate, and he suggests that
there has been slow progress in the academic study of the subject that would
more clearly highlight the term’s multiplicity. The public debate, he further
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argues, dominates the academic one, a consequence of the issues around boys’
underachievement being linked to feminism, and any questioning of boys’
perceived difficulties being linked with a “reaction against feminism”. Addressing
“common themes of masculinity”, West’s study unpacks “traditional” masculinity
as being based on three dicta – perform, protect, provide – that incorporate
the idea of proving and testing (proving to/ testing by other men, women,
themselves) that “they are not female”. This dialogue often takes place around
and through the male body, with a focus on measurements through physical
strength, and is informed through mediums such as Hollywood in the most
simplistic of terms.
The focus of a traditional ‘maleness’ as the antithesis of femininity has (perhaps
inevitably) provided ample material on sexuality within gender stereotyping
and the prevalence of homophobic underpinnings within traditional concepts of
masculinity. This argument is one explored by Figueroa (2000) as a consequence
of schooling being perceived by Jamaican boys as a feminine endeavour and, in
a society where homophobia is prevalent within the music and popular culture,
male bookishness running the risk of accusations of homosexuality. More
generically, West (2002) presents the bleak view that “when you are a 14-year-
old boy, almost anything can be called gay if it does not endorse Neanderthal
masculinity”. Epstein (1998) addresses the problem within the context of school
bullying and the resultant negotiation by boys, whether heterosexual or gay,
around dominant heterosexist expectations in the classroom.
gender roles and the ‘feminisation of academia’
Popular in the writing on the impact of traditional masculine identities on
boys’ underachievement is the perceived femininity of studies by boys. Figueroa
(2000) starts by placing this area within the Jamaican context and argues
that female gender roles are more conducive to the requirements of successful
studious behaviour. He contends that girls’ early childhood socialisation and
their role within the household work well with the demands of homework
and reading, whereas the social space occupied by boys rejects this. As equal
opportunities have increased within the educational system, these female gender
identities have become more and more in tune with the ethos of education
(discipline, more adult supervision, more responsibility) while boys have
increasingly been alienated from inhabiting the space of academic aspiration. As
boys fall behind within schooling, this problem becomes exacerbated by their
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acquisition of a defensive posture that translates into negative associations such
as homophobia.
Some of the literature on the feminisation of schooling has a complexity that
places it within the limits of (a) certain academic subjects that are dominated
by girls, often referred to as ‘soft’ subjects; and (b) a certain time-frame of
schooling that sees these perceptions of femininity being overcome by some
boys as they grow older. This presents a broader perspective on the overall issue
of boys’ academic underachievement that challenges the idea of boys being
disadvantaged in the long term. However, the literature also provides dissenters
to these standpoints.
The humanities and languages in particular have come under serious focus as
the areas where boys mainly underachieve. Marks (2001) shows that by age 14
girls in the UK start to substantially out-perform boys in English. Boys’ lower
performance has been attributed to the use of more ‘female-oriented’ reading
materials, with suggestions that the inclusion of more factual, ‘male-oriented’
works could increase male performance. This argument can also be found in
Hunte (2002) in the context of Guyana.
A number of studies…
A number of studies have pointed out how better
performance by boys in traditional y feminine subjects such as
have pointed out how languages is perceived to be ‘gender inappropriate’ and hence
better performance by undesirable in different contexts. Figueroa (2000) ties this
boys in traditionally discussion into a broader issue of Creole and slang and their
feminine subjects such as usage by boys in Jamaican society as a badge of masculinity,
languages is perceived to whereas standard English is viewed as effeminate. This issue
be ‘gender inappropriate’ surrounding language presents a further dialogue on class
and hence undesirable and ethnicity that wil be explored later. More general y,
Figueroa (2000) once again approaches the dominance of
in different contexts. better female performance in the humanities as a consequence
of gender stereotyping, where ‘harder’ subjects, such as the physical sciences and
mathematics, continue to be the preserve of males. In the Guyanese context,
Hunte (2002) argues the opposite by maintaining that as time goes by, the
sciences are also becoming more open to women. The changing roles of men and
women, he argues, are proving to be educational y disadvantageous for men, with
“the educated male fast becoming an ‘endangered species’”, as witnessed by the
outnumbering of men by women at the tertiary level graduations of the University
of the West Indies and the University of Guyana.
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Conversely, in one of the few findings on this subject in Africa, the Multi-Site
Teacher Education research Project (MUSTEr) included statistics showing
that despite successful attempts to address gender stereotyping in Lesotho
– with boys showing considerable interest in such traditional female subjects as
nutrition and cookery – there was nonetheless a rise in drop-out rates among
boys as they reached late primary and transitioned to early secondary school
(Jobo et al, 2001). This has linkages with economic issues, discussed later.
Epstein’s study (1998) on British education draws attention to the limitations
of the timeframe within which the impact of masculine perceptions and the
subsequent view of schooling as ‘feminine’ takes place. She argues that although
girls outperform boys in schools from late primary up to the taking of GCSE
examinations, this phenomenon does not extend to the sixth form and ‘A’
levels, where boys become free to aspire academically due to a shift within
masculine identity from anti-‘feminine’ and anti-school, to that of a “muscular
intellectualness” inherent within hegemonic middle-class masculinity. But the
fact that the British sixth form is a non-compulsory form of education, coupled
with the availability of this “muscular intellectualness” in only a narrow class
context, presents further questions of socio-economic factors and academic
universality that need to be addressed when studying boys’ underachievement.
In other words, while disaffection towards schools may inhabit a limited
timeframe, and any disparity for middle-class boys may be redressed in later
stages of academia, educational opportunities would already have passed for
many boys who lack the privileges of class.
male role models
The absence of male role models is a factor that comes up regularly within the
literature on boys’ underachievement, and it assumes the stance that boys’ needs
within both school and the broader society are different from those of girls. In
the Caribbean context, where the number of women-dominated and single-
parent households has been on the rise, the literature reviewed presents strong
concerns about the lack of male presence within the home as well as the school.
Hunte (2002), in the context of Guyana, argues that boys will seek out negative
macho role models to fill the gaps at home or school, and that the resultant anti-
schooling attitudes will leave an emotional deficit that inhibits their progress.
Figueroa (2000) takes this further and suggests that the absence of discipline meted
out to boys in Jamaica by women – who believe this to be the preserve of a father or
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other male figure – disadvantages boys by permitting their exploration of negative
masculine identity to be played out unchecked.
West (2002) analyses the problem of an imbalance of male and female teachers,
which potential y disadvantages boys by giving messages that ‘only women
teach’ and ‘only women read’. His paper further outlines studies that have been
conducted in Australia showing that boys value male teachers as role models
to get them through the difficulties of the classroom. West quotes a paper by
Bress (2000), who argues that males and females have a different language
– ‘genderlects’. This theory arguably takes the issue of role models out of
purely socialisation discourses and into the more contentious area of gendered
heredity. One of the few findings that addressed the issue of boys’ educational
underachievement and under-participation in Lesotho also stressed the lack
of male teachers in the educational system. However, the MUSTEr project
conducted in that country showed that the cause of boys’ dropping out was more
often in order to fulfil work obligations due to hard economic circumstances (Jobo
et al, 2001).
The literature surrounding male role models, especially in relation to the
Commonwealth’s developed countries, also has an ethnic dimension. For
example, a wealth of literature on the underachievement of Afro-Caribbean
The absence of male role boys in the UK educational system presents nuances that
go beyond simply gendered responses. Parallels with the
models is a factor that United States, where disaffection towards school among
comes up regularly within African-American boys has also dominated the literature, are
the literature on boys’ common. The academic literature in the UK concentrates
underachievement, and heavily on issues of ‘institutionalised racism’ such as teacher
it assumes the stance that expectations, streaming and curriculum relevancy. The call
boys’ needs within both for black male mentors is often heard within popular debate
school and the broader on the subject at the operational grassroots level and in the
media. A similar situation can be evidenced in Australia,
society are different where the underachievement of Aboriginal and Torres
from those of girls. Strait Islander boys is assessed by Aboriginal workers, as
reported in the Boys in School Bulletin, as being partly due to there being very few
Indigenous men employed in high educational positions (2000a). Another issue
that comes up in the same article is the inability of non-Indigenous teachers to
address specific cultural issues. Interestingly, despite records of low achievement
by white working-class boys, the literature is not as overwhelming in its call for
role models drawn from that class of society.
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teacher expectations
Some authors have argued that teachers in the classroom have been guilty of
gender stereotyping, and that low expectations of boys’ behaviour and academic
effectiveness contribute to the levels of boys’ underachievement. Figueroa
(2000), for example, suggests that there is a growing ambivalence within the
Jamaican educational system that allows the misbehaviour of boys to continue,
partly as a result of reluctance to curb the tendencies of traditional masculinity
that would endanger that identity. Davis (2002) goes further to argue that
boys are treated differently than girls as early as pre-school,
Some authors have
and that throughout primary school they receive lower ratings
argued that teachers
by teachers for social behaviour and academic expectations.
Martino and Berrill (2003) put forward work suggesting
in the classroom have
that male teachers in particular sometimes reinforce gender
been guilty of gender
stereotypical behaviours in boys rather than challenging them.
stereotyping, and
that low expectations

Jones and Myhill (2004a) argue that the identity of the
underachiever has become synonymous with the stereotypical
of boys’ behaviour
identity of boys. What is interesting is the authors’ concern
and academic
that such teacher expectations are not based on a belief of boys’
effectiveness contribute
innate academic inability, but more a belief in boys’ innate
to the levels of boys’
inclination to misbehave despite being quite bright, often due
underachievement.
to boredom. These teachers run the risk of rendering girls
invisible and of attributing girls’ higher achievement purely to hard work and
performance, whereas boys are seen as harbouring natural but latent abilities.
In another study, Jones and Myhill (2004b) articulate this concern further by
suggesting that when teachers attribute high performance to girls as a gender
norm, the underachieving girls become overlooked, whereas the high-achieving
boy is credited for having challenged his gender stereotyping.
Single sex or co-education?
The debate over whether boys perform better in single-sex or co-educational
schools remains fractured. Arguments that suggest boys adopt anti-school
masculine identities as a response to the feminised ethos of schooling can lend
themselves to conclusions that the provision of single-sex schools might be
effective in alleviating the problem. Hunte (2002) argues that, in Guyana’s case,
the re-introduction of single-sex secondary schools could put the education
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of boys on a fast track, as such schools are able to bring boys’ emotional and
learning needs more sharply into focus. Davis (2002) claims that single-sex
school will allow the freedom of multiple masculinities, but also maintains that
although these schools can help boys to embrace the diversity of male roles,
many position themselves as restoring a “normative masculinity” and act as
compensatory institutions.
research conducted in New Zealand has provided evidence that boys in single-
sex schools perform better than boys in co-educational schools. The Education
review Office report (Aitken, 1999) showed that both boys and girls achieved
better results in single-sex schools. Interestingly, however, even though boys in
single-sex schools outperformed both boys and girls in co-educational schools,
they lagged even more significantly behind their female counterparts in single-
sex schools than they would have done their female counterparts in co-ed
schools. Further data provided by the report also suggested higher levels of
managerial performance from girls’ schools as opposed to boys’ schools. This,
together with the continued higher academic performance levels of girls over
boys in single-sex schools, fosters the earlier arguments that girls and schools
are somehow conducive to one another where boys and schools are not. But
the statistics offered by this report also disaggregate the overall percentage
finding according to other factors such as the rural-urban divide and public-
private school ownership. These data present marked contrasts in the levels of
underachievement among boys, suggesting that deeper reasons going beyond
the gender divide are also at play.
thE intErAction oF Socio-
Economic FActorS And gEndEr
reed (1998) argues for the social justice perspective when dealing with the
education of boys and maintains that, by focusing simply on the “distribution
of goods” (i.e., qualifications), the dialogue is ignoring other important
factors such as structural inequalities, institutional processes and the separation
of the private from the public sphere. This article focuses primarily on the
performance of schools and boys’ underachievement, but the issues tie in with
broader concerns, such as social class, economic under-privilege, poverty and
ethnicity. Epstein et al (1998) clearly state that “overall, the ‘underachievement’
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of boys at school is a strongly classed and racialised phenomenon”, and that
class and parents’ education continue to be the most reliable indicators of a
child’s educational attainment. Nyland (2001) goes one step further to include
residential address as an indicator, and argues that educational reform needs to
go deeper than changes to curriculum and pre-service teaching courses. The
earliest literature that focused on masculinity and gender identity had a tendency
to make vague references to some of these issues. More recently, however,
authors have moved towards analysing the interface between the masculinity
debate and other factors that have allowed boys to be more accurately viewed in
smaller groups. This has enabled the literature to reflect the diverse factors that
can affect different groups of boys towards academic underachievement, and
present a clearer picture of the complex causes behind the phenomenon.
Economics, class and gender identity
While many of the problems that arise from class and economic disadvantage
within the findings are also entwined with the more detailed debate on
ethnicity, a distinction is being made for the sake of recognising the two as
related but distinct factors. UNICEF (2004) outlines the role that poverty has
to play in boys’ underachievement in the Caribbean and Latin America, where
governments have become increasingly aware that boys and young men are
more likely to be alienated from school if they come from poor socio-economic
backgrounds. A DFID study in Botswana and Ghana also shows the relationship
between economic disadvantages and boys’ underperformance (Dunne, 2005).
Although Botswana is ahead of Ghana in terms of universal primary education
(UPE) and educational provision for girls, overall statistics in the study showed
boys achieving more than girls. This pattern, however, went into reverse in
Ghana in the poorest peri-urban and rural schools that also registered the lowest
scores overall. In those areas, better relative performance by girls could be seen.
In Botswana there were two case studies where girls out-performed their male
counterparts, and again these were in the poor, low-achieving schools.
Across the globe in New Zealand (and across the development line as well),
statistics in the report by the Education review Office (Aitkin, 1999) also
show that the underachievement of rural boys relative to rural girls is far greater
than that of urban boys to urban girls. In this instance, the study points to
the limited options available in rural schools and the lack of opportunity to
study specialist subjects, but no specific mention is made of socio-economic
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disadvantage. A possible contributory factor put forward by the DFID study
for the Botswana and Ghana case studies was the lower attendance rates of
boys in schools within the peri-urban and rural areas (Dunne, 2005). The study
identifies reasons for boys dropping out in those areas of Ghana as related to
employment opportunities.
However, although the literature above has outlined that it is common to see
the most underachieving boys coming from socio-economically disadvantageous
backgrounds, the literature also maintains the fact that girls in those groups
are still out-performing their male social counterparts. So although both sexes
may be adversely affected by these circumstances, and therefore both achieve
below those from higher social classes, boys nonetheless remain
…it is common to see the at the bottom of even this more detailed hierarchy. This is
most underachieving corroborated by Brown (2001) in the case of Jamaica, where
boys coming from the suggestion is that boys are affected differently by economic
socio-economically and class issues within the society, such as the tendency towards
disadvantageous engagement in crime. Figueroa (2000) explains that the
backgrounds… minority of boys who do very well in school in Jamaica start
their education within the privilege of the private prep school.
These lines of arguments that show economic disadvantage being related to the
adoption of certain types of masculine identity ultimately lead to a conclusion by
some authors (such as West, 1999) that anti-school manifestations of traditional
masculinity are more commonly found among working-class boys. Mahoney
(1998) recommends that more work needs to be done on how boys from
UK working-class backgrounds are “subordinated by the practices, values and
conceits of white, middle-class modes of masculinity”.
Ethnicity, language and gender identity
Mahoney’s usage of not just ‘middle class’ but also ‘white’ brings us to the
next socio-economic sub-factor that has received considerable attention in the
literature. Within the discourse of poverty, economic disadvantage and class
there exists a further one on the roles of ethnicity and language within boys’
underachievement. Much of the data on this has come from developed countries
in the Commonwealth where racial and ethnic polarities and their relationship to
the economic power structure already feature significantly in broader academic
discourses. In the UK, this refers mainly to the Afro-Caribbean community, but
also to others where low academic achievement is particularly evident, such as
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among Bangladeshi and Turkish boys. Mortimore (1988) noted the relationship
between economic disadvantage, class and ethnicity in London’s schools. Much
of the literature on Australia in this regard refers to Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander boys, while lower levels of achievement have been noted in New
Zealand among the children of immigrants from the Pacific Islands as well as the
Maori community.
A wealth of literature, going back decades, exists on Afro-Caribbean boys
underachieving within the British education system. The focus on boys,
however, is often seen within the much broader context of underachievement
by both girls and boys in those communities. Coard (1971) was one of the
first to critique the UK education system for being unresponsive to the needs
of black children and for inherent institutional racisms. Graham and robinson
(2004) used a methodology where black boys voiced their own experiences. The
authors argue that British educational policies continue to deny the existence of
race and racism and to consider the different positioning of black boys in the
wider society. richardson (2005) has edited an anthology of work that tackles
the underachievement of black children. One of the interesting points to come
out of this book is in relation to the debate on ‘tiering’ within exams, and how
negative expectations by teachers of black children, and in particular of boys,
result in attainment ceilings being placed above them.
Much of the popular debate about black boys’ underachievement has
revolved around the assumption that the group operates as a homogenous
disaffected entity. Explanations can lean easily towards ‘blameist’ arguments,
with the influence of rap music, absent fathers and gun violence being held
directly responsible. Indeed, when debating disadvantageous socio-economic
circumstances, even when also addressing institutional racism that refuses
to acknowledge these circumstances, some of the heterogeneity that exists
within the group can be overlooked. Moving beyond the Commonwealth for
examples, we see much of the data produced on underachievement of socially
disadvantaged (and often black) boys in Brazil is related to the call of street
culture and gang peer pressure. Sewell (1998) sought to address differing
attitudes among underachieving Afro-Caribbean boys through empirical research
at an inner-city school in the UK. His findings placed the boys within categories
that were defined by differing characteristics, such as “conformists” and
“retreatists”, as well as “rebels”. He concludes, contrary to much of the literature
that has been produced, that the school constructs a more complex, ambivalent
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and contradictory male identity, with many boys actually positioning themselves
within a pro-school stance.
In Australian research, both West (1999) and Nyland (2001) indicate the
prevalence of underachievement from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
boys. West highlights that especially at risk are Aboriginal boys
Much of the popular and boys from homes where the first language is not English.
debate about black Nyland adds children with learning difficulties and those
boys’ underachievement living in isolated rural areas, but more specifically takes up the
has revolved around impact of home language on achievement. She argues that
the assumption that where the Australian school curriculum expects language to be
used appropriately, the term ‘language’ actually simply means
the group operates English.
as a homogenous
disaffected entity. But these broader dynamics of power and inequality again
do not adequately explain why boys from these marginalised
groups in Australia continue to achieve less than their female minority
counterparts. This was more adequately approached in the Jamaican context
by Figueroa’s (2000) explanation mentioned earlier of the perceived femininity
of standard English and the masculine association with Creole and slang,
particularly among boys from poorer backgrounds. In that context, the interface
between economic disadvantage, gender identity and ethnicity as it pertains
to the use of language is arguably clearer. One of the many discrepancies that
come up within the Australian literature in terms of ethnicity is the relative
‘over achievement’ of boys who come from Asian cultural backgrounds.
Similarly in the UK, this applies to students of Indian origin (although with
the underachievement of Bangladeshi boys, the South Asian grouping is also
fractured in this respect) and East Asian boys.
New Zealand has also produced material on the underperformance of Maori boys
relative to their white counterparts. While the Education review Office report
(Aitkin, 1999) mentions Maori boys only in the context of schools where boys
have performed better, the Boys in Schools Bul etin (2000b) provides evidence of
consistent underachievement by both Maori boys and more broadly by boys
deemed to be of a low economic status. There is also evidence to suggest that
Pacific Island children living in New Zealand fal within that bracket.
What is also clear in all these cases is that while boys’ underachievement within
those social groups is a problem, girls in those groups are also underperforming
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in relation to their female counterparts from higher status social groups. In many
cases they also under-perform against boys from higher status social groups.
This phenomenon is seen clearly in the UK among many minorities. A report
of Education Scrutiny Panel (2003) into the underachievement of Turkish boys
concluded with recommendations that while the panel was formed to investigate
boys, the major cause of the underachievement – low rate of English language
acquisition – affected both sexes. What it did not clearly outline were the
differentials in achievement between Turkish boys and girls.
cultural economic alignments with gender roles
Of the less abundant literature available from Africa where boys are not
academically achieving as well as girls, the alignment of gender and economic
roles emerges more clearly as a determinant of boys’ dropping out of school
and underachieving. The DFID comparison between Botswana and Ghana
already mentioned highlighted the lower performance of boys relational to girls
within peri-urban and rural schools, and attributed this in part to the need for
those boys to access employment opportunities at an earlier
What is also evident
age (Dunne, 2005). Further research on Botswana noted in
Equals Newsletter makes a correlation between the traditional
in all these cases
role of boys as cattle herders and increased drop-out and low
is that while boys’
enrolment rates in the transition from primary to secondary
underachievement
school (Challender, 2004). The absence of fathers and older
within those [minority]
brothers, who leave to work in the diamond mines, puts
social groups is a
the pressure on boys to take on this position. With half of
problem, girls in
families in Botswana owning cattle, this is not necessarily a
those groups are also
factor only applicable to economically marginalised groups.
A ‘graduation’ on to the mines as the boys grow older only
underperforming
compounds the perceived lack of need for boys’ education.
in relation to their
Within this scenario, as the Newsletter clearly notes, there is
female counterparts
a complex issue of macroeconomic policy (an undiversified
from higher status
economy reliant on natural resources) and a new slant on
social groups.
traditional gender roles from those we have so far encountered
in the literature in Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the
Caribbean (ibid).
Similarly, the MUSTEr paper on Lesotho places that country’s current
experience with boys’ underachieving in school within an economic and cultural
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history of gendered economic alignment (Jobo et al, 2001). It argues that male
child labour is very common in Lesotho, with young boys in the rural areas
being denied their right to education by being hired out as herdboys from a very
young age. This phenomenon is rooted in Lesotho’s past, where boys from 18
years of age would go the South African mines and parents felt that boys did not
need any education to work. The retrenchment of more and more men from the
mines has yet to be adequately addressed within this attitudinal standpoint. And
yet, despite the lack of education of many boys in Lesotho in comparison to
their female counterparts, the MUSTEr paper also points out that women are
still significantly discriminated against in other spheres of life (ibid).
BoYS undErAchiEVEmEnt in thE
widEr gEndEr EQuitY contExt
This leads to the consideration of a further strain within some of the literature
that has been produced on boys’ underachievement, which essentially seeks to
answer the question: Where should one place the debate around boys’ relative
underachievement in school within the wider context of overall gender equity?
As Epstein (1998) notes, the mid-1990s movement towards boys’ issues initially
produced a ‘the future is female’ fear as part of the panic that resulted from
evidence of boys’ apparent underachievement in school. Jackson (1998) notes
that in the UK “the language of educational inequality has dramatically shifted
over the last twenty years”, from the focus on girls’ disadvantage in the 1970s,
to the mid-1990s when boys’ disadvantage took centre stage. The debate on
boys and school became grounded in a to-and-fro scenario between anti-feminist
backlashes and counter-backlashes. In the Caribbean, we have already seen in the
work of Hunte (2002) that boys are being viewed as an “endangered species” as
a result of their educational underperformance.
Yet, some of the literature places the debate within equity indicators outside
of strictly educational attainment. In Lesotho, for example, as noted above,
female educational achievement was shown not to equate with increased socio-
economic progress (Jobo et al, 2001). Women were still legally regarded as
minors, with very little economic power such as land ownership. And this
paradox is not restricted only to an arguably extreme case such as Lesotho.
Although not all the studies on the Caribbean concur with this, Figueroa
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(2000) clearly highlights evidence that suggests women have to gain much
better qualifications than their male counterparts in order to access the work
market, with men still achieving far more in the employment sector despite their
overall lower grades. By positioning his debate about boys’ underachievement
as inseparable from various forms of “patriarchal capitalist restructurings”,
Mahoney (1998) argues that there is a danger that discussions on transforming
masculinities, even from the most radical stance, can overlook the secondary
positioning of women within the wider spectrum of gender relations.
Although such considerations are increasingly mentioned in
Broader indicators such
much of the literature, there has been a lack of more inclusive
as economic ownership,
research into the cumulative positions of men and women
political participation
in society. Broader indicators such as economic ownership,
political participation and relative earnings according to
and relative earnings
gender have not fully been put into context on this issue
according to gender
of boys’ underachievement relative to girls even by those
have not fully been
countries mentioned in this chapter that have yielded the
put into context on
most literature.
this issue of boys’
This review of literature, along with the conceptual frame
underachievement
outlined in the first chapter, provides the context for
relative to girls…
analysing the issue of boys’ underachievement by going
deeper into the trends in four Commonwealth countries: Australia, Jamaica,
Lesotho and Samoa. The case studies of different initiatives in these four
countries are analysed in the next chapter to understand the phenomenon
better and trace pointers for policy or programmatic solutions. The chapter also
attempts to identify areas for further research in this context.

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3.
varying dimensions
and lessons emerging
from selected
commonwealth
countries
This chapter attempts to broaden the existing understanding of boys’
underachievement by looking at the situation in four Commonwealth countries –
Australia, Jamaica, Lesotho and Samoa – in greater depth. The analysis is primarily
based on the case studies of these countries found in Part II, but it also draws from
the existing literature wherever relevant. For each of these four countries, it tries
to identify the causes for the issues as they exist in that context and analyses an
initiative undertaken to address the situation in order to determine (a) how far this
has succeeded in the specific context, and (b) to what extent it has the potential for
providing indications for policy or programmatic solutions.
SociAl And Economic
BAcKground oF thE countriES
The four countries that were identified for this study are different from each
other not only in terms of size and location but also in a number of social and
economic indicators, as demonstrated by Table 4.
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tABlE 4: SElEctEd dEVElopmEnt indicAtorS For
AuStrAliA, JAmAicA, lESotho And SAmoA

auSTraLia
JamaiCa
LESoTho
Samoa
incomE cAtEgorY
high
lowEr-middlE
low
lowEr-middlE
populAtion (millionS)
20.1
2.7
0.8
0.2
pEr cApitA gdp (uS$)
29,632
4,104
2,561
5,854
humAn dEVElopmEnt indEx (hdi)
0.955 (3)
0.738 (98)
0.497 (149)
0.776 (74)
gEndEr-rElAtEd dEVElopmEnt indEx (gdi) 0.954 (2)
0.736 (75)
0.487 (114)
nA
notes:
1. hdi is a composite index based on life expectancy at birth, adult literacy rate, combined enrolment ratio for
primary, secondary and tertiary education and per-capita gross domestic product (gdp).
2. gdi is based on life expectancy, education index and income index.
3. Figures in parentheses in rows 3 and 4 represent the respective world ranking.
Sources: Income category from the World Bank, 2006; other information from UNDP, 2005.
While Australia is a large country with a population of more than 20 million,
Lesotho and Samoa are tiny in comparison, each with a population of less
than a million, and Jamaica is also comparatively small with a population of
less than 3 million. A large proportion of the Australian population is made
up of immigrants from diverse backgrounds and a small proportion consists
of aboriginals, who are now marginalised in social and economic terms. The
society has a multicultural nature, and different languages are spoken at home.
It is a high-income country with a high level of human development and
gender equality, yet it has pockets of inequalities in terms of socio-economic
development as well as education.
Lesotho, a landlocked African country, and Samoa, a country consisting of two
large and six small islands in the Pacific, are relatively homogenous in terms of
the nature of their populations and languages. Lesotho is a low-income country
with a low rank in human development and gender equality as measured by the
Human Development Report (UNDP, 2005). A third of the population lives in
the highlands and most people speak Sesotho. Livestock forms an important part
of their lives. Samoa has a single system of societal organisation and language.
Economically, it is much more advanced than Lesotho, the per capita GDP in
the former being more than twice as high as the latter.
Jamaica is closer to Samoa in economic and developments indicators. Both are
lower-middle income countries falling somewhere in the middle in the human
development and gender equality world rankings. The most populous English-
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…these four countries…
speaking Caribbean island, Jamaica is a predominantly
black nation, with approximately 98 per cent of the
provide a diverse picture population being of total (90.9 per cent) or partial (7.3
of social features and per cent) African descent. The remainder of the population
economic development, is made up of East Indians (1.3 per cent), Chinese (0.2
therefore presenting an per cent, whites (0.2 per cent) and ‘other’ (0.1 per cent).3
opportunity to understand Although racial differences are not as important as class
the commonalities as well differences, the lightness of one’s skin is still an issue,
as the varying nature especially since the minorities are generally members of the
upper classes.
of the phenomenon of
boys’ underachievement It is obvious that these four countries in the
in different contexts. Commonwealth provide a diverse picture of social features
and economic development, therefore presenting an
opportunity to understand the commonalities as well as the varying nature of the
phenomenon of boys’ underachievement in different contexts.
thE iSSuE: commonAlitiES
And diVErgEncES
The preceding chapters have highlighted that
i the issue of boys’ underachievement in education is essentially viewed
and discussed in relative terms, contrasted to the achievement of girls in
education, and
ii underachievement in education has two dimensions: under-participation
and underperformance.
This section looks at these two dimensions of boys’ underachievement in
relation to girls’ in the four countries, as depicted by the various available
indicators. While it is relatively easy to get information on participation
indicators for different countries that are comparable, this is always not the
case with performance indicators. Countries adopt different ways of assessing
performance, and information on these is not readily available. Hence, for
participation an attempt has been made to use comparable indicators using
the same data sources, whereas for performance whatever data is available for
3
Jamaican information on population from 2006 ciA world Factbook:

www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/fields/2075.html.
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different countries has been accessed and analysed. Despite these limitations
of data, the analysis provides an idea of the situation in these countries in a
comparative sense.
relative under-participation of boys in schooling
A perusal of Table 5 shows that the situation in terms of literacy and educational
participation at school level is quite different in these four countries.
tABlE 5: SElEctEd EducAtionAl indicAtorS For
AuStrAliA, JAmAicA, lESotho And SAmoA (pErcEntAgES)

auSTraLia JamaiCa LESoTho Samoa
Adult litErAcY rAtE (mAlE)
nA
79.8
73.7
98.9
Adult litErAcY rAtE (FEmAlE)
nA
80.2
90.3
98.4
gEndEr pAritY indEx (gpi) in litErAcY rAtE
(FEmAlES/ mAlES)

1.00
1.22
1.00
nEt EnrolmEnt rAtio (nEr) – primArY (mAlE)
96.4
94.4
82.9
98.6
nEr – primArY (FEmAlE)
97.2
94.8
88.6
96.4
gpi in nEr – primArY (FEmAlES/ mAlES)
1.01
1.00
1.07
0.98
nEr – SEcondArY (mAlE)
87.0
73.9
17.8
59.1
nEr – SEcondArY (FEmAlE)
89.1
77.0
27.2
65.4
gpi in nEr – SEcondArY (FEmAlES/ mAlES)
1.02
1.04
1.53
1.11
Source: UNESCO, 2005.
Australia is a fully literate (not shown in the table) country with a high level
of participation by both boys and girls at both primary and secondary levels.
Participation is not universal, however, and more needs to be done to raise
enrolment rates at the secondary level. Gender parity is slightly tilted in favour
of girls at both primary and secondary levels, but the disparity is marginal and
therefore not significant.
Samoa is close to Australia in terms of literacy at higher than 98 per cent for
both males and females, with a GPI of one (showing complete gender parity).
The enrolment ratios for primary education are also high and similar to those of
Australia, but the same is not the case for secondary education where enrolment
ratios are much lower. Gender parity is in favour of boys at primary level but
it changes sharply at secondary level. Not only do girls have a much higher
enrolment ratio, but the differences between the enrolment ratios are also much
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higher in comparison to those at primary level. This trend occurs while the
enrolment ratios for both boys and girls remain low in general, and lower in
comparison to Australia.
Jamaica presents a picture somewhat similar to Samoa in terms of enrolment
ratios. At primary level these are nearly 95 per cent for both boys and girls, but
gender disparity occurs at secondary level where the enrolment ratio for boys is
lower than that for girls. The level of difference between boys and girls, however,
is less than that for Samoa at secondary level as participation remains high for
both sexes in Jamaica. On the other hand, the literacy rate in Jamaica is much
lower at only about 80 per cent for both males and females. Lesotho, which is
economically much behind Jamaica, has a significantly higher literacy rate for
females. However, it is the only country out of these four that shows significant
gender disparity in literacy rates, relatively lower yet quite notable disparity in
primary level participation rates and very high disparity in
The…analysis makes secondary level enrolment ratios.
it clear that under-
participation is a major The above analysis makes it clear that under-participation is
issue for boys in Lesotho; a major issue for boys in Lesotho; it starts at primary level
and becomes very serious at secondary level. However, this
it starts at primary level disparity needs to be viewed in a situation of very low levels
and becomes very serious of participation for both boys and girls at secondary level.
at secondary level. Under-participation is also an issue in Samoa at secondary
level, while that is not the case for the primary stage of schooling. Jamaica falls
in the same category as Samoa, though the level of under-participation is not as
high as Samoa even at secondary stage. Australia does not appear to be facing
the problem of under-participation of boys at any level.
relative underperformance of boys in schooling
Australia
The major issue relating to boys’ underachievement in Australia is
underperformance. Two types of sources have been used to indicate this:
secondary stage results and the outcomes of Programme for International
Student Assessment (PISA), a large sample survey in Organisation for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries and a few developing
countries. A number of indicators for secondary stage education in the 1990s
indicated underperformance of boys in different parts of the country. For
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example, aggregate results at Grade 12 level show that in the 1999 New South
Wales Higher School Certificate, for subjects studied by more than 100 students,
the girls’ average mark was higher than the boys’ in 36 of the 40 subjects by
up to 11 per cent. In 1998 in Queensland a greater proportion of girls were in
the top performance bands in 36 of 45 Year 12 subjects, and in 1998 in South
Australia a higher proportion of girls were in the top performance bands in 27
of 34 subjects in Year 12. The difference between boys’ and girls’ average results
in the New South Wales Tertiary Entrance Score (TES) widened from 0.6 marks
in 1981 to 19.4 marks in 1996, with the difference increasingly rapidly in the
early 1990s.
Australia was one of the top scorers in all three areas – reading, mathematics and
scientific literacy – in the PISA 2000 results. No significant difference in girls’
and boys’ performance in mathematics and science was reported in any of the
Australian states or territories in 2000. PISA 2003 also did not show any gender
difference in the means for overall mathematical literacy in Australia. But twice
as many males as females achieved the highest PISA proficiency level, showing
that girls were at a disadvantage when it came to mathematics. The situation
changes, however, when it comes to reading literacy. Girls performed better
than boys, though the level of difference was lower in Australia than most other
OECD countries. The gap also varied between different states and territories
within the country, being significantly higher in some as compared to others.
The Australian analysis also shows that socio-economic status compounds the
difference between boys and girls in the case of reading literacy. Boys from
low socio-economic backgrounds were found to be almost twice as likely
to be in the lowest quarter of reading literacy results as girls from similar
backgrounds. The results for mathematics and science also show a relationship
between socio-economic status and the likelihood of achieving a low score,
but this is the same for both boys and girls in science and not large enough to
be significant in mathematics. Thus the relationship between socio-economic
status and achievement in mathematical and scientific literacy in Australia was
not as strong as the relationship for reading literacy. This suggests that schools
may play a larger role in the development of mathematics and science skills
than they do in reading skills, a conclusion that is corroborated by the fact that
students in Australia who came from a non-English-speaking home background
performed at an equivalent level in mathematical literacy to students whose
home language was English, but at a lower level in reading and scientific literacy.
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Students’ results also showed some differences according to the location of
their schools. Students in provincial cities performed as well as students in large
cities and major urban areas, but students whose schools were in remote areas
performed worse than other students in reading and scientific literacy. There
was no difference in mathematical literacy results by location of school. The
environment outside school appears to be having an important role in building
reading literacy and to some extent scientific literacy.
An analysis of results related to ‘engagement with reading’ provides some
insights into girls’ higher reading literacy scores. ‘Engagement with reading’
reflects how much students like reading, how much they enjoy
… gender is only talking about books and going to libraries, whether reading is
one dimension of a favourite hobby, and so on. Australian students were at the
differentiation that same level as the OECD average in this area, but girls scored
characterises the significantly higher than boys on this index in most countries
performance outcomes including Australia. Attitudes towards reading were moderately
strongly related to reading achievement in Australia.
of 15-year-olds in
Australia. Socio-
It is also noteworthy that though nearly 40 per cent of
economic status turns Indigenous students in Australia performed on par with the
average, in general they performed at a lower level than the
out to be more critical non-Indigenous students in all three assessment areas. Gender
for both boys and girls.
differences were similar to the other Australian students, with
females outperforming the males in reading literacy. No significant gender
differences were found in mathematical or scientific literacy.
The analysis of PISA results makes it clear that gender is only one dimension
of differentiation that characterises the performance outcomes of 15-year-olds
in Australia. Socio-economic status turns out to be more critical for both boys
and girls. However, what makes gender important is that similar trends of
no significant difference in mathematics and science scores and a significant
difference in favour of girls in reading literacy are observed for all socio-
economic and social groups.
Jamaica
A study on gender differentials in enrolment and performance at the secondary
and tertiary levels undertaken by the Caribbean Community (CArICOM) has
been used as the major source for getting evidence for performance-related
indicators in Jamaica (Bailey and Bernard, 2003). Using data submitted by
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countries for the June 2002 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC)
examinations offered by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), it was able
to determine male/ female achievement gaps by subjects.
The CArICOM study shows that boys’ and girls’ achievements in Jamaica are
evenly distributed at the General Proficiency level in 11 science subjects, with
each gender having an achievement gap advantage in five subjects and one
subject showing no evident advantage either way. The trends are somewhat
similar to Australia, as girls perform relatively better in languages and the
humanities and boys in science and mathematics. In the humanities (General
Proficiency) girls clearly show better performance in all the subjects with the
exception of French. With English language and literature being included in this
category, the concerns regarding diminished literacy among boys and therefore
the lack of rudimentary capacities needed for further education and learning are
clear. Jamaica thus faces both under-participation and underperformance of boys
at the secondary level of schooling.
Lesotho
Lesotho does not show a clear trend of boys’ underperformance. The results
of the second round of Southern and Eastern Consortium for Monitoring
Educational Quality (known as SACMEQ II), an assessment survey held in
a number of African countries, has been used here as a source. SAQMEC
originated from a survey in Zimbabwe in 1991 and was later expanded to 13
countries, which included Lesotho in the second round. SACMEQ II assessed
reading and mathematics achievements of Grade 6 on a sample basis. Boys and
girls showed similar scores in almost all areas of Lesotho in these tests. The
results of SACMEQ II 2000-2002 show that there is no notable difference
between boys and girls even in reading literacy in the country. This is despite
the fact that repetition rates are higher for boys. According to a report by the
Ministry of Education and Training (2000), girls perform better than boys in all
the grades at the primary education level, but the scores for both sexes level off
in the final examinations. The main problem with boy’s underachievement in
Lesotho is under-participation.
Samoa
Two kinds of indicators are used for understanding performance in Samoa. The
country has a system of conducting tests at the end of Years 4 and 6 in three
subject areas: English, Samoan and numeracy. These assessments are used as
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diagnostic tests to identify low scorers, with those not achieving a minimum
level of desired competencies being designated ‘at risk’. This is one source of
information for lower levels. Another is the mean scores achieved in different
subjects at the end of Years 8 and 12. Admission to post-basic level after Year 8
is determined by performance in the National Year 8 Examination, and hence
it assumes special significance even for participation at the secondary stage of
schooling.
The results for different years show that the proportion of boys identified
as being ‘at risk’ has consistently been higher than that of girls for all three
subject areas for both Years 4 and 6. The proportion of those not achieving the
minimum desired competencies increases for both boys and girls in English
and numeracy and decreases for Samoan at Year 6 in comparison to Year 4,
but the disparity between the sexes continues, the proportion ‘at risk’ being
much higher for boys in all the subjects. Unlike other countries, boys are not
performing better even in numeracy in Samoa. In other words, with about 69
per cent of boys and 44 per cent of girls being ‘at risk’ in English and 76 per
cent of boys and 58 per cent of girls being ‘at risk’ in numeracy (Government
of Samoa, 2004a), the situation is alarming for both sexes, though far worse
for boys.
A perusal of mean scores achieved in five subject areas – basic science, English,
mathematics, Samoan and social sciences – for the National Year 8 Examination
at the end of the primary level for 2001, 2002 and 2003 clearly show girls as
performing better than boys in all subjects. The trends are similar for Year 12
results, where girls outperform boys in terms of mean scores in all subjects
including mathematics, economics and physics. The difference, however, in
mean scores is less notable in physics and mathematics as compared to other
subjects such as economics, English or Samoan. Chemistry is the only subject
where boys show consistently higher mean scores than girls for the period
(2001-2004) for which data have been analysed. Although mean scores can
be a deceptive indicator (as they do not reveal the proportion that actually
achieves the mean, below mean or above mean), they do indicate clearly that
boys are underperforming in Samoa. There is under-participation as well as
underperformance, the former being more notable at secondary level while
the latter is an issue at both primary and secondary levels. Underperformance
at primary level could be one of the causes leading to under-participation at
secondary level.
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Summary
The above analysis makes it clear that Australia and Lesotho each face one aspect
of boys’ underachievement in education: Australia faces only underperformance
whereas Lesotho faces only under-participation. On the other hand, Jamaica
and Samoa face both under-participation and underperformance, especially
at secondary level. The problem is sharper and more obvious in Samoa as
compared to Jamaica. Boys’ underperformance is limited to languages and
humanities in Australia and Jamaica, which is the trend in most other countries
wherever boys’ underachievement has been noticed, whereas this is visible for
almost all subjects in Samoa. The following section discusses some of the reasons
that could explain these findings.
whAt ExplAinS thESE trEndS?
This section draws from the country cases as well as from the available literature
on boys’ underachievement, gender equality and masculinities from these
countries and elsewhere in and outside the Commonwealth. An effort has
been made to understand these issues in their particular contexts by identifying
general as well as typical causes of the trends in boys’ underachievement as
reflected through various means and measures. The analysis
… it should be
shows that, while it is important to understand the specific
stressed that boys’
context, certain underlying causes are fairly universal. This
is especially so in the case of boys’ underperformance,
underachievement in
particularly in languages and the humanities. Under-
any of these countries
participation, on the other hand, has a range of explanations,
is not a result of the
some having similarities while others are very context
secondary position
specific.
of men or gender
In this regard, it should be stressed that boys’
under-privileging,
underachievement in any of these countries is not a result of
and hence cannot be
the secondary position of men or gender under-privileging,
compared with the
and hence cannot be compared with the under-participation
under-participation
in education that girls have faced in all parts of the world
in education that
at some point in time, and continue to face in many places
even now. Most societies are primarily patriarchal and,
girls have faced in all
despite varying degrees of change witnessed over time,
parts of the world…
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gender relations remain in favour of men in more than one way. For instance,
Lesotho’s patrilineal and patriarchal system continues to subordinate women
to men, and the customary law classifies women as minors that need to
be perpetually subjected to the guardianship of their male counterparts.
Customary laws and tradition also remain paramount in Samoa. The aiga, or
extended family, is important in terms of decisions and is headed by matai.
While women are not prohibited by the Constitution from being elected as
matai, many villages ban women for being chosen for this position. This
restricts their political participation as only matai title holders can run for
elections. In general, customary law and tradition provide greater power and
authority to men (PPSEAWA, 2004). The data from these four countries on
economic and political participation, the two major indicators for women’s
empowerment, clearly reveal that even where the law does not differentiate
between the sexes, women’s participation rates are visibly lower than those of
men (Table 6).
tABlE 6: Economic And politicAl pArticipAtion oF
womEn in AuStrAliA, JAmAicA, lESotho And SAmoA:
SElEctEd indicAtorS

auSTraLia
JamaiCa
LESoTho
Samoa
FEmAlE Economic ActiVitY (%), 2003
56.7
67.3
47.7
nA
FEmAlE Economic ActiVitY AS % oF mAlE rAtE, 2003
79.0
86.0
56.0
nA
% SEAtS in pArliAmEnt hEld BY womEn, 2005
24.7
11.7
11.7
6.1
% womEn in goVErnmEnt At miniStEriAl lEVEl
20.0
17.6
27.8
7.7
Source: UNDP, 2005.
This indicates that the explanations for boys’ underachievement either in terms
of under-participation or underperformance in education have to be located
within a situation where men continue to be advantaged in terms of power and
privileges. The apparent reasons as emanating from different sources and case
studies have been classified into three categories:
i social, economic and occupational practices;
ii paucity of school places and facilities; and
iii conformity to ‘masculine’ gender identity and ‘feminisation’ of schools.
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i. Social, economic and occupational practices
Some socio-economic and occupational practices appear to play a role in keeping
boys away from schooling, especially in Lesotho, and to some extent in Jamaica
and Samoa.
As noted earlier, the highlands in Lesotho, where about one third of the
population lives, have a tradition of boys herding livestock. Apart from being a
source of pride, these animals are an important source of livelihood, and wealth
was traditionally counted in terms of the number of livestock
Some socio-economic
a family had. From as early as the age of ten, herdboys
and occupational
spend their days taking the family’s livestock to a field where
they can graze. During winter this often means taking the
practices appear to play
animals a few miles from home; when spring planting begins,
a role in keeping boys
these young boys need to move the herd further up into
away from schooling,
the mountains to look for pasturelands. Herdboys are one
especially in Lesotho,
of the main groups that remain outside the fold of modern
and to some extent in
education. A number of researchers have pointed out that
Jamaica and Samoa.
herding of animals is considered a good practice even in
terms of socialising the male child to become a responsible member of family
and society (Mokhosi et al, 1999). Most herdboys come from a poor family
background, and the situation is worse for children who serve other families as
herdboys and stay with their employers. They work for poor remuneration from
a tender age and are denied many basic rights.
A clear relationship to socio-economic or occupational practices is less obvious in
Jamaica and Samoa. In Jamaica, women have a higher unemployment rate despite
having higher educational participation and achievement rates. For instance,
unemployment rates for males in 2004 stood at 8.1 per cent as against 15.7 per
cent for women, and in terms of active job-seeking only 4.5 per cent of males
were looking for work as against 8.4 per cent of women.4 It is possible that the
labour market favours male employment and as such women continue with higher
education as the only available choice. Women may also need to perform better
to compete with men in a market that shows a bias towards male employment.
However, in the absence of clear evidence, these are only conjectures.
The employment data in Samoa reveals that a high proportion of men are
employed in traditional occupations such as agriculture, hunting and forestry,
4
data from Statistical institute of Jamaica, Jamaican labour Force Statistics. Available at:

http://www.statinja.com/stats.html
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the proportion being as high as 44 per cent as against 14 per cent for females
according to the 2001 national census (Government of Samoa, 2003c). It
is likely that a preponderance of occupations that do not call for modern
education as a pre-requisite means there is no catalyst to increase the demand
for secondary schooling among males. However, there is no definite evidence to
arrive at this inference conclusively. It is also possible to surmise that the labour
market favours male employment and therefore women have to have higher
qualifications to compete, and as such they continue their studies while boys
discontinue theirs.
ii. paucity of school places and facilities
A deficit in the supply of schools, school places and adequate schooling facilities
appears to be playing an important role in boys’ underachievement in Lesotho
and Samoa. Highland areas in Lesotho face a paucity of teachers, especially
qualified ones, as lack of facilities makes rural areas unattractive. A study
undertaken by the Government of Lesotho and the World Bank (2005) revealed
that 51 per cent of teachers in mountain areas are unqualified, compared with
only 24 per cent in lowland areas. Even these figures may mask greater teacher
shortages in the most isolated schools, many of which might not have any or
only one qualified teacher.
Samoa appears to be facing the problem of a lack of school places at secondary
level. Admission to secondary schools depends on performance in Year 8
examinations, and underperformance of boys at primary level translates into under-
participation at secondary level. Therefore, though the paucity of school places is
not directly responsible for boys’ underachievement, an increase would enable more
boys and girls to participate in secondary schooling. This is perhaps particularly
true for rural areas as there is a concentration of facilities in the major island.
Available information from Australia and Jamaica does not show any such trend.
It is important to add at this juncture that a paucity of qualified teachers or
school places should affect both boys and girls, and it is difficult to assert that
it affects boys more adversely. However, when seen in conjunction with the
prevalent practice of boys adopting the profession of herdboy in Lesotho,
and with an admission policy based on Year 8 results in Samoa where boys
are underperforming, it can be safely inferred that such deficits affect boys’
participation more adversely in these specific situations.
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iii. conformity to ‘masculine’ gender
identity and ‘feminisation’ of schools
Conformity to ‘masculine’ gender identity that clashes with the demands of so-
called ‘feminised’ education emerges as the most important and common reason
given to explain underperformance of boys in general, and in humanities and
reading in particular. While this relationship is clearer and better researched in
Australia and Jamaica in comparison to Lesotho and Samoa, the evidences of
‘masculine’ identities and expectations of conformity to these are
Conformity to
clear even in those two countries. What is not so obvious in these
‘masculine’ gender
two cases is how this relates to the underachievement of boys.
identity that clashes
There are several dimensions of differentiated gender identity
with the demands of
that interact with education and provide certain explanations for
so-called ‘feminised’
boys’ underachievement. As mentioned earlier, gender is a social
education emerges as
construct, referring to the ways in which societies distinguish
the most important
women and men and assign them social roles. Every society has
its own notions of feminine and masculine qualities, behaviour
and common reason
patterns and roles and responsibilities. Despite minor and
given to explain
sometimes major differences in these notions across different
underperformance
societies, certain aspects of what define masculinity and femininity
of boys…
appear to be fairly universal. Men are universal y viewed as
warriors and protectors and women as care-givers. Masculinity is associated
with physical and mental toughness, the capacity to conceal emotion, capability
for sexual conquest and fatherhood, and with not being feminine. ‘Not being
feminine’ assumes special importance when one tries to trace the relationship
between masculinity and boy’s underachievement in education (see chapter 2).
Formal education started as a male prerogative, and women across different
parts of the globe earned this right only after much struggle over time. Till a
few decades ago, education was still men’s preserve even in the Western world.
For girls and women, it was a special accomplishment to be able to access and
complete education. With the rise of the feminist movement and the struggle for
equal rights for women, having equal access to education became an important
goal as well as a means for women’s advancement. Education has been and is
seen as a means of attaining other rights for women, and education itself is
viewed as an achievement. As such, one of the factors that explain the better
performance of girls is the sense of accomplishment that is attached to education
for women.
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However, the societal notions of masculinity and femininity have entered the
arena of education as well. The streams of education and the professions that
were considered most ‘suitable’ for women had their roots in the care-giving
role and included subjects such as home-science, teaching, languages and
nursing. Masculinity, on the other hand, came to be associated with subjects that
demanded either precision or ‘application of mind’, e.g., science, mathematics
and economics, or physical strength and power such as sports. Having equal
access to and opportunities for education in all subjects and entry to all
professions, including so-called ‘masculine’ ones, is something that women are
still fighting for across the world. Therefore, an important distinction that came
into being is that entry to traditionally ‘men’s subjects’ or ‘men’s professions’ is
an achievement for girls and women, but the opposite is not the case for boys
and men. Since masculinity continues to be associated with ‘not being feminine’,
anything that is considered ‘feminine’ is considered not ‘masculine’ enough.
The socialisation of boys also affects their personalities, perceptions and
performance in education. A perusal of the literature on masculinity in the context
of homophobia emanating largely from countries like Australia, Jamaica, the UK
and the US helps il uminate the nature of homophobic references, its impact on
the masculine identity of boys and its relationship with boys’ underperformance
in education. Plummer (1999), for instance, traced through research in Australia
how the use of words with homophobic connotations starts early at primary
stage and targets boys for many non-sexual behaviours and preferences as wel .
A number of these words are used, among other things, against boys who prefer
academic pursuits or solo men’s sports over team sports, who are interested in
reading books and doing wel in class, who are ‘teacher’s favourite’ or who choose
subjects that are ‘feminine’ and so on. These have deeply negative connotations
and serious implications for boys’ behaviour and personality.
Plummer (2003) rightly argues that
[during] crucial early periods in a boy’s development homophobic
words are deployed against non-sexual targets and these meanings
persist into adulthood alongside later antigay connotations. Coherence
between the early (nonsexual) and later (antigay) meanings is achieved
because all of the meanings (early and late) share the quality of
targeting behaviours and characteristics that are deemed inappropriate
for boys as they mature. Thus homophobia is rooted in gender
dynamics, but rather than specifically marking the inter-gender divide
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between masculinity and femininity, homophobia marks an intra-
gender divide between appropriate, peer-endorsed masculine behaviour
and a lack of appropriate masculinity (a failure to measure up).
Conformity to peer-endorsed masculine behaviour in school has direct
implications for their performance, especially in languages and reading. Plummer
(2005) suggests that “while not inherently gendered, the discourses deployed by
the boys reveal that these transgressions do have a gendered basis…homophobia
is triggered by departures from the expectations of the male peer group: by
doing anything that, according to the group, a ‘real man’ would not do”.
Seen from this perspective of what is referred to as ‘hegemonic masculinity’ by
some5, school and education are viewed as ‘feminised’. Boys are not supposed to
have an academic orientation and should not have any al egiance to teachers, as it
would be tantamount to betrayal of the peer perception of ‘manhood’. The fact that
a particular kind of language that promotes use of slang is considered appropriate
for boys, as discussed in the last chapter in the context of Jamaica, makes it difficult
for them to perform wel in language. On the other hand, as noted earlier, the
feminisation argument also stems from the fact that girls’ early
On one hand, inter-
childhood socialisation and their role within the household
gender divides play a
works wel with the demands of homework and reading
role where girls come to
(Figueroa, 2000) and suits the ethos of education. It is obvious
that the way these notions affect boys’ performance is complex
school with a different
and multilayered. On one hand, inter-gender divides play a role
kind of socialisation,
where girls come to school with a different kind of socialisation,
making them more
making them more amenable to schooling processes and
amenable to schooling
demands; on the other, intra-gender pressures further push boys
processes and demands;
away from academics, especial y certain subjects.
on the other, intra-
In this context, it is important to point out that the debate on
gender pressures further
masculinities and their impact on boys’ underachievement also
push boys away from
helps in understanding the class or racial/ ethnic characteristic of
academics, especially
the phenomenon. The review of literature in the previous chapter
certain subjects.
has shown how in the context of Australia, Jamaica and the UK,
boys from working-class backgrounds are more likely to continue with anti-school
manifestations of masculinity, drawing them towards crime and anti-social behaviour
in their adulthood, whereas boys from middle-class backgrounds find an alternative
manifestation of masculine identity in the form of intellectual pursuits.6
5
See connell (1987).
6
See, for instance, Epstein (1998), Figueroa (2000), Brown (2001), west (1999, 2002)

and mahony (1998).
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thE initiAtiVES
The case studies from Australia, Jamaica, Lesotho and Samoa that form the
next four chapters have tried to document the experiences of certain initiatives
at micro level. Two of these are formal schools while the other two are outside
the formal primary or secondary education system. In their own way, all of them
have tried to address the issue of boys’ underachievement, and the analysis of
the experiences offers some lessons. This section provides a summary of the
interventions followed by a discussion of the lessons learnt for (and questions
raised about) likely solutions to the issue.
i. creating a learning organisation in a multicultural,
poor socio-economic neighbourhood, Australia
The school that was identified for this case study was a government inner city
co-educational primary school located in Queensland. The school had previously
been the subject of a detailed case study and identified as “one of the best for
boys” by Lingard et al (2002), and the conclusions drawn in this case study are
based on the earlier observations as well as those made in a recent visit.
A large primary school located in a low-income area, with over 800 students
and 65 teachers, the school faces multiple challenges because of the socio-
economic and linguistic background of its students. Most of the children’s
families are poor, coming from various cultural backgrounds and ethnic/
linguistic minorities. Student absenteeism has been high, late arrival common
and behaviour management a major issue. The school is especially relevant to
this report because
i socio-economic status is the most important factor related to
underperformance of students in Australia;
ii boys relative underperformance is evidenced largely in reading literacy; and
iii the difference between boys and girls achievement outcomes for reading
literacy is wider for lower socio-economic status groups.
The school has been maintaining a database of progress of students, which
shows positive change over the years. The school considers its focus on a
collaborative pedagogical approach as the key to its success. This approach is
said to help everyone, both those who have traditionally been underachievers
and those who have been performing well. The reasons for this success can be
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traced to imaginative and committed leadership from the principal and a number
of pedagogical reforms initiated in the school. Strategies for greater involvement
of parents have also been introduced.
The analysis of the experiences of this school helps in identifying two specific
practices that has helped the school and its children perform well:
i An empathetic understanding of the socio-economic, linguistic and cultural
background of students; and
ii A focus on cooperation and engagement in teaching methods and learning
opportunities.
Interviews with both teachers and the principal showed that they recognised
the challenges of the poor socio-economic status and multicultural
backgrounds of students, but that they also saw this as an opportunity. Most
teachers showed a good understanding of students’ backgrounds and the
impact these could have on behaviour as well as learning, and none of the
students interviewed shared any negative experience from
The school considers its
any teacher in this context. There was an overall belief
focus on a collaborative
in children’s innate desire and ability to learn, with the
principal noting that it is schools or individuals that switch
pedagogical approach
off this basic desire.
as the key to its success.
The school focuses on cooperation and teamwork in its pedagogy and the
kinds of learning opportunities it tries to create. It uses double teaching spaces,
and two teachers work as a team to teach two grades. The use of interactive
whiteboards in all double classroom spaces is a special feature of the school
and provides a good example of the potential that technology has in making
classrooms more engaging and interactive for students. Classroom observations
showed that children enjoyed taking turns on the board and discovering new
aspects of whatever they were learning through its use. Students also mentioned
how, in addition to making subjects more interesting, using the board helped
them to develop skills such as teamwork and sharing. Special efforts are made
to engage children needing special attention. No gender differentiation was
observed in terms of work allocation and efforts to engage children in different
activities.
Interviews with teachers, students and the principal as well as classroom
observations suggested that the school did not have any specific intervention
for boys or girls, and did not perceive this to be a major issue. rather, the
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teachers were addressing the needs of each child depending on her or his
situation. Students did not perceive of subjects as ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’,
as was seen in some of the statements they made in their interviews when
several boys identified the arts as their favourite subject. When they did express
stereotypical notions about boys and girls, these came from experiences in their
homes. Although the school did not explicitly engage in countering such gender
stereotypes, engaging all students in all types of activities and encouraging all
students in all kinds of subjects was helping to break these down.
The case study of the school makes it clear that it could be termed a learning
organisation in the sense that it is continuously learning from others’ experiences
as well as from its own. For example, research studies on similar schools were
carefully analysed for learning lessons, and the principal encouraged teachers to
experiment and share their experiences. This is how the interactive whiteboard
got introduced into one classroom and then from there to the entire school. It
is also important that technology was not being viewed as a means in itself, but
rather as a way of promoting interactive learning. Another example is that the
principal and teachers showed a reflective attitude regarding their challenges,
efforts, successes and failures. The development of an positive learning
environment that took the students’ social circumstances into account could
largely be attributed to the direction provided by the principal, who was taking
the lead in understanding the specific needs of the school, promoting team
teaching and also allowing leadership skills to be developed in all teachers.
ii. implementing a project, ‘change from within’,
in a single-sex boys’ secondary school, Jamaica
A former Vice Chancellor of the University of the West Indies (UWI), the
late Sir Philip Sherlock, came across four inner-city schools in Jamaica that,
independently of one another, were trying various ways of dealing with
essentially the same problems of increasing violence and anti-social behaviour
among boys. He brought them together under a programme called ‘Change
from Within’, which involved a team of scholars at UWI in an applied research
project to find ways of building the self-esteem of students, which in his opinion
lay at the root of the problems. The principals, a few support staff and a the
research team met as a Circle of Friends once a month to share experiences
and ideas, plan strategies for action and learn how to improve leadership skills.
A range of action research projects were undertaken, followed by strategic
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actions. This also promoted partnerships among all stakeholders including the
community, teachers, parents and students. The programme expanded from four
to seven schools during the period when it was being led by the University and
later to 32 schools. The methodology developed on the basis of analysis of work
being done in seven schools by the UWI team helped in the later expansion.
Within a similar approach, each school had the freedom to adjust strategies
according to its own specific situation. The focus was on:
i creating a general awareness of the process;
…effective leadership
ii building social skills;
required a set of
iii establishing positive interdependence; and
important qualities.
iv encouraging supportiveness and building a good
interpersonal environment.
Some of these were:
shared vision,

At another level, this also included elements of institution
commitment, team
building within the schools. A number of workshops,
approach, problem
training sessions and meetings were organised that provided
guidance and assistance to teachers and encouraged them to
solving/ conflict
identify the problems and generate workable solutions, map
reduction skills,
plans for action and implement strategies.
openness to learning
and the ability to

The Circle of Friends meetings were central to the
methodology and facilitated effective feedback and
provide mutual support
communicative planning. As group members were faced
and to help manage
with the challenge of mobilising participants at a number
the distress and
of different levels, it became clear that effective leadership
challenges of change.
required a set of important qualities. Some of these were:
shared vision, commitment, team approach, problem solving/ conflict reduction
skills, openness to learning and the ability to provide mutual support and to help
manage the distress and challenges of change. A series of school-based action
research projects identified two factors as primarily responsible for the alienation
of boys from schooling and education:
i the nature of the early socialisation of boys by parents, their community
and school; and
ii the ‘drill to kill’ teaching and learning methods that were perceived as
having increasingly marginalised boys and also girls from the schooling
process.
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The introduction of ‘active learning’ and innovative ways of engaging parents in
the education of their children produced positive outcomes.
One of the schools implementing the CFW programme had once been a very
prestigious school, educating Jamaica’s elite. However, its image had changed
as the school started taking children from poorer backgrounds and it faced
problems of violence, gang-culture, drug addiction and under-performance.
Poor family relations made the students undisciplined and insecure, and there
was inter-school rivalry and conflict. On the teaching side, there was low teacher
motivation, ‘cliquism’ among teachers and a lack of effective staff development
programmes.
Three kinds of strategies were followed in an attempt to change boys’ desires
to conform to a stereotypical male identity and help them to develop a wider
worldview. The first was to introduce strict rules relating to weapons and
violence. It had been common for students to bring weapons to school and
use them within and outside the school compound. A stringent ban was
instituted on weapons and any instrument that could be used to inflict injury,
as well as on cellular phone use, and metal detectors were introduced to catch
violators of the rule. In addition, an emergency response team was formed
to deal directly with violators. The second strategy was the introduction
of effective and easily accessible counselling services to help boys shed the
stereotypical masculine identity that stopped them from being emotional
and inter-dependent. The death of some boys from the school was a great
shock and led many boys to seek counselling, which helped them to accept
different norms of living. Counselling has assisted students a great deal in
facing and challenging peer pressure and forming a different kind of identity
in due course. The third major strategy was to follow a transparent and
inclusive approach where teachers, parents and the students themselves were
treated with confidence and trust that helped the school win the support of
all stakeholders.
Although there are still some problems of continued drug addiction among a
small proportion of students, the school has succeeded to some extent in making
the desired changes. It can perhaps change more if the curriculum and teaching
practices also become more inclusive and empathetic.
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iii. A basic education programme through distance
mode, lesotho
The Lesotho Distance Teaching Centre (LDTC), a department of the Ministry
of Education and Training, was set up in 1972 to use distance education
methods to address the needs of students who had not passed the final secondary
education examinations. In 1977, a literacy and numeracy section, now the
Centre for Basic Education, was added to provide literacy and skill training. This
was started when it became clear that, despite the introduction of free primary
education, some sections of society were not attending
The formal education
school. The reasons for this included the practice of having
boys tend to livestock as well as the lack of value placed on
system is not geared to
education. The Learning Post (LP) programme was thus
deal with the specific
intended to cater for illiterate and semi-literate learners, a
needs of children coming
large proportion of whom are herdboys. It is very flexible and
from disadvantaged
allows learners to complete the course at their own pace and
backgrounds, and
time.
learners who had
Those enrolled in the LP programme gave as their motivation
dropped out stated
the hope of better employment opportunities and being able
that they had not
to deal with the exploitation that they often face. The formal
felt comfortable there
education system is not geared to deal with the specific
because of being older
needs of children coming from disadvantaged backgrounds,
and learners who had dropped out stated that they had not
than other students
felt comfortable there because of being older than other
and because of a lack of
students and because of a lack of attention from teachers.
attention from teachers.
These drop outs largely came from uneducated and poor
households, where almost all mothers were housewives and fathers were farmers.
The flexibility helped them cope with their need to also help support their
families and engage in practices such as cattle grazing. Although not equivalent
to primary education, the programme covers basic literacy and numeracy skills
in addition to some vocational skills. All the respondents who were consulted
stated that the programme has had a positive impact on the learners and their
communities. Graduates of the programme have been actively participating in
community-based development projects, which was seen as a good use of the
skills acquired through the programme. There have been more male students – a
large number of them herdboys – in the LP programme than females students.
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However, although the programme has had a positive impact and helped a
number of children and adolescents acquire skills that they would not have
acquired otherwise, it has been questioned on several grounds. The LP
programme does not provide learners with a full cycle of primary or basic
education and hence it cannot be considered as equivalent to the primary
stage. It thus does not appear to be in conformity with the rights approach as
it provides an inferior substitute for poor children, a criticism often made of
alternatives that do not have the same or equivalent curricula. In addition, the
relevance of the present curriculum has been questioned and the need has been
highlighted to include additional topics such as conflict resolution, HIV/AIDS,
career guidance, etc. A number of respondents suggested that the nature and
quality of vocational skills need to change if the learners are expected to use
these to find employment.
The low monthly honoraria paid to the programme administrators and teachers
has led to most of the staff being middle-aged women as wel as to a high
incidence of turnover. Despite this, however, the level of motivation among these
administrators/ teachers is usual y observed to be high, one of the major reasons
for the quality of delivery remaining acceptable despite adverse conditions. At
the same time, it became clear in the process of consultation that motivation
alone cannot sustain the programme and a number of interventions are required
to improve it further. Major obstacles to improvement include the lack of a
conducive environment and of adequate facilities for schooling. The respondents,
particularly the administrators, indicated that the schools’ proprietors do not al ow
the programme administrators to use their facilities. This confirms the finding
of almost al evaluations undertaken for LDTC, which have recommended the
more active involvement of stakeholders such as school proprietors, field-based
education officers and parents/ guardians to improve the environment.
The LP programme relies heavily on the print and face-to-face modes of
delivery, and there appeared to be widespread agreement that the use of modern
technology would make the programme more accessible and cost-effective. This
is especially relevant given the mountainous and remote nature of the terrain.
However, while reception of radio Lesotho is generally good throughout the
country, its increased use as an education tool would only be possible if poor
communities could be provided with radios.
For a number of reasons, the retention rates are apparently not very high in the
LP programme. The most important has to do with the herdboys’ lifestyle, as
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those who are employed tend to change employers and so may move from the
district or locality in which they were able to participate in the programme. Even
when the boys herd their own cattle, the long working day makes it difficult
for them to attend classes in the evening. Attendance may also be sporadic as
boys tend to spend longer periods at the cattle post during winter while girls are
retained at home for help during harvesting periods. It is obvious that the whole
issue of child labour needs to be addressed as these practices clash with any form
of schooling. Sometimes herdboys join circumcision school, after which they
discontinue other forms of education. Early marriages are common, and girls are
often not permitted to go back to class after marriage or pregnancy. Language
also acts as a barrier in some cases due to not everyone speaking Sesotho (the
main language).
iV. A vocational education alternative
to secondary education, Samoa
Don Bosco Technical Centre is a single-sex boys’ institution that responds to the
needs of marginalised boys who have dropped out of regular formal secondary
schools. It aims to facilitate their holistic development through an emphasis on
technology education, career preparation and opportunities to develop social
awareness. The Centre opened in 1989 with 32 students and
The boys in the Centre
had 250 in 2005. Most of the students come from the rural
villages of the two largest islands: Upolu and Savaii.
revealed that teaching
and teacher-related

The four-year programme of study at the Centre focuses
factors had been
on design and technology associated with woodwork,
metalwork, plumbing, mechanical engineering and boat
the most important
building and includes theory, practical applications and
barriers to their
information about the range of available career possibilities.
achievement in regular
Students are also offered courses in mathematics,
mainstream schools.
communication skills, basic literacy, Samoan culture and
religion. In addition, the Centre seeks to develop in its students the virtues
of honesty, integrity, responsibility, trust and loyalty and strives to foster a
commitment towards religious and moral convictions. It operates a flexible
arrangement whereby students may leave on finding employment. Students
who remain at the Centre for the duration of four years have a very high rate
of success in terms of finding a job or continuing on to further studies.
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The boys in the Centre revealed that teaching and teacher-related factors had
been the most important barriers to their achievement in regular mainstream
schools. They cited corporal punishment, threatening language, favouritism
and lack of attention to weak students as examples of teachers’ negative attitude
towards boys from poorer families. The curriculum and pedagogy were
described as narrow and uninspiring, with teachers failing to provide feedback
and differential learning for varying abilities. There were also home-related
factors that had caused them to drop out, the most common of which was the
inability to pay school fees and meet other school costs. Girl-related factors
included the fact that boys perceived girls to be distracting and feared being
ridiculed in front of them due to lack of relationship skills. It appears that poor
performance was also due to poor knowledge of the English language, which
is the medium of instruction in secondary schools. A test of students entering
the Centre showed that none of them had the proficiency required for learning
other subjects through that language.
Most of the students at the Centre are there to obtain the skills necessary to
finding a way to earn a living in order to pay back a perceived debt to parents,
church and society. Students reported a great sense of achievement at the
Centre in terms of learning skills related to technology and its application,
development of appropriate attitudes, values and behaviour, and other life
skills. They spoke of developing a sense of purposefulness, a keenness to learn
and a disciplined lifestyle. Many of them reported improvement in language
skills, and they also made special mention of communication skills, including
increased confidence to interact with audiences of different sizes and ages. In
addition, the boys appreciated the feelings of independence and self-confidence
that came from being allowed to design and complete projects on their own.
They felt respected and cared for.
The students identified seven principles that had led to their high level of
support for the Centre and for their good performance: (1) enabling school
environment, (2) school leadership, attitudes and philosophy, (3) nature of
the curriculum, (4) education for life, (5) teachers’ attitudes and philosophy,
(6) teachers’ pedagogical knowledge and skills and (7) teacher-student
relationship.
The school stresses the importance of respectful and meaningful dialogue
between teachers and students, principal and students, and students and
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students. Ways in which this is created include an annual residential one-
week retreat for the entire school and regular whole school meetings with the
principal. Students agreed that these meetings, which are used to challenge,
motivate and counsel, had a great impact on them. A collective identity and
cooperative attitude is also developed through the Centre’s participation in
outside-school events – including competing in the long boat (fautasi) races
and sporting competitions and performing traditional dances. Students’
achievements are highlighted in order to increase their self-esteem and self-
image. Corporal punishment is not allowed.
The combination of
The combination of theory with practical and workplace
theory with practical
experience is clearly considered an effective approach by both
students and teachers. An emphasis on interpersonal skills,
and workplace
understanding gender-related issues, diversity, decision-making
experience is clearly
skills, creative thinking and problem-solving skills, analytical
considered an effective
skills for assessing self and others, information-gathering skills,
approach by both
coping and stress-management skills prepare them for life. The
students and teachers.
teacher-student relationship appeared to be relaxed and based
on trust and respect, with teachers showing confidence in students’ ability to
do things on their own and students appreciating the special attention given to
those who were perceived to be weak.
There is no doubt that the Centre has helped these boys develop worthwhile
skills and values including knowledge of various technologies, positive
attitudes and behaviours, life and workplace skills, and spirituality. A language
test also indicated an improvement in language and literacy as a result of their
time at Don Bosco. On the other hand, the school also seems to reinforce the
students’ traditional notions of masculinity. Although this has helped in giving
the students an identity and a purpose, it fails to change gender relations in the
long run and therefore needs to be questioned.
Considering the fact that not much is known about the construction of
masculinity in Samoan society and how, if at all, that interacts with school
processes to contribute to boys’ underachievement, it is difficult to arrive
at definitive conclusions. The philosophies about maleness, masculinity and
boys’ ability to process themselves as males in Samoa and the interactions
between these philosophies, practices and some of the evident patterns for
males such as suicide and underachievement need to be studied further. With
such deep-rooted beliefs in the role of the male in serving the family, it would
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be important to find out what happens to males’ notions of dignity when they
find themselves in positions of underachievement at school and then in the
community if they are unable to get paid employment.
how to AddrESS thE iSSuE:
lESSonS And QuEStionS
From thE initiAtiVES
The case studies of these four initiatives, one each of a formal school from
mainstream systems in Australia and Jamaica, and two of outside-formal system,
one using a distance mode for primary education in Lesotho and the other a
means for alternative secondary education in Samoa, provide certain interesting
insights regarding ways to address the issue of boys’ underachievement. There
are obvious limitations to generalising from case studies, and it is important
to be aware of those caveats before applying the lessons on a wider scale.
Nevertheless, the case studies succeed in providing valuable pointers for policy
and programmatic solutions, and also raise questions for further research that
would help in understanding the phenomenon better.
School leadership plays a major role
Boys’ underachievement, either in terms of participation or performance, is a
result of a complex interplay of forces; it is not a creation of school processes
alone. As such, it would be unfair to expect schools to provide a complete
solution. Nonetheless, the case studies from Australia, Jamaica and Samoa
clearly reveal that schools can make a difference. The three schools were dealing
with difficult circumstances in different contexts – an Australian school facing
children coming from diverse ethnic and low socio-economic backgrounds,
Jamaican students practicing violence and Samoan students having failed in the
mainstream schooling system – and used reformed management and pedagogical
practices to succeed in helping students achieve.
In all three cases, school leadership played a very important role. The principals
of the three schools have been a source of inspiration to their teachers as well
as students. They have taken bold decisions regarding introducing reforms in
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management as well as teaching practices, and carried them through. They
have shown signs of leading a learning organisation in continuously seeking
new opportunities to learn and promote experimentation by colleagues. The
environment in these schools helped develop leadership skills among teachers in
general, reflecting the principals’ leadership and managerial skills.
Anemphasisoncooperation,confidence-buildingand
conflictresolutionhelpscreateanenablingenvironment
An emphasis on cooperation, confidence building and conflict resolution as
against competition and rivalries appears to help in creating an enabling school
environment for teachers as well as students. The focus on cooperation even in
classroom organisation in the Australian school succeeded in creating an ethos
where teachers are dependent on each other and young primary grade children
also identify mutual dependence and teamwork as essential
An emphasis on
skills. The ‘Change from Within’ project in Jamaica focused
on cooperation, and the participating principals not only
cooperation, confidence
learnt from one another but also passed on the principles of
building and conflict
shared vision and teamwork to their teachers and indirectly
resolution as against
to students. Students in the Samoan school clearly identified
competition and
the creation of space for continuous dialogue between
rivalries appears to help
teachers and students as an important positive feature of
in creating an enabling
the school. These practices helped create an environment
school environment
of trust. This proved to be critical in developing a sense
of self-worth among boys, a key requirement for better
for teachers as well
performance and achievement at any age.
as students.
A focus on active learning and respect
for students helps to engage them
The focus on active teaching-learning processes, as against practices that require
children to sit passively and learn, helped in engaging students and improving
their achievement levels. These practices have to be chosen on the basis of
age-appropriateness. The primary school-age boys and girls in the Australian
school enjoyed working on the electronic board that allowed them space for
experimentation and discovery, whereas the secondary school-age boys in the
Samoan school appreciated undertaking projects from the beginning to the end
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on their own, and both sets of children identified these activities as confidence-
boosting and leading to better learning. The experience of the Australian school
showed that both sexes enjoyed active and participatory learning as compared to
those practices that did not require them to engage themselves. The case studies
do not provide space for this analysis for secondary-stage students as both the
schools under consideration (Jamaica and Samoa) are single-sex boys’ schools.
respect for students, irrespective of their age, emerges as an important factor
that helps them develop respect for teachers and appreciation of teachers’ efforts.
Boys in the Jamaican school and Samoan centre clearly felt respected, which
made them take their teachers more seriously. In this context, it is interesting to
see that the principles that are emerging as successful in contributing to better
performance of boys are also the ones that generally help any student, boy or
girl, to perform better.
Female teachers a barrier: myth or reality?
A preponderance of female teachers in schools in certain countries, especially
in the Caribbean and Pacific in addition to the developed countries, is often
cited as a characteristic of school that deprives boys of suitable role models. The
initiatives studied here do not provide any definitive indicators in this regard.
The Australian school is co-educational, with the majority of
…it is interesting to teachers being women. This did not seem to be creating any
see that the principles problems for the boys. However, this is a primary school and
that are emerging for it could be argued that the sex of the teacher does not matter
being successful in so much at that age. The majority of teachers in the Lesotho
contributing to better distance learning centres are also women. Although this is a
performance of boys primary education programme, a number of students belong
are also the ones that to the secondary age-group, and they have not provided any
negative feedback about teachers. On the contrary, teachers’
generally help any motivation and role were cited as major reasons for the
student, boy or girl, success (albeit limited) of a programme that operated under
to perform better.
adverse situations. The remaining two schools are single-sex
boys’ schools for secondary-age students with all male teachers. Students are
comfortable with teachers but it is not clear how they would have responded
to women teachers under similar management or teaching practices. These case
studies do not provide any negative experience of students in other schools. It
is, therefore, difficult to arrive at a definite conclusion in this regard. Limited
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evidence from the case studies suggest that it is not the presence or absence
of female teachers but the adoption of a particular kind of management and
teaching practices that make a real difference.
In this context, it would also be important in any future research to raise the
issue of the kind and type of various male role models that are available in
society and school, and their impact on the construction of masculine identity.
Are single-sex schools a solution?
Single-sex schools for boys are another solution often offered to tackle boys’
underachievement. It is difficult to arrive at a definite solution on the basis of
the case studies in this regard as well. The Australian co-educational school does
not face any problem and nor does Lesotho’s distance teaching programme. It
is not very clear to what extent the single-sex situations in the Jamaican school
and the Samoan centre have benefited students. Therefore, it cannot be said
with any degree of confidence that the change that was achieved in these schools
could not have been achieved in a co-educational situation with similar school
management and pedagogical practices. The Jamaican experience suggests that
simply being a single-sex school at the outset did not automatically make the
boys less alienated and better performers. It requires greater enquiry to arrive at
any definitive inference in this regard.
Alternative modes of schooling have potential
The Lesotho Distance Teaching Centre (LDTC) in Southern Africa and the Don
Bosco Technical Centre in Samoa are the two examples of outside-mainstream
systems of schooling identified in this study. Lesotho’s Centre strives to provide
a basic education to herdboys whose duties often prevent them from attending
formal schooling. Since the under-participation of boys in Lesotho is primarily
due to socio-economic and cultural reasons, the distance mode is seen as a
solution. However, the courses currently offered by the LDTC are not equivalent
in terms of curriculum and quality to formal schooling and hence do not
showcase the potential of open and distance learning (ODL) as a complementary
system for marginalised groups to obtain access to education for al .
During the LDTC’s early days, in the mid-1970s, its work on literacy and
numeracy for herdboys was considered exemplary. The Centre had developed
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workbooks and games that could be used in groups with the help of a trained
leader. The project took several years to develop and eventually received the
recognition of an international award. While the LDTC still survives, its current
results are mixed. The print-based correspondence courses that are currently
used to support the herdboys have done little to improve access to education in
the country (nor do these course incorporate the principles that underpin the
methodology of ODL, which includes structure and support from a provider)7;
the institution as a whole lacks resources and is therefore unable to develop; and
morale is low among LDTC staff. Further, the innovative vision of linking in-
school and out-of-school education has not been realised (Jenkins, 1993).
There are, however, examples in sub-Saharan Africa where ODL, used as a
pedagogical alternative, has been successful in providing basic and secondary
level education to out-of-school children and youth. These
There are…examples include the Botswana Centre for Distance and Open Learning
in sub-Saharan (BOCODOL), the Namibian College of Open Learning
Africa where ODL, (NAMCOL), the Nigerian National Commission for Nomadic
used as a pedagogical Education (NCNE) and the Interactive radio Instruction
(IrI) initiative in Zambia. Both the Nigerian and Zambian
alternative, has been initiatives provide primary education to children with the
successful in providing aim of improving literacy. NCNE provides primary education
basic and secondary to children of nomadic pastoralists and migrant fishing
level education communities via suitable delivery mechanisms such as boat
to out-of-school schools and other mobile schools. The Zambian initiative
children and youth.
broadcasts lessons over the radio to learners in IrI centres
using an interactive approach. Children (from 8 to 10 years)
are organised into listening groups that meet at the centres under the guidance
of mentors, who themselves are school leavers (and who have subsequently been
trained by qualified staff from the Zambian Ministry of Education).
At the secondary level, BOCODOL in Botswana and NAMCOL in Namibia are
two parastatal or semi-autonomous national institutions offering programmes
for out-of-school adolescents and adults who are unable to continue their
secondary level studies in formal schools for various reasons. Both institutions
offer courses leading to the Junior Secondary Certificate (Grade 10) and
the General Certificate of Secondary Education (Grade 12) and employ
a combination of face-to-face and specially designed ODL print materials
7
AdaptedfromthedefinitionprovidedonTheOpenandDistanceLearningQualityCouncil

website: www.odlqc.org.uk/g-odl.htm; see also www.col.org/colweb/site/pid/2904.
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supported by radio, audiotapes and, most recently, computers. In addition
to these secondary level programmes, both institutions are expanding their
repertoire by providing vocational and other pre-tertiary courses. The majority
of learners enrolled in NAMCOL live in rural areas of northern Namibia or in
severely disadvantaged urban areas. BOCODOL offers programmes throughout
the country, including special programmes for nomads through which students
have an opportunity to access a series of community learning centres as they
move across the northern part of the country (Dodds, 2003; Green and Trevor-
Deutsch, 2002; Mukhopadhyay and Phillips, 1994).8
Don Bosco Technical Centre’s emphasis on high-quality vocational education at
secondary level is well placed as a choice for post-basic education. However, such
a choice cannot be promoted exclusively for boys and that too only for those
who have failed in the mainstream system of schooling. This would undermine
the importance of vocational education for anyone, including those who perform
well in the regular secondary system, and also undermine the importance of
reforming the mainstream system in a manner that allows students of both sexes
from all kinds of backgrounds to learn and progress.
…management
Schools should actively question
and pedagogical
stereotyped gender identity
practices that promote
cooperation and active

None of the four case-study schools/ centres, except the one
in Jamaica to some extent, deliberately sought to address the
participation can help
issue of questioning prevalent or stereotyped gender identity
somewhat in breaking
and constructing a new gender identity that would help boys
down traditional
deal more effectively with schooling processes. However, the
gender divides.
Australian school inadvertently succeeded in achieving this
objective by adopting certain practices due to the leadership style of the principal
and the kind of pedagogical practices that the school was adopting. This shows
that management and pedagogical practices that promote cooperation and active
participation can also help somewhat in breaking down traditional gender divides.
Nonetheless, evidence from the same school also shows that more deliberate and
active engagement is required in this respect as children from a very early age start
forming and responding to social gender identities that they get exposed to in and
outside the school, with home and family playing a major role.
8
For other examples of open schooling, see the national institute of open Schooling (nioS),

india: www.nos.org/; open School Bc (canada): www.openschool.bc.ca/index.html; the

Alberta distance learning centre (canada): www.adlc.ca/home/; and the correspondence

School of new zealand: www.correspondence.school.nz/.
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The Samoan case study suggests that the Centre tried to uphold and reinforce
the ‘traditional’ masculine identity of boys, emphasising their role of protector,
and it helped them in developing a positive self-image and identity. However,
it does not provide a solution for all schools, especially in the mainstream
system, if the vision is to develop a society where sex is not used for any form
of discrimination and gender relations are based on equality
… it is important for of treatment and opportunity. The Jamaican school provides
schools to play an active more interesting insights as it succeeded in breaking the
role in questioning pressure of peer-endorsed masculine behaviour that leads to
the prevalent gender violence and other negative behaviour and is a major reason
identities to address for boys’ underperformance. As in the case of the Australian
the issue of boys’ school, the adoption of particular kinds of management and
underachievement. The pedagogical practices that emphasise cooperation and trust-
building has helped. This confirms that such practices have
experiences show that it great potential for addressing issues related to masculine
is also possible to do so. gender identity. In addition, certain specific strategies such as
counselling played a major role in breaking the myth that boys should not show
the need for emotional support and care.
It emerges that it is important for schools to play an active role in questioning
the prevalent gender identities to address the issue of boys’ underachievement.
The experiences show that it is also possible to do so. However, an in-depth
analysis of curricular design and classroom practices in diverse situations can
provide greater insights and more pointed indicators.
thE nEEd For FurthEr
rESEArch And itS nAturE
This report has outlined the issue of boys’ underachievement in the
Commonwealth, discussing some of the possible causes and analysing some of
the initiatives that appear to have addressed the issue. In this process it has also
provided a few broad policy and programmatic suggestions. However, clearly
there remains a lot more to be researched for greater understanding and more
pointed policy recommendations. This includes:
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1 In-depth and qualitative gender analysis of management and pedagogical
practices in secondary schools operating under diverse situations and
contexts: co-education, single-sex for boys, single-sex for girls, female-
majority teachers, mixed-sex teachers and male-majority teachers. This
could be undertaken in several countries following the same research design
but with an understanding of the social and economic background in
which the school operates and the nature of the boys’ underachievement
prevalent in that particular country or region.
2 A study of teenaged boys in diverse situations and contexts to understand
the construction of masculinities and its impact on educational choices and
processes.
3 A study of the relationship between boys’ underachievement and gender
privilege in diverse situations and contexts through analysis of statistics
from different countries using both education (participation as well as
performance data) and socio-economic and political indicators.
4 Identification of best practices, including the application of open, distance
and technology-mediated learning and associated challenges and potentials.
concluSion
It is evident from the above analyses that boys’ under-participation and
underperformance both have their roots in a few general issues and
characteristics of societies as well as education systems. There is also a lot of
similarity in the manner in which this combination operates against boys’
schooling participation in some countries as it works against girls’ participation
in many others. A combination of paucity of school spaces and societal demands
regarding occupational or gender roles leads to under-participation of boys in
countries such as Lesotho and Samoa whereas similar lack of adequate schooling
facilities coupled with strict demands of gender roles work against girls’
schooling in many Sub-Saharan African and South and West Asian countries.
The solution, as is well known, lies in not only expanding the school spaces and
facilities but also challenging established notions of gender roles, relations and
stereotypes using all possible interventions inside and outside the school.
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Transforming gender roles and relations in order to relieve the huge pressure of
conforming to established notions of ‘masculinities’ is critical in addressing the
issue of boys’ underperformance, which especially occurs in countries or sub-
national areas that have succeeded in expanding access and girls participate in
schooling in high numbers. Increased participation of girls in situations where
education was not their traditional domain signifies a shift in gender relations.
Men start viewing this as shrinking the space for themselves and look for
domains that are exclusively for men and therefore ‘masculine’. Education itself,
including good performance, is labelled as feminine, and not working hard and
doing well is considered to be ‘cool’ by boys.
The case studies showed that schools can make a difference provided they focus
on certain processes that promote cooperation and respect and question gender
stereotypes. It is also interesting to note that most of these processes are such
that they help both boys and girls and raise the quality of schooling in general.
The case studies also suggest that changes in schools’ curricula and processes are
more crucial than having male teachers or all-male classrooms. Therefore, while
there is a need for more researchers to develop a more nuanced understanding,
there is also a need for this realisation that the issue of boys’ underachievement
is not de-linked from the issue of female social positioning, and school reforms
based on the principle of gender equality can go a long way in addressing the
root of the problem.
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PArT II:
the case studies


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4.
Australia:
socialisation and
socio-economics
There is almost no gender disparity at primary school level in Australia. The
net enrolment ratio (NEr) in 2002-2003 was 94.3 per cent for boys and 95.1
per cent for girls, leading to a gender parity index (GPI) of 1.01. The disparity
increases at secondary stage but still remains insignificant. In 2002-2003, the
NEr for boys at secondary stage was 87.0 per cent whereas it was 89.1 per
cent for girls, with a GPI of 1.02.9 Therefore, although the lower likelihood
of boys compared to girls completing their secondary education and entering
tertiary education has been a subject of discussion in Australia, the issue of boys’
underachievement in the country mainly relates to under-performance.
A number of performance indicators for secondary stage education in the
1990s indicated underachievement of boys in different parts of the country. For
example:
• aggregate results at Year 12 level show that in the 1999 New South Wales
Higher School Certificate, for subjects studied by more than 100 students,
girls’ average marks were up to 11 per cent higher than boys’ in 36 of the
40 subjects;
• in Queensland in 1998, a greater proportion of girls were in the top
performance bands in 36 of 45 Year 12 subjects;
• in South Australia in 1998, a higher proportion of girls were in the top
performance bands in 27 of 34 Year 12 subjects;
9
these data are sourced from unESco, 2006. gender parity index refers to girls’ nEr/ boys’ nEr.
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• the difference between boys’ and girls’ average results in the New South Wales
Tertiary Entrance Score (TES) widened from 0.6 marks in 1981 to 19.4 marks
in 1996, with the difference increasingly rapidly in the early 1990s.
As a result, the relative achievement of boys and girls in Year 12 assessments has
featured prominently in popular as well as academic debate.
whAt doES piSA indicAtE?
Australia has been part of the international tests known as the Programme for
International Student Assessment (PISA), which have been conducted on a large
sample in Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)
countries and a few developing countries every three years since 2000. The
available analysis of PISA results for Australia helps in getting a more nuanced
understanding of the issue.10 PISA 2000 focused on assessing students’ capacity
to apply knowledge and skills to reading, mathematics and science. PISA 2003
focused more on mathematics and PISA 2006 on science. The assessment
includes a variety of tests to examine different kinds of skills and knowledge
of 15-year-olds. PISA results for 2000 show that Australia was one of the top
scorers in all three areas – reading, mathematics and scientific literacy – and was
also well above the OECD average in all of them.
PISA 2000 showed that there was no significant difference in girls’ and boys’
performance in mathematics and science in any of the Australian states or
territories. PISA 2003 also did not show any gender difference in overall
mathematical literacy in Australia. However, almost twice as many males as
females achieved the highest PISA proficiency level in mathematics, indicating
no evidence of boys’ underachievement in this subject. The situation changes,
however, when it comes to reading literacy. Girls performed better than
boys, though the level of difference was lower in Australia than most other
OECD countries. The level of the gap also varied between different states and
territories, being significantly higher in some as compared to others.
There is a correlation between achievement scores and socio-economic status
in most countries, with those from poorer socio-economic backgrounds
performing worse than their counterparts from more prosperous backgrounds.
10 TheanalysisofPISAresultsisbasedon(i)filesdownloadedonPISA2003fromthe

Australian council for Educational research (AcEr) site, (ii) AcEr and oEcd, 2001 and

(iii) Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2005 (all downloads from the internet).
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Australia is no exception to this. In addition, the Australian analysis also shows
that socio-economic status compounds the difference between boys and girls in
terms of their reading literacy, with boys from low socio-economic backgrounds
found to be almost twice as likely to be in the lowest quarter of reading literacy
results than girls from similar backgrounds. The results for
There is a correlation
mathematics and science also show a relationship between
between achievement
socio-economic status and the likelihood of achieving a low
score, but this is the same for both boys and girls in science
scores and socio-
and not large enough to be significant in mathematics. This
economic status in
suggests that schools may play a larger role in the development
most countries, with
of mathematical and scientific skills than they do in reading
those from poorer socio-
skills, a conclusion corroborated by the fact that students
economic backgrounds
in Australia who came from a non-English speaking home
performing worse than
background performed at an equivalent level in mathematical
their counterparts
literacy to students whose home language was English, but at
a lower level in reading and scientific literacy. Students’ results
from more prosperous
also showed some differences according to the location of
backgrounds.
their schools. Students in provincial cities performed as well as
students in large cities and major urban areas, but students whose schools were
in remote areas performed less well than other students in reading and scientific
literacy. There was no difference in mathematical literacy results by location of
school. The environment outside school appears to play an important role in
building reading literacy and, to some extent, scientific literacy.
An analysis of results related to ‘engagement with reading’ provides some insights
into the reading literacy scores. ‘Engagement with reading’ reflects how much
students like reading, how much they enjoy talking about books and go to
libraries, whether reading is a favourite hobby, and so on. Australian students were
at the same level as the OECD average in this area with – as in most countries
– girls scoring significantly higher than boys. Attitudes towards reading were
moderately strongly related to reading achievement in Australia, where a third of
the students said they never read for enjoyment. While this percentage was higher
in a few other countries, the achievement difference in reading literacy between
students who never read for enjoyment and those who read for an hour or two
each day was greater in Australia than in any other country.
It is also noteworthy that though nearly 40 per cent of Indigenous students in
Australia performed at par with average, in general they performed at a lower
level than the non-Indigenous students in the three assessment areas: reading
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literacy, mathematical literacy and scientific literacy, with results below the
OECD mean. Gender differences were similar to the other Australian students,
with females outperforming the males in reading literacy. No significant gender
differences were found in mathematical or scientific literacy. The influence of
home background factors on performance was examined. The mean socio-
economic status of Indigenous students was lower than that of non-Indigenous
students, and resources such as books were fewer in their homes. There
was, however, a higher level of equity, with less difference in performance
between low and high socio-economic status Indigenous students than for the
performance between low and high socio-economic status non-Indigenous
students.11
What is significant is that the most important school factor related to
achievement in Australia, as in most other countries, was the overall socio-
economic background of the student body. Other factors such as instructional
climate and practices at the schools were also related to achievement. For
example, Australia scored relatively high, together with the United Kingdom,
on the index of teacher support, as perceived by students.
An examination of Performance is positively correlated with greater opportunities
several facts reveals to ask questions and Australia also ranked quite high on this
that the difference in indicator.
socialisation that boys The analysis of PISA results makes it clear that gender is
and girls experience only one dimension of differentiation that characterises
might be playing an performance outcomes of 15-year-olds in Australia. Socio-
important role in economic status turns out to be more critical for both boys
enabling girls to perform and girls. However, what makes gender important is that
better in reading similar trends of no significant difference in mathematics and
science scores and a significant difference in favour of girls
literacy and language. in reading literacy are observed for all socio-economic and
social groups. An examination of several facts reveals that the difference in
socialisation that boys and girls experience might be playing an important role
in enabling girls to perform better in reading literacy and language. The fact
that boys have much less ‘engagement with reading’ reflects their socialisation
pattern where from an early age they are encouraged to take part in outdoor
11 the details provided here on indigenous students have been taken from de Bortoli and

cresswell, 2004 (downloaded from www.acer.edu.au/research/special_topics/ind_edu/

research.html).
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and physical activities, whereas girls are encouraged to enjoy indoor activities.
The experiences of boys and girls in terms of the kinds of play materials they
possess, the sports they are encouraged to participate in, the activities they
are engaged in by parents and others are usually quite different from one
another. The nature of activities that are considered suitable for girls is usually
such that it helps in building better language and interactive skills, including
an inclination towards reading, whereas the opposite is true for boys. This
explains boys’ relatively lower performance in reading literacy to some extent.
In this context, it also becomes important to understand the role of
socialisation in relation to mathematics and science achievement scores.
Mathematics and science have traditionally been perceived as ‘masculine’
subjects almost everywhere in the world. A focus on girls’ education and
women’s rights emanating from various movements changed this to some
extent so that doing well in what had traditionally been considered a
male domain became a matter of pride for girls. Unlike language, school
interventions play a major role in subjects such as mathematics and science,
and hence in countries where girls attend schools regularly, they have also
started performing well in these subjects. However, the fact that girls feel less
confident in their abilities despite performing as well as boys in mathematics12
is a reflection of the stereotypes that continue to exist in society. This is also
confirmed by recent research on school subject selection and subsequent study
and work participation in Australia, which found that males are still much
more likely than females to be taking advanced mathematics and science at
senior secondary school and to move into mathematics and science-related
courses in higher education.13
The above analysis indicates that factors similar to those that kept girls away
from selecting subjects such as mathematics and science are contributing in boys’
underachievement in language in Australia, at least to some extent. Socialisation
and gender stereotypes in different walks of life get reflected in subject selections
and performance outcomes. Schools can play a role in changing this, but it is
not clear to what extent they can make a difference. The following case study
of a school located in the outskirts of a capital city in Australia provides some
insights into several of these issues.
12 As reported by unESco, 2006.
13 As reported in thomson et al, 2004.
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A goVErnmEnt primArY
School in QuEEnSlAnd
Background
An inner-city government co-educational primary school located in a
multicultural setting in Queensland was identified for the purpose of the
case study. The school was chosen because of its leadership, its attempts to
implement whole-school pedagogical reform and the impact of these factors on
the educational engagement and participation of all students including boys.
The school was studied in-depth by Lingard et al (2002), who had identified it
as “one of the best schools for boys”. The school was involved in the Productive
Pedagogy trial programme and had noted no difference in literacy scores
between boys and girls, which was attributed to the learning culture within
the school. In addition the school has recorded high literacy scores on national
and state tests for both boys and girls. It has embraced multi-age classes and
co-operative learning, and has a strong focus on professional development for
teachers and on collaborative decision-making. This school was identified for a
re-visit to try and reassess its practices and extract lessons.
Located in a low-income area and opened in 1978, the school has over 800
students and 65 teachers (the majority women). It has faced multiple challenges
mainly because of the socio-economic and linguistic background of the students
that it receives. Most of the children come from poor families, often struggling
with livelihood choices. The incidence of dependence on welfare schemes for
survival is high and so is the rate of crime. Many households have been living
on the dole (state-subsidised benefits) for two to three generations. A number
of parents reportedly have criminal backgrounds and have spent time in jail.
The tradition of education is not very strong in these households. These factors
get reflected in a variety of ways. As revealed by the principal and the teachers,
there is some level of student absenteeism and late arrival to school is also not
uncommon. The difficult home situations deprive children of a conducive
environment for studying. A number of teachers raised the issue of needing to
concentrate on behaviour management and the impact this has on learning.
The school has an Indigenous student population of approximately 5 per cent
as well as a high proportion of students of Asian and Pacific Island descent.
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The principal estimated that around 10 per cent of the students have language
difficulties at school due to English being their second language. In the six
observed classrooms were students from Cambodia, the Cook Islands, Fiji,
New Zealand, the Philippines, russia, Serbia, Samoa and the Ukraine, as
well as Indigenous Australians, Torres Strait Islanders and Anglo Australians.
Classrooms with students having a variety of mother tongues pose a serious
challenge to teachers. In addition, the school also gets a high number of students
with special learning needs despite the fact that other schools in the area have
specialised in this field. There is a Special Needs Unit in the school with seven
staff members and around 70 students. The principal feels that recognised special
needs are only one aspect of the problem, however, with over a quarter of the
students being in need of some kind of support.
The case of this school is especially relevant considering that
i socio-economic status is the most important factor related to
underperformance of students in Australia;
ii boys’ relative underperformance is evidenced largely in reading literacy;
and
iii the difference between boys’ and girls’ achievement outcomes for reading
literacy is wider for lower socio-economic status groups.
The school has been maintaining a database of progress of students, and this shows
a positive change over the years. The earlier study by Lingard et al (2002) had
noted a student-friendly school culture, with no evidence of poor behaviour, and
where students were provided with the social skil s to avoid conflicts. Absenteeism
was not a problem except in certain specific cases in the year that research was
conducted, and the school had had no suspensions or exclusions and had only one
bul ying incident noted in the Annual report. This progress is attributed to the
pedagogical reform adopted by the school. The school claims that this has helped
al students, those who had traditional y been underachievers and those who had
been performing wel . Although it would require more research to prove that the
school has made a difference in terms of impact on students’ performance, especial y
on boys’ achievement, the general image as wel as the experiences of students and
teachers suggest that the school is ‘different’ and has been successful in creating an
environment of optimism, hope and high expectations. The reasons for this success
can be traced to imaginative and committed leadership from the principal and a
number of reforms initiated in the school, including pedagogical practices as wel as
strategies for greater involvement of parents.
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what made learning experiences different
An empathetic understanding of the socio-economic,
linguistic and cultural background of students
The principal as wel as most teachers who were interviewed showed an
empathetic understanding of the socio-economic, linguistic and cultural
background of students. This understanding was particularly evident in statements
made by the principal. While he recognised the chal enges posed by students’
poor socio-economic status and multicultural background, he also saw this as an
opportunity, as evidenced in his statement, “a lot of the multicultural dimensions
in low socio-economic groups are advantageous”. He emphasised the fact that
though the students are currently facing poverty, many of these families come from
very rich cultures that could be used positively. Most teachers
Overall, it appears that also reflected a good understanding of backgrounds and the
the school environment impact this could have on behaviour as wel as learning. For
is such that teachers instance, one teacher referred to the fact that many children
developed empathy for suffer from malnutrition due to bad diets, which affected their
students’ backgrounds attention span and motivation. Similar references were made
regarding English not being the children’s first language and
and tried to face the their experiences of war and conflict in some cases. Overal,
challenge of resolving it appears that the school environment is such that teachers
issues related to these. developed empathy for students’ backgrounds and tried to face
the chal enge of resolving issues related to these. None of the students interviewed
shared any negative experience from any teacher in this context.
Unlike many other schools facing similar problems, this school depicts a faith
in children’s inate desire and ability to learn, and the recognition of the fact that
schools can actual y play a negative role at times. The principal articulated this as:
Kids basically want to learn. That is not their problem. That is a
natural desire. They came well packaged with that right since birth
…Schools can switch that off; individuals can switch that off.
Teaching methods and learning opportunities:
Focus on cooperation and engagement
The school focuses on cooperation and teamwork in its pedagogy and the kinds
of learning opportunity it tries to create. It uses double teaching spaces, with
two teachers working as a team to teach two grades. The physical arrangement
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of classes is such that the students’ desks are placed at each end of the space in
front of an ICT whiteboard and a blackboard, and a central area is used to do
ground activities and to access the whiteboard.
The use of interactive ICT whiteboards is a special feature of the school,
which has invested heavily in teaching aids. These boards use a data projector
connected to a computer and give a large visual of the computer screen.
Students and teachers are able to control the computer through the touch-
sensitive whiteboard. Teachers create learning activities that are saved into
a central directory accessible by other teachers. This, in effect, works as a
digital library that gets expanded as teachers keep adding new activities.
Although creating a new activity take a lot of time and energy, once this
has been done, other teachers can easily use it. In the course of time, as
new activities are added, the need to develop activities is expected to be
substantially reduced.
Classroom observations showed that the use of ICT boards has tremendous
potential for making learning interesting and engaging for children. Students
enjoyed taking turns and discovering through the board new aspects of whatever
they were learning. The board was used in a variety of ways. For example, it
was used as a literacy aid where reading words were presented in the form of a
PowerPoint presentation, and students in Grade 2 read the words out loud to
much delight as these bounced around the page. In a science-based class where
students were looking at the human body, the teachers accessed an interactive
programme that allowed students to virtually dissect parts of the body and read
about their properties. In a number of other classes, students were observed
participating in activities to support mathematical skills such as addition,
multiplication, division and subtraction. Teachers were united in their opinion
regarding the success of these boards in keeping children engaged and more
interested in learning, including children with special needs.
Students were also quite articulate when talking about the use of the technology
in the classroom. They could identify elements such as not having to use an
eraser, using hands to write and erase and not having to use a keyboard to
control the computer, in addition to mentioning their enjoyment in playing
games on the board. A number of these games had educational value (e.g.,
hangman, number-cruncher and snakes and ladders). Children also enjoyed
other aspects of using the technology such as pulling up the keyboard, using
the timer, writing text and converting it into a font, using symbols, colours and
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different fonts, customising text and images and so on. They also demonstrated
writing math equations and converting them into a font.
Moreover, students who were interviewed cited skil s such as teamwork and sharing
as advantages of using the whiteboard. This indicates that the school has been
successful in communicating these important messages to children. Given the fact
that teaching social skil s has been a central agenda of the school, this is definitely
a marker of success. In general, there is a lot of focus on engaging children in a
variety of activities in and outside the classroom, and both boys
…a generalised and girls appear to enjoy participating. Extra efforts are made
intervention can at to engage children needing special attention. For instance, the
times be unsuitable for special education unit runs a ful -fledged café once per week with
specific children such the active involvement of students, giving them the opportunity
as those from low socio-
to ful y participate in a cooperative manner. No gender
differentiation was observed in terms of work al ocation and
economic and varied efforts to engage the children. The choice was guided by the level
cultural backgrounds. at which each child was in that particular subject.
The school is also part of a larger project focusing on a new system of formative
assessment where children and teachers both reflect on the progress made. The
involvement of students in their own assessment ensures their engagement
and ownership, leading to new kinds of learning. However, the principal
also expressed his reservations about certain aspects of this project as some
interventions can be far removed from the backgrounds of the kinds of students
coming to the school. This concern also revealed the fact that a generalised
intervention can at times be unsuitable for specific children such as those from
low socio-economic and varied cultural backgrounds.
As observed by Lingard et al (2002), the school does not participate in inter-
school competitive sport, and has explicitly rejected a ‘deficit student’ and ‘deficit
family’ approach in interpreting students’ learning and behaviours. They had noted
that the curriculum focus was on environmental education and philosophy, and the
children were taught how to resolve conflict by talking through issues. It did not
have programmes in place specifical y for boys. The researchers in that study had
also noted the widespread engagement of students and reported that there were no
observable gender differences. The emphasis on quality pedagogy and a supportive
classroom and whole school environment, along with the teaching of skil s to help
students handle conflict and differences of opinion, appeared to be the factors
contributing to the commendable outcomes (ibid).
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The previous research (Lingard et al, 2002) also observed that while students
were expected to treat teachers with respect, they were also able to engage
in frank and open discussion, where disagreement was possible and where
both teachers and students could express their opinions and usually reach a
meaningful resolution. The intellectually challenging nature of classroom work,
such as the introduction of philosophy into the classroom, within a supportive
school environment, was identified as having great social as well as academic
rewards.
Confirming or breaking gender stereotypes?
While the teachers demonstrated awareness of the debate surrounding boys’
underachievement, they struggled to find evidence of it at the school as in most
cases it was female students who presented significant behavioural problems
that had to be addressed with specific strategies beyond the classroom. When
prompted, teachers talked about differences between boys and girls in terms of
behaviour and learning, but no uniform pattern emerges from these statements.
Depending on their individual experiences they came up with statements that
often contradicted each other. If one teacher said “boys learn faster”, another
said, “boys just get really uninterested quite easily… they do lack motivation
and they can be lazy”, and yet another said “the boys do better…they just learn
quicker than girls”. Similarly, regarding girls, if one teacher said “some of them
are a bit chatty…but they get their work done”, another said, “my girls are well
behaved, there’s no problems there, they’re just academically not at the level of
the boys”, and yet another said, “a lot of my girls are achieving, they’re actually
completing work of a higher quality than what the boys are”. It is also important
to point out that most teachers qualified their statements by adding that what
they were saying did not apply to all. In general, what they were communicating
through seemingly contradictory statements was that they had not really
experienced major differences, a view actually expressed by some teachers.
Interviews with teachers, students and the principal as well as classroom
observations suggested that the school did not have any specific intervention for
boys or girls, and did not perceive gender to be a major issue per se. This was
reflected in the fact that they did not articulate this as a challenge. However,
the focus on actively engaging each child depending on her or his situation
appeared to be taking care of children’s needs adequately at the primary stage of
education. This became apparent from some of the statements made by young
students in their interviews.
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A number of boys interviewed identified the arts as their favourite subject
while mentioning that they also enjoyed doing mathematics on the whiteboard.
This indicated that they did not see the subjects as ‘feminine’ or ‘masculine’.
This is important as art and reading are often labelled as ‘feminine’, making it
difficult for boys to accept that they like these subjects, which then leads to poor
performance. Also important is the fact that all of the stereotypical notions about
boys and girls that children expressed in their interviews had emanated from
their homes. For instance, one child responded to the issue of physical fights
by saying that his mother and sisters always tell him that “boys are stronger”.
The implication was that if they are stronger they have to show that by fighting.
Similarly, another boy said his mother takes him and not his sister everywhere
she goes. These experiences are creating the notions of what is ‘masculine’
and what is ‘feminine’ and have started affecting their behaviour. The school
experiences so far had not reinforced any of these ideas as the teachers could
narrate examples of both boys and girls being punished and other such incidents.
Although the school did not explicitly engage in countering the gender
stereotypes being created in the society, many of its interventions actually led to
breaking stereotypes. This includes the engagement of all students in all types of
activities and encouragement to all students for all kinds of subjects. In addition,
one of the incidents narrated by students is worth noting. Two boys were
discussing the ‘lollypop lady’ (a kind of volunteer who is traditionally a woman)
when one of them said he could be one. The other pointed out that he would
have to be a ‘lollypop man’ and that “dads never do it”. The first one replied that
this was not necessarily so, as the principal had performed this task once. The
other one agreed. It is clear from the example that the principal’s act had helped
break the stereotype, and such interventions go a long way in creating alternative
images.
Community outreach
The school has been actively involved in trying to develop parenting skills
and leadership among the community and engaging it in school activities.
Although they feel that they have not been very successful, their ideas have been
imaginative and their efforts have made some inroads. The need for a proactive
approach in providing support to parents on parenting skills was strongly felt
and some courses had been organised. Though this generated interest and
parents enjoyed them, according to the principal, it did not lead to significant
behaviour change. The school was planning a community renewal project
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focusing on the needs of young mothers on a range of issues including nutrition
and nurturing through inter-agency personnel working on-site.
In order to build leadership among parents, the school has a system of having
classroom parent representatives, with new people inducted every year. This
has been running successfully and parents have responded well. The school also
tried to involve parents as resource persons by giving them the opportunity to
come and share with the children their experiences relating to their work. The
response to this has not been overwhelming, but some parents responded and
the intervention was successful to some extent.
the School as a learning organisation
This case study makes it clear that this school could be termed a learning
organisation in the sense that it is continuously learning from others’ experiences
as wel from its own. A few examples of how the school has been learning and
growing wil help clarify this observation. In order to gain a better understanding
of schools functioning in multicultural situations, the principal and teachers looked
at a school where detailed research had been conducted on
This case study makes
dealing with multicultural chal enges. references were also made
to other research and projects by the principal and teachers,
it clear that this school
reflecting their awareness of those interventions.
could be termed a
learning organisation

How the interactive ICT board got introduced into the
classroom is also a revealing story. In 2003, the principal
in the sense that it is
brought one such board to the school after he saw it being used
continuously learning
in a school in England. This was placed in the staff room, but
from others’ experiences
remained underused. A Grade 1 teacher, having seen the use
as well from its own.
of this board in some city school elsewhere, approached the
principal to allow her to take this one to her classroom. She presented a detailed
outline of how it would be used and was given permission to take it. She and
another teacher, who were sharing the classroom in the cooperative system,
experimented a lot and came up with many useful lessons and activities. On
seeing and hearing this, other teachers also demonstrated interest. Two more
teaching teams drew up proposals for the board’s use in their classrooms and
they too were provided with boards. Others followed suit and the school has
now introduced this into every classroom. The fact that the principal encouraged
teachers’ initiatives and they learnt from each other shows an environment that
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is open and conducive to experimentation. The cooperative teaching practice
also appears to have contributed to teachers developing a sense of shared
responsibility. These are indicators of the school being a learning organisation.
It is also important that technology was not being viewed as an end in itself, but
rather as a way of creating an interactive learning environment. The principal
was emphatic in pointing out that this was all about pedagogy and a positive
learning environment, and that the boards cannot be recommended to all schools
in isolation of other aspects. The principal and teachers
…a number of these showed a reflective attitude regarding their challenges, efforts,
interventions are successes and failures. They were honest in sharing their
designed in such a experiences. This too is a sign of a learning organisation.
way that they help It was also clear that a lot of this could be attributed to the
break down gender direction provided by the principal in allowing leadership
stereotypes and allow skills to be developed in all teachers. The principal was taking
both boys and girls to the lead in understanding the specific needs of the school and
promoting the whole school pedagogical reform that focused
realise their potential on team teaching and an interactive learning environment that
in learning. This takes the students’ social circumstances into account.
definitely has lessons
for other schools as well Again, these observations are similar to those by Lingard
et al (2002), who explained this school’s success as a
as for policy makers. combination of intellectually demanding teaching and
assessment, accompanied by a strong emphasis on supporting all students
and recognising difference, the creation of a teacher professional learning
community, and leadership practices that support the school culture. They
thus concluded that “these appear to be the necessary ingredients for ensuring
effective and engaging learning for students in schools across all locations”
(ibid: 63).
concluSionS
This school provides an example of how pedagogical reform practices can help
in active engagement and higher learning levels of all children, boys and girls.
The principal and teachers were unambiguous in communicating that they do
not see boys’ underachievement as a specific issue. They believe that an engaging
learning process in an interactive and contextualised learning environment is
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the solution. The school faces serious challenges in terms of the socio-economic
status and multicultural background of the children, but the combination of
good leadership, pedagogical reform and efforts to understand the situation
and involve the community has helped it achieve results. Although this is not
their explicit aim, a number of these interventions are designed in such a way
that they help break down gender stereotypes and allow both boys and girls to
realise their potential in learning. This definitely has lessons for other schools
as well as for policy makers. However, given the fact that children are exposed
to a number of gender stereotypes in their home and the society in which they
live, a conscious integration of some of the gender aspects in the process of
pedagogical reform would perhaps ensure that the school is able to counter the
societal influence.
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5.
Jamaica:
alienation and high
drop-out rates
Concern for boys’ underachievement is quite high in several Commonwealth
countries in the Caribbean region. As gender parity indices have improved for
girls in recent years, educators and policy makers have started to focus attention
on the relative underperformance of boys compared to girls,
Concern for boys’ particularly at the secondary level and in their progression to
underachievement is post-secondary and tertiary education. At the same time, Jamaica
quite high in several is facing one of the highest homicides rates in the world, with
Commonwealth most of the killings committed by young men. To deal with the
countries in the problem of youth violence, education systems both in Jamaica
Caribbean region. and the region have to redefine their role in moulding socially
and emotionally well-adjusted young people who are equipped
with both a well-defined set of personal attributes and a predetermined range of
aptitude and skills.
dEFining thE proBlEm
A survey of basic enrolment data in Jamaica shows that over a 13-year period
boys have stayed fractionally behind girls in terms of primary and secondary
participation when looking at net enrolment ratios (NEr). However, the
differences at primary level are quite marginal. A look at Table 7, for example,
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shows that primary NEr for boys and girls went from level-pegging at 96 per
cent in 1990/91 to a slight disparity of 94 per cent to 95 per cent respectively in
2002/2003, both registering a gender parity index (GPI) of an even 1.00.
tABlE 7: EnrolmEnt rAtioS in primArY EducAtion, JAmAicA





rEgionaL

1990/
1998/
2000/
2002/
avEragE
Primary
1991
1999
2001
2003
2002/2003

groSS
mF
101
95
100
100
119
EnroLmEnT

m
102
96
100
100
121
raTio

(gEr) (%)
F
101
95
99
99
118

nET
mF
96
90
95
95
96
EnroLmEnT

m
96
90
95
94
97
raTio

(nEr) (%)
F
96
90
95
95
96
Notes: (a) Regional refers to the entire Caribbean

(b)Somedatacoverspecificyearsorareanestimate.SeetheUNESCOInstituteforStatistics(UIS)

websiteformoreinformation(www.uis.unesco.org/profiles/EN/EDU/)
Source: UIS website, Statistics in Brief, Education in Jamaica.
In secondary education we see the beginnings of a slight disparity in NEr,
with boys falling three percentage points behind girls both in 1990/1991
and 2002/2003 (Table 8). The most recent GPI of 2002/2003 for secondary
education stands at 1.04. Statistics from the EFA Global Monitoring Report
2006
that show the percentage of repeaters in secondary general education,
however, suggest a deeper problem, with boys more than twice as likely to
repeat in 2002/2003 than girls (2.3 per cent for boys and 0.8 per cent for girls)
(UNESCO, 2005).14
tABlE 8: EnrolmEnt rAtioS in SEcondArY EducAtion, JAmAicA





rEgionaL

1990/
1998/
2000/
2002/
avEragE
SECondary
1991
1999
2001
2003
2002/2003

groSS
mF
65
84
83
84
88
EnroLmEnT

raTio
m
64
83
82
83
85
(gEr) (%)

F
67
85
85
85
91

nET
mF
64
79
74
75
66
EnroLmEnT

raTio
m
62
78
73
74
64
(nEr) (%)

F
65
80
76
77
68
Notes: (a) Regional refers to the entire Caribbean.

(b)Somedatacoverspecificyearsorareanestimate.SeetheUISwebsiteformoreinformation.
Source: UIS website, Statistics in Brief, Education in Jamaica.
14 Statistical Annex, table 8, p 339.
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It is at the tertiary level, however, that the disparity becomes more apparent
(Table 9). Female students have gone from being behind males in 1990/1991
to being more than twice as likely to enter college as their male counterparts
in 2002/2003. Post-secondary non-tertiary education is also mainly female
at 59 per cent of the total. What we see indicated here is an issue of either
underperformance by boys when compared with their female counterparts that
disallows them from accessing tertiary education, or a chosen path away from
higher education.
tABlE 9: groSS EnrolmEnt rAtio (gEr) in tErtiArY
EducAtion, JAmAicA





rEgionaL

1990/
1998/
2000/
2002/
avEragE
TErTiary
1991
1999
2001
2003
2002/2003

mF
7
...
16
17
26

gEr (%)
m
8
...
11
10
24

F
6
...
22
25
28
Notes: (a) Regional refers to the entire Caribbean.

(b)Somedatacoverspecificyearsorareanestimate.SeetheUISwebsiteformoreinformation.
Source: UIS website, Statistics in Brief, Education in Jamaica.
A closer look is therefore needed at the details of boys’ performance in formal
education in order to understand the scope of their fall behind girls at the later
secondary levels and the subsequent lower numbers that transition to both
non-tertiary and tertiary education. For example, the Youth Literacy rate for
2000-2004 (ages 15-24) showed a GPI of 1.07.15 Statistics available from the
Jamaican Ministry of Education on the performance of boys and girls in the June
2005 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate (CSEC) examinations offered
by the Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC) demonstrates more clearly where
girls are outperforming boys in terms of subjects (Table 10).
The table outlines by gender the number of students who sat each subject, and
reveals that more girls are entered for 29 of the 35 subjects listed, with the six
exceptions all being technical/vocational courses (building tech – construction,
building tech – woods, electrics and electronic tech, mechanical engineering
tech, technical drawing and visual arts). Overall, only 48,992 boys sat the exams
15 Statistical Annex table 12, unESco, 2006, p 387.
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tABlE 10: pErFormAncE oF JAmAicAn SEcondArY School
StudEntS in thE cSEc At gEnErAl & tEchnicAl proFiciEncY
lEVElS BY SEx, 2005


no.
no.
%
no.
no.
%


mAlE
mAlES
mAlES
FEmAlE
FEmAlES
FEmAlES
SubJECT
totAl
EntriES
grAdE 1-3
gr. 1-3
EntriES grAdE 1-3
gr. 1-3
arTS
cAriBBEAn hiStorY
5,101
1,621
959
59.2
3,480
2,168
62.3
EngliSh A
19,956
7,654
4,011
52.4
12,302
7,995
65.0
EngliSh B
6,917
1,885
1,075
57.0
5,032
3,491
69.4
FrEnch
592
182
123
67.6
410
286
69.8
gEogrAphY
3,728
1,792
1,008
56.3
1,936
1,121
57.9
muSic
77
34
22
64.7
43
32
74.4
rEligiouS EducAtion
2,211
877
649
74.0
1,334
1,086
81.4
SociAl StudiES
10,484
3,803
2,801
73.7
6,681
5,314
79.5
SpAniSh
3,077
717
447
62.3
2,360
1,491
63.2
SCiEnCES
BiologY
4,661
1,545
941
60.9
3,116
1,950
62.6
chEmiStrY
3,597
1,436
722
50.3
2,161
1,142
52.8
intEgrAtEd SciEncE
4,914
1,853
1,314
70.9
3,061
2,226
72.7
mAthEmAticS
15,958
6,551
2,595
39.6
9,407
3,690
39.2
phYSicS
3,071
1,640
906
55.2
1,431
918
64.2
TEChniCaL/voCaTionaL
Agri. SciEncE
(douBlE AwArd)
358
133
120
90.2
225
209
92.9
Agri. SciEncE (SinglE
AwArd) AnimAl SciEncE
676
263
188
71.5
413
313
75.8
Agri. SciEncE (SinglE
AwArd) cropS & Soil
946
376
255
67.8
570
348
61.1
Building tEch: conStr.
462
418
331
79.2
44
35
79.5
Building tEch: woodS
818
786
221
28.1
32
6
18.8
clothing & tExtilES
1,115
65
47
72.3
1,050
863
82.2
ElEc. doc. prEp. & mgmt.
814
158
127
80.4
656
599
91.3
ElEct. & ElEctronic tEch.
1,786
1,690
837
49.5
96
52
54.2
Food & nutrition
3,523
484
374
77.3
3,039
2,618
86.1
homE EconomicS
2,837
292
246
84.2
2,545
2,266
89.0
humAn & SociAl BiologY
2,627
737
231
31.3
1,890
605
32.0
inFormAtion tEchnologY
6,545
2,530
1,772
70.0
4,015
2,744
68.3
mEch. Eng. tEch.
818
787
324
41.2
31
13
41.9
phYS. Ed. & SportS
44
22
19
86.4
22
19
86.4
tEchnicAl drAwing
2,569
2,327
1,169
50.2
242
140
57.9
thEAtrE ArtS
212
50
41
82.0
162
145
89.5
ViSuAl ArtS
1,685
974
634
65.1
711
426
59.9
buSinESS
oFFicE procEdurES
3,715
973
824
84.7
2,742
2,341
85.4
principlES oF AccountS
6,408
1,959
1,314
67.1
4,449
3,156
70.9
principlES oF BuSinESS
7,366
2,296
1,774
77.3
5,070
3,737
73.7
tYpEwriting
435
82
41
50.0
353
162
45.9
Source: Policy Analysis, Research and Statistics Unit, 2006.
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compared to 81,111 girls. This alone is a strong indicator of high drop-out rates
among boys and disparity in survival to the final stages of formal education.
A further analysis of the data reveals that not only are the absolute numbers of
girls receiving Grades 1-3 in these subjects much higher overall than those of
boys as a result of higher entries, but also the percentage of Grades 1-3 among
those girls who sat the exam is consistently higher than boys in most subjects
with the exception of mathematics and a few technical/ vocational subjects and
business. Again with the exception of mathematics, girls outperform boys in
all of the sciences (traditionally thought of as male topics) and even perform
better in those subjects where significantly more boys entered the exam, such
as technical drawing. It is, however, in the arts that girls clearly outperform
boys in both the number of entries and the final results, and particularly in
English. For example, in English A we see 12,302 female entries compared to
7,654 male entries, with 12.6 per cent more girls achieving a Grade 1-3 than
boys. Cumulatively, this does not bode well for the numbers of boys leaving
school with sufficient English literacy.
However, it is important to place these statistics within a broader context
that shows certain complexities. For example, if we look at employment data
in Jamaica, we see a distinct gender advantage in terms of male employment
as opposed to female employment. The 2004 unemployment rate for males
stood at 8.1 compared to females at 15.7, and in terms of active job seeking,
only 4.5 per cent of males were looking for work as opposed to 8.4 per cent of
females.16 Putting this data together with that showing boys underperforming
in more subjects than girls and therefore less likely to transition to further/
higher education can lead to either of two interpretations: either (a) boys are
being forced/ expected to enter into employment as a result of several possible
reasons, such as their poorer performance in formal schooling and a variety
of other social and economic factors; or (b) girls may have no option but to
continue in education due to societal bias within the employment sector in
favour of males. The reality is that either of these possibilities is detrimental
to the overall developmental growth of males and females if the principles of
gender equality are to be upheld, while society in the long run will inevitably
suffer for it.
16 Statistical institute of Jamaica, Jamaican labour Force Statistics. data available at:
www.statinja.com/stats.html
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SituAtionAl contExt
The stratified nature of the Jamaican educational structure explains to some
extent the high drop-out rates occurring at senior secondary level. Secondary
departments in All-Age, Primary and Junior High Schools, which account for
nearly 16 per cent of secondary school enrolment, do not currently go beyond
Grade 9 and thus do not offer upper secondary education. It is after this point
that there is a quick fall in enrolment, partly due to this lack of upper secondary
school facilities. This situation is particularly problematic for rural schools with
small catchment populations, and for poorer students who find it difficult to
bear the costs associated with continuing education in a school located far from
home. However, it is not clear why this particular structural feature affects boys
more negatively than girls.
…it is now suggested
The literature review in Chapter 2 documented perspectives
that as girls’ access
that showed Jamaica as a society where male privilege is
to education is
widespread. However, while this patriarchal advantage allowed
increased, the impact
boys to outperform girls in the past, it is now suggested that as
of a narrow and
girls’ access to education is increased, the impact of a narrow
potentially redundant
and potentially redundant masculinity on boys is hampering
their achievement within the educational system.
masculinity on boys
is hampering their

We have seen that one of the more serious problems is students’
achievement within the
literacy and reading abilities. Poor reading abilities tend to be
concentrated among boys. Because of their reading deficiency,
educational system.
they cannot learn the content of various subjects. This is a paradox of Jamaican
education that standard statistics may not clearly reveal: high enrolment rates
through to lower secondary, coupled with low learning that could be hampered
by decreasing interest and participation. The literature suggests a selection of
reasons behind this increasing lack of interest and participation on the part of
boys. A popular perspective within the country is that of the ‘spoiling’ of young
boys who are raised under the Jamaican notion of ‘tie the heifer and loose the
bull’: i.e., that a girl should be regularly supervised and given tasks to do in
the house, while a boy should be allowed to do as he pleases. rooted within
a concept of masculinity that is now working negatively against boys in terms
of their academic performance, the outcomes of this socialisation could be
manifesting themselves among some boys through alienation from the values of
high academic achievement and the school system.
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A study of male underachievement opens the door for an examination of the
ways in which both boys and girls are prevented from achieving. Thus while
males may be dominant within the wider society, they achieve less than girls
within the schools, and choose less frequently than girls to continue their
education. Schools can reflect the values of the wider society, and teachers are
not immune to the norms and expectations that the society has for each sex.
The practices of streaming and exclusion of some students from activities for
arbitrary reasons are examples of school structures and/or teacher expectations
that can lead to differences in participation and achievement. Therefore, while
the statistics may show gender parity in primary school enrolment and transition
and only a slight gender disparity at secondary level, there could be an attitudinal
problem that starts quite early within the system but is more difficult to identify,
as pointed out by Evans (1999) in her study on Jamaica:
…boys and girls enter Grade 1 in equal numbers and with roughly the
same kinds of experiences and skil s, though we know nothing about their
attitudes to school work at this age. …By the time they reached Grade 5
and 6, major distinctions were detectable in their attitude to and interest
in work, the quality of work which they produced and in the academic
performance. . In many of the schools, the streaming decisions made at the
Grade 3 and 4 level influenced the students’ CEE chances for the remainder
of the primary years. By Grade 5 boys were over-represented in the low
streams according to the reports of the teachers… [and] we conclude that
the primary school contributes to this differential socialization.
An innoVAtiVE ApproAch
AdoptEd BY SEVEn innEr-citY
SchoolS
Jamaican educators are now realising the need to adopt more holistic
approaches. This report will now look at a project that has aimed to tackle
these issues through experience sharing, teacher commitment and designing
specific initiatives for each of the schools that adopted the project. The first part
describes the methodology and programme development of the project, and the
second highlights the response of a particular school to the innovations used.
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the ‘change from within’ programme
‘Change from Within’ (CFW) is a programme of human resource development
involving a partnership among schools, communities, organisations and the
larger society. The project was initially instituted by a former Vice Chancellor
of the University of the West Indies (UWI), the late Sir Philip Sherlock, who
brought together four schools that, independently of one another, were trying
various ways of dealing with essentially the same problems of increasing violence
and anti-social behaviour among boys. CFW took the shape of an applied
research project where Sir Philip led a team of UWI scholars to find ways of
building the self-esteem of students, which in his opinion lay at the root of the
problems. Sharing ideas, participating in workshops and networking among
the teachers were the main activities encouraged at that time, during which the
programme expanded from four to seven schools. The methodology developed
on the basis of analysis of work being done in these schools by the UWI team
helped in a later expansion to 32 schools. The project demonstrated how CFW
could become a powerful liberating force, building self-esteem and pride in one’s
ancestry and in the African-Jamaican record of historic achievements.
The Circle of Friends
The designated ‘engine’ of the programme was the Circle of Friends, a leadership
programme where school principals met together with a few support staff and a
research team. The purpose was to tackle difficult issues around the education of
boys and develop actions/ solutions. They shared experiences and ideas, planned
strategies for action and learnt how to improve leadership skil s. The eight
meetings that were held were central to CFW’s participatory methodology and
facilitated effective feedback and communicative planning. The group’s meetings
al owed for the adjustments of strategies depending on how different schools
identified their problems. This meant that changes could be made to procedures
depending on the circumstances that existed. There was always a certain amount
of openness and wil ingness to respond to feedback and the experiences of others.
These meetings helped the participants to draw on others’ rich experiences and a
large knowledge base generated by other research findings across different schools.
CFW thus is al about self-help and capacity building. As members of the group
met regularly, shared with each other and grappled with the chal enges before
them, they developed a close network. They grew as a committed and dedicated
team that not only made comments and suggestions about what was happening
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at the schools, but also provided emotional and psychological
It was found that support to each other.
individual styles and
differences were less As group members were faced with the chal enge of mobilising
important when there participants at a number of different levels, it became clear
that effective leadership requires a set of important qualities.
was ‘representativeness’, Some of these are shared vision, commitment, team approach,
a problem-solving focus problem solving/ conflict reduction skil s, openness to learning,
and a recognition of and the ability to provide mutual support and help manage the
the importance of the distress and chal enges of change. It was observed that within
principles of commitment, this group members had different styles, approaches, capabilities
shared vision and and skil s. What was important, however, was the recognition
openness to learning.
that leadership was about dealing with a particular reality and
building a process of adaptive change in relation to that reality.
Participants were also encouraged to recognise that for organisations to change
in a serious way, the people in those organisations also had to change and must
do so by recognising and responding to the adaptive chal enges facing them. The
Circle of Friends as a leadership col ective represented various levels of progress
and al owed these representatives to work together on problem solving, drawing
together al of the available resources to ensure sustainable solutions. It was
found that individual styles and differences were less important when there was
‘representativeness’, a problem-solving focus and a recognition of the importance
of the principles of commitment, shared vision and openness to learning.
The CFW methodology
The methodology of the CFW programme operated at a number of different
levels. First, a participatory action research strategy was adopted that involved
the engagement of all the stakeholders: the community, the students, the
teachers, the administration and the parents. The main activities included
observation, documentation, discussion and analysis.
At another level, the methodology also adopted a number of strategies for promoting
change and building cooperation within and between schools. These involved:
i creating a general awareness of the process;
ii building social skills;
iii establishing positive interdependence; and
iv encouraging supportiveness and building a good interpersonal
environment.
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Positive interactions were promoted to create a climate that built morale and self
esteem and encouraged respect, trust and conflict reduction. The methodology
also included the process of institution building, ‘servicing the infrastructure’ to
encourage self help. Workshops, training sessions and meetings served not only
to provide guidance and assistance, but also to encourage the participants to
identify and own the problems and challenges within their respective schools,
generate workable solutions, map plans for action and implement strategies.
The programme development involved articulating the significant activities
planned within the different schools. These activities specifically related to the
challenges the respective schools had identified. The following list from one
school provides an indication:
i parental support and involvement in school activities;
ii engagement of the communities;
iii use of self expression and the arts as a means for self improvement,
communication and motivation;
iv guidance and counselling programmes as a means for identifying and
solving personal problems;
v bad behaviour seen as a cry for help;
vi curriculum rooted in the cultural identity needs of Jamaicans;
vii sensitivity to the particular needs of male students;
viii highly trained teaching staff who are committed to the change process;
ix efficient and effective management techniques and practices/ ownership
by the key stakeholders as a result of consultation and analysis of needs;
x leadership prepared to take risks;
xi recognising the need to develop emotional intelligence for children.
Through a series of school-based action research projects, two factors were
identified that contributed to the alienation of boys: (a) the nature of boys’ early
socialisation by their parents, community and school; and (b) the ‘drill to kill’
teaching and learning methods that increasingly have marginalised boys and
many girls from the schooling process. CFW identified four key challenges in the
development of boys and young men in Jamaican society:
1 A lack of self esteem among young boys. Many children, because of their
cultural and material environment, can develop a sense of worthlessness.
2 The growing problem of violence and the lack of discipline in schools
and communities. This was highlighted by recent severe acts of violence
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within at least three secondary schools that were part of the project.
3 Gender performance in school. This involved the way in which masculine
identities work within the current environment, often moving boys away
from academic performance and towards other compensatory but more
negative types of behaviour.
4 The nature of the current socio-economic environment and the limited
opportunities for jobs after students graduate. Alternative lifestyles
– often outside of acceptable values and good citizenry – were therefore
seen as more attractive.
The important lesson learnt at this point was that there was no one method for
promoting CFW; rather, it was an evolving process that operated at different
levels. Individual schools responded to local peculiarities in different ways and
were able to promote CFW by pursuing their chosen objectives and working
with different visions. A matrix of change was developed working on four levels
– individual, school, parents/ home and wider community – that schools and
policy makers could use as a school improvement tool to raise the achievement
of boys. Schools’ experiences revealed that ‘active learning’ and radical ways
of engaging parents in the education of their children were producing positive
outcomes.
Over the year 2001-2002, CFW identified a set of common principles that
guided the activities in the seven schools involved in the project at that time.
They were generated out of the challenges identified within the schools and the
approaches utilised to dealing with these challenges. These principles constitute
the methodology of the CFW:
• empowering school leaders: leaders, being different from managers, have
a vision, are ready to take risks, are approachable and also capable of
empowering others.
• working on the positives – good practice: identification of areas such as
sports and performing arts where success brings kudos and following
up with positive feedback and creating a culture of striving for better
performance and success.
• a new pedagogy: immediate environment being used as a learning resource
allowing for debates and collaborative learning.
• mentoring: taking the responsibility for overall development of students
and not limiting it to learning of specific skills or building particular kinds
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of knowledge.
• involvement of parents and the wider community: parents becoming part
of the school community, involving themselves in decision-making, helping
in co-curricular activities and even evincing concern over the welfare of the
teachers.
• involvement of students: consultation and communication with students,
allowing them to be represented in decision-making through democratic
channels based on well-defined norms.
• circle of support: developing a culture of sharing without fear or being
judgemental, and learning from each other.
Blue mountain high School17
Blue Mountain High School had been one of Jamaica’s prestigious schools and
in the past had educated the country’s elite. However, that image had changed
as the school started taking children from poorer backgrounds and faced
problems of violence, gang-culture, drug addiction and underperformance. As
part of the CFW project, the principal introduced certain interventions that
focused on changing the basic quests of boys in conforming to the stereotypical
gender identity and helping them develop a worldview that would go beyond
themselves. The case study of the school is based on discussions with the
principal, teachers, the guidance counsellor, parents and students as well as on
participation in a number of school activities. Two such programmes were a
series of workshops on parenting skills and a CFW residential summer camp.
Problems and challenges
The school was confronted by some of the common problems experienced by a
number of inner-city schools in Jamaica. These included inter-school rivalry and
conflict, student indiscipline and insecurity stemming from poor family relations,
low level of teacher motivation and commitment, non-facilitative internal
structures and procedures, ‘cliquism’ among teachers and lack of effective staff
development programmes. The principal stated that when he first took up the
position, he made a list of the problems and challenges facing the school as
he saw it. He adopted a formal yet decentralised approach to leadership and
designed an evaluation system for assessing success in changing the school.
17. the name of school has been changed to protect the identity of the school, teachers and students.
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Increasing incidents of violence carried out by students of the school within
and outside its premises were a major concern. An emergency response team,
comprised of teachers and community representatives, was formed to deal
directly with this problem and covered violence both on the streets and on the
school compound. Also, a ban was instituted on cellular phone use, weapons and
any instrument that could be used to inflict injury. The school rule was very clear
and stringent in relation to weapons violations. The use of metal detectors was
introduced in an attempt to eradicate weapon use at the school.
Identifying and tracking down gangs was not easy, and boys were included in
the gangs from an early age. Teachers used the occasions of fights, inter-school
altercations and stabbing injuries to identify the students and trace others. A
First Grade teacher reported that she had identified at least two students in her
class who sometimes did not come to lessons but hid in the bushes behind the
school to smoke with older boys of a particular gang.
According to the principal, the strict measures against violence coupled with
other measures have helped the school to almost completely eradicate gangs.
Feedback from other sources suggests that the problem has not been wiped out
altogether, but it has definitely been reduced.
The effective use of counselling services
The school introduced guidance counsel ing services and used them successful y to
help students deal with various kinds of emotional problems. For instance, a boy
faced extreme anger from his mother for bad performance and was humiliated by
her in front of his teacher and peers. It was a volatile situation where he could have
reacted violently, making the situation worse. The principal, teacher and counsel or
together worked on restoring his confidence, and subsequent counsel ing sessions
helped him to deal with the situation wel . Counsel ing also greatly helped
students after two separate accidents in which several students attending the school
died. Many students, especial y those who had lost their friends, were miserable
and counsel ing helped them overcome their grief.
The shock of these deaths was also used to pul students away from violence and
express themselves through various other means. The boys were encouraged
to show their emotions, cry and not feel that seeking care was ‘unmanly’ and
therefore unacceptable. This helped them change their image of appropriate male
identity, making it more rounded. Counsel ing, coupled with participation in a
number of decisions that the management was taking about school administration,
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also made students trust the teachers and school staff in general and feel a sense
of ownership of the school. Corporal punishment was strictly banned and that
too made students feel more secure and cared for. As a result of these measures,
students starting interacting better with teachers and participating in school
activities more openly and wil ingly. Given the family
…with strong leadership
background of most boys in this school, with many of them
coming from single-parent households and lacking care and
and appropriate
attention at home, the support from school was important.
strategies, schools can
It had a positive impact on their attendance as wel as their
make a difference
performance.
even in situations
One of the limitations witnessed in the school was that the
that appear to be most
experiences have not been integrated into main curricular
difficult and daunting.
practices and most classes continued to follow the traditional
lecture format, with little space for student expression through various means.
There was no evidence of children’s work on the walls, the classrooms were
dark and bleak, and outside of sports the boys had few outlets to channel their
emotions and creativity.
concluSionS
The case study of this school within the frame of the CFW project shows that,
with strong leadership and appropriate strategies, schools can make a difference
even in situations that appear to be most difficult and daunting. Within the
school a set of strong rules coupled with measures that encouraged more
participation helped students change their attitude and behaviour, indicating
that strict rules can be effective if they are implemented in the right mix. The
school functioned within a project that promoted sharing, cooperation, mutual
learning, experimentation and continuous growth, breaking its isolation and
inertia. The same principles were applied in strategies adopted at school level
that helped in reducing the boys’ alienation from school and education processes.
The school focused on management-related reforms and succeeded in bringing
about change to a large extent. It is also clear, however, that the change would be
more sustainable and effective if these reforms were combined with pedagogical
reforms based on similar principles, as was apparently evidenced in some other
schools that were part of the project.
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6.
Lesotho: a case of
under-participation
thE mAcro-lEVEl picturE
Lesotho is one of the few developing countries where gender disparities have
been noticed in favour of girls in schooling participation rates and educational
outcomes, though the country is far from reaching universalisation even for
the primary stage of education. These disparities exist in literacy rates as well
as participation rates at both primary and secondary stages. The participation
rates for both boys and girls are low at secondary stage. However, within
this situation of low participation, the enrolment rates are still lower for boys
(Table 11). In fact, gender gaps are higher at the secondary stage of education
indicating a lower survival rate or higher drop-out rate for boys in the post-
primary phase of schooling. In this context, it is also important to remember
that Lesotho, a small, landlocked country located in Southern Africa, has a total
population of 2 million; hence even small change in numbers lead to significant
changes in percentage terms. Nevertheless, there is no denying the fact that there
is a clear case of boys’ under-participation.
tABlE 11: SElEctEd EducAtionAl indicAtorS, lESotho
(pErcEntAgES)





gEndEr PariTy





indEx (gPi)

yEar
ToTaL
maLE
FEmaLE
FEmaLES/ maLES
Adult litErAcY rAtE
1990
78.0
65.4
89.5
1.37

2000-2004
81.4
73.7
90.3
1.22
nEt EnrolmEnt rAtio
1998-1999
64.5
60.3
68.7
1.14
(nEr) At primArY StAgE
2002-2003
85.8
82.9
88.6
1.07
nEt EnrolmEnt rAtio
1998-1999
14.0
9.7
18.3
1.89
(nEr) At SEcondArY StAgE
2002-2003
22.5
17.8
27.2
1.53
Source: UNESCO, 2006.
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The trends are not as clear in the case of under-performance, the other aspect of
boys’ underachievement. The results of the Southern and Eastern Consortium
for Monitoring Educational Quality II (SACMEQ II) 2000-2002 shows that
there is hardly any difference between boys and girls in reading literacy in
Lesotho (Figure 1). SACMEQ II was the first time Lesotho had participated
in the survey (which originated in Zimbabwe in 1991), and the reading and
mathematics achievements of Grade 6 were assessed on a sample basis.
Interestingly, the region presents a variety of gender patterns: while girls are
clearly performing better than boys in some countries such as Botswana,
Mauritius, Seychelles, South Africa, Swaziland and Uganda, the opposite is
true in Kenya, Mozambique and United republic of Tanzania, and still others
– Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia and Zambia – depict insignificant differences. The
countries showing insignificant differences are usually the low achievers as well.
FigurE 1: gEndEr diSpAritiES in rEAding
litErAcY in SuB-SAhArAn AFricAn countriES
ToTaL
boyS girLS
60

LE

irab
50
ES yC
ra
40
hing ‘d iTE
C L
a
E
r
TS ading

30
n E
E rF
ud o

ST y

F r
20
STE
ion o ma
T
10
or
P

Pro
0

A
S
E
A
A
A
r )
n
Y
A
wi
u
i
A
ES
i
A
A
A
n
nd
tho
B
B
ll
A
ni
nd
BA ni
w
E
o
l
A
i
Q
mi
E
F
ric
A
A
m
A
S
K
B
g
t
mA
m
zil
nz
zA
nzi
lES
uritiu
A
nA
ch
A
u
nz
t
A
Bo
mA
z
zA
o
EY
t
A
S
Sw
.
.
m
.
r
South A
u
.
r
(
u
Source: UNESCO, 2005
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boys’UNDErACHIEVEMENT
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Boys and girls in Lesotho show similar scores despite the fact that repetition
rates are higher for boys in all zones (Table 12). According to a government
report (Government of Lesotho, 2000), girls perform better than boys in all the
grades at the primary education level, but the scores for both sexes level off in
the final examinations. What is obviously more worrisome for Lesotho is the
fact that it has one of the lowest levels of proficiency for both boys and girls
among all the countries that participated in SAQMEC II.
tABlE 12: pErcEntAgE oF pupilS who
ArE rEpEAtErS, lESotho
ECoLogiCaL zonE
FEmaLE
maLE
ToTaL
FoothillS
16
22
19
lowlAndS
14
20
17
mountAin
18
23
20
SEngu riVEr VAllEY
14
17
18
ToTaL
16
21
18
Source: Government of Lesotho and the World Bank, 2005.
The above analysis establishes that under-performance of both boys and girls is a
major issue in Lesotho. However, boys deserve special attention on two counts:
(a) the relative under-participation of boys in terms of enrolment in a situation
where the participation of all children is low; and (b) boys’ relatively higher
repetition rate.
An important aspect of Lesotho society is that although slightly more
girls attend school and consequently have higher literacy rates, this is
neither the result of nor leads to better positioning of women. Despite
impressive advances compared to some other sub-Saharan African countries,
with significant representation of women in almost all sectors including
administrative and managerial positions, unequal gender relations are still
a dominant feature in Lesotho (Kimane et al, 1998; Abagi, 2003). The
patrilineal and patriarchal system continues to subordinate women to men,
and customary law classifies women as minors that need to be perpetually
subjected to the guardianship of their male counterparts. Boys’ under-
participation, therefore, does not emanate from their secondary position,
as had been the case with girls in most parts of the world. rather, it has its
roots in the age-old practice of herdboys tending livestock. Livestock are an
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boys’UNDErACHIEVEMENT
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important part of Lesotho traditions and boys are engaged in looking after
them from a young age. The practice continues in rural areas, especially
among the population living in the highlands.
About one third of Lesotho’s population lives in the
An important aspect
highlands, where villages are small and isolated, separated by
of Lesotho society is
steep mountains. The temperatures are cooler and snow falls
that although slightly
during the winter months. Most families there raise animals
more girls attend school
such as sheep, cattle or angora goats. Livestock, apart from
and consequently have
being a source of pride, are also one of the important sources
higher literacy rates,
of livelihood and nearly every boy spends part of his life as
a herdboy. They pass their days in taking the family’s herd
this is neither the result
to a field where they can graze and searching for new places
of nor leads to better
where the animals can feed the next day. During winter
positioning of women.
this often means taking the herd to the fields a few miles
from home. When spring planting begins, these young herdboys need to
go further up into the mountains to look for pasturelands. As the demands
of schooling clash with those of the livestock, these herdboys are one of the
main groups that remain outside the fold of modern education.
The practice can be associated with the traditional perception that wealth was
counted in terms of the number of livestock a family had. Several researchers
have pointed out that herding of animals is considered a good practice even
in terms of socialising the male child to become a responsible member of
family and society (Mokhosi et al, 1999). According to these researchers,
the initiation to herding animals tends to begin between three and five years
when young boys start accompanying their elder brothers or relatives to
look after animals. Most herdboys come from poor family backgrounds. The
situation is worse for children who serve other families as herdboys and stay
with their employers, as they work for little remuneration and are denied all
their basic rights.
Figure 2 lists the barriers that cause under-participation, as seen in a number
of studies. It is important to understand that indifference towards education
combines with the practice of herding and poverty to act as a constraint
to participation in schooling. The fact that the practice of being a herdboy
is now mostly found only among the poor shows that it is not only a
cultural issue. It is probably the only major livelihood option for many poor
families based in rural areas located in the highlands. Therefore, the practice
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continues even if it clashes with the demands of schooling and leads to a lack
of formal education among boys. Studies also indicate that lack of education
means lack of information about health-related issues, leading to a high
prevalence of HIV/AIDS and drug abuse.
FigurE 2: oBStAclES thAt contriButE to thE
FAilurE to AttAin A FormAl EducAtion, lESotho
FaCTor
SuPPorTing STaTEmEnT/S
poVErtY/conStrAintS
School FEES, BooK FEES, uniFormS, FEEding SchEmE

plAcE too high dEmAndS on thE mAJoritY oF pArEntS
culturAl prActicES
culturAl pErcEptionS, nEgAtiVE pArEntAl AttitudES,

prActicES Such AS initiAtionS And EArlY mArriAgES AS

wEll AS miSSing School to AttEnd to houSEhold chorES

or hErding AnimAlS
SuBStAncE ABuSE
Young pErSonS EngAgE in drug ABuSE And AlcoholiSm
FAcilitiES
lAcK oF hEAlthY phYSicAl And SAnitArY FAcilitiES in

SchoolS, including toilEtS And dESKS
hEAlth
hiV/AidS inFEctEd And AFFEctEd, thE high hiV/AidS

prEVAlEncE And mAnY orphAnEd BoYS And girlS
prEgnAncY
cASES oF tEEnAgE prEgnAncY in primArY SchoolS,

morE So thoSE in rurAl ArEAS
diStAncE
long diStAncES From SchoolS
nEgAtiVE AttitudE
School iS conSidErEd to BE An unnEcESSArY ActiVitY;

pEoplE ArE SomEtimES SimplY too lAzY or ShY to AttEnd
clASh in SchEdulE
hErdBoYS lEAVE EArlY in thE morning, SpEnd thE wholE

dAY in thE FiEld And comE BAcK in thE EVEning
ErrAtic or non-AttEndAncE hErdBoYS ArE rEQuirEd to worK All YEAr round,

A SituAtion thAt AFFEctS rEgulAr AttEndAncE
Source: Respondents, Odumbe, 1990; Gill, 1994; Mokhosi et al, 1999; Abagi, 2003;
Makhetha and Motlomelo, 2004; Government of Lesotho and UNICEF, 1994.
Even when herdboys and other children from poor families enrol in schools,
the incidence of absenteeism remains high, affecting their continuation and
performance. Although absenteeism is high among girls too, it is reportedly
higher for boys. Fetching water is the main activity that leads to girls’
absenteeism, but that appears to be less demanding in terms of conflicting with
the school day as compared to being a herdboy. The isolated nature of villages,
separated by mountains, also poses physical barriers in terms of attending
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schools. The lack of facilities makes schools in rural areas an unattractive option,
and these areas face a paucity of teachers, especially qualified ones. The school
census records school location in four general categories and, although this is
not normally used for analysis, it was used by a study undertaken
The lack of facilities
by the Government of Lesotho and the World Bank (2005).
makes schools in rural
This reveals that 51 per cent of teachers in mountain areas
are unqualified, compared with only 24 per cent in lowland
areas an unattractive
areas (Table 13). Even these figures may mask greater teacher
option, and these
shortages in the most isolated schools, as many schools might
areas face a paucity
not have any or only one qualified teacher. The study opines,
of teachers, especially
“It is hard to attract people to rural areas, as the conditions are
qualified ones.
difficult… Young people, even those from rural areas, want
to come down from the highlands as soon as they can”. The high incidence
of teacher absenteeism in rural areas for a variety of reasons compounds the
problem.
tABlE 13: pErcEntAgE oF tEAchErS who ArE
unQuAliFiEd BY locAtion, lESotho
ECoLogiCaL zonE
FEmaLE
maLE
ToTaL
FoothillS
35
58
39
lowlAndS
21
39
24
mountAin
47
60
51
SEnQu riVEr VAllEY
26
59
35
Source: Government of Lesotho and the World Bank, 2005.
Considering the mountainous nature of the terrain and the dispersed nature
of the population, open and distance learning (ODL) assumes a special
significance. This case study looks at the experience of Lesotho Distance
Teaching Centre in this context. It examines the Learning Post programme,
which aims to take basic education to students living in remote areas.
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thE lESotho diStAncE
tEAching cEntrE
The Lesotho Distance Teaching Centre (LDTC) was established in 1972 as
a department of the Ministry of Education and Training. Initially, the Centre
was set up to address the needs of secondary education using ODL methods.
The focus was on students who had not passed the final secondary education
examinations. The literacy and numeracy section of the Centre, which is now
the Centre for Basic Education, was established in 1977 to provide literacy and
skills training. The basic premise for starting this section was that it was not
possible for some sections of the society to attend school due to a variety of
reasons. Despite the introduction of free primary schooling, this is not universal
due to the practice of cattle rearing as well as the lack of faith in the relevance of
education mentioned above. The Learning Post (LP) programme was intended
to cater for illiterate and semi-literate learners, most of whom are herdboys.
This case study is based on a desk review of existing evaluation reports of the
programme as well as consultation with all kinds of stakeholders including
learners, volunteers, parents and administrators associated with the programme.
LearningPostprogramme:Aflexible
option for the underprivileged
One of the most important features of the Lesotho Distance Teaching Centre
is flexibility, which helps herdboys and others facing similar constraints. The
LP programme offers learners the opportunity to complete the
One of the most course at their own pace and in their own time. The hope of
important features of better employment opportunities and developing the capacity
the Lesotho Distance to deal with the exploitation that they often face were major
Teaching Centre is motivations for learners joining the programme. Those who had
flexibility, which dropped out of the formal system shared their experiences of not
helps herdboys and feeling comfortable there because of their age being higher than
other students and lack of attention from teachers. This reflected
others facing similar that the formal system is not geared to deal with the specific
constraints. needs of children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
A perusal of the family backgrounds of learners consulted reveals that they
largely came from uneducated and poor households. The majority of parents
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had never been to school and remained illiterate. Almost all mothers were
housewives and fathers were farmers, reflecting the fact that this programme
was not a choice of those whose families were educated or in any kind of
employment. The flexibility obviously helped poor children cope with the
requirements of supporting their families and engaging in practices such as
cattle grazing. There have been more male learners in the programme than
female. Although not equivalent to primary education, the programme covers
basic literacy and numeracy skills in addition to some vocational skills. All
the respondents who were consulted stated that the LP programme has had a
positive impact on the learners and their communities. Programme graduates
have been actively participating in community-based development projects, and
this was perceived as a good use of the skills acquired through the programme.
However, despite these positives, the LP programme has been questioned on
several grounds. First of all, the learners do not complete a full cycle of primary
or basic education and hence the programme cannot be considered as equivalent
to the primary stage of schooling. This does not appear to be in conformity with
the rights approach and can be viewed as a poor substitute for poor children,
a criticism often made of alternatives that do not have the same or equivalent
curricula. The present curriculum has also been questioned on the basis of
relevance, and the need to include additional topics such as conflict resolution,
HIV/AIDS, career guidance, basic criminology, etc has been highlighted. A
number of respondents in the process of consultation suggested that the nature
and quality of vocational skills needed to change if the learners were expected
to use these to find employment. However, the recent decision to introduce the
English language in the programme was viewed as a positive development by
most of those consulted.
Low paid but highly motivated teachers working
in an un-enabling environment
The majority of the LP programme administrators/ teachers are middle-aged
women. They serve as volunteers and receive monthly honoraria of about M150/
US$19. This low level of honoraria explains the disproportionate presence of
women as men in general, and young men in particular, do not find it attractive
enough. It also leads to a high incidence of turnover. However, the level of
motivation among these administrators/ teachers is observed to generally be
high, one of the major reasons that the quality of delivery has been acceptable
despite adverse conditions. A number of these teachers had been associated
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with LDTC themselves and felt a sense of responsibility towards contributing
to a programme that promotes literacy and education among the deprived. For
instance, one of the teachers shared her experience of being able to complete her
secondary schooling through an LDTC correspondence course, and noted that she
finds this experience satisfying even if it is not rewarding in monetary terms. This
sentiment was echoed by many other teachers as wel . Nonetheless, it was also
obvious in the process of consultation that motivation alone cannot sustain the
programme, and a number of interventions are required to improve it further.
Lack of a conducive environment and of adequate facilities for schooling has
been identified by a number of evaluations as a major obstacle in raising the
quality of the LP programme. An enabling environment helps in attracting and
retaining learners. The respondents, in particular the LP administrators, indicated
that the schools’ proprietors do not al ow the programme administrators to use
their facilities. This confirms the findings of almost al evaluations undertaken for
LDTC, which have recommended the active involvement of stakeholders such
as school proprietors, field-based education officers and parents or guardians in
significant ways to improve the environment.
The LP programme relies heavily on the print and face-to-face mode of delivery.
Evaluations suggest that reception of radio Lesotho – which, among others,
presents the language arts radio lesson programme – is on the whole good
and have proposed that this facility might be one that can reach most learners
and in particular herdboys. However, this would only be possible if the poor
communities could be provided with radios. There appeared to be universal
agreement that the use of modern technology would make the programme more
accessible and cost-effective. This is especial y relevant given the mountainous and
remote nature of the terrain. It appeared that the LDTC does not use for training
the radio slot provided by the Ministry of Education and Training, which has
been in place for more than 20 years. radio can be used creatively to teach a new
language and thus has special relevance for the recent decision to teach English.
Retention in the Learning Post programme
The retention rates are apparently not very high in the LP programme. Several
reasons have been put forward for this. Primarily, it has to do with the herdboys’
lifestyle. The boys who are employed tend to move from one employer to the
other, and the new employer may not be in the same district or locality as the
one in which the herdboy was able to participate in the programme. Even when
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boys’UNDErACHIEVEMENT
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they are not employed and herd their family’s livestock, the sheer pressure of
having worked through the day makes it difficult for them to come for these
classes in the evening. Seasonality also affects attendance as boys tend to spend
longer periods at the cattle post during winter while girls are retained at home
for help during harvesting periods. In some cases, herdboys join circumcision
school, after which they discontinue other forms of education. Early marriages
are common and girls are often not permitted after marriage or pregnancy to go
back to these classes. Makhetha and Motlomelo (2004) and UNICEF (2003)
have also cited ill health, excessive drug abuse, attending to family chores such
as working in the fields and lack of motivation as major causes of drop out from
the programme. It is obvious that the whole issue of child labour needs to be
addressed as these practices clash with any form of schooling. Language also acts
as a barrier in some cases. Lesotho is largely homogenous and Sesotho is the
main language and the medium of instruction. However, Xhosa and Zulu are
also spoken in some parts.
concluSionS
The case study shows that although ODL has potential as
ODL models can
a solution in circumstances where the locations are remote
be successful only if
and the population dispersed, it needs to be planned and
they implement well-
implemented carefully if the objective is to provide basic or
designed curricula
higher levels of education. A complete cycle of basic education
cannot be treated as the same as literacy and requires the
using a variety of
participation of children for longer hours on a sustained basis.
technological tools in
ODL models can be successful only if they implement well-
combination with face-
designed curricula using a variety of technological tools in
to-face interactions…
combination with face-to-face interactions, which does not
seem to be happening in this case. While the programme has provided literacy
skills to a large number of herdboys who had either dropped out or never been
to school, there remains the need for developing other solutions to the whole
issue of boys’ under-participation, which appears to be result of a combination
of economic, social and physical factors in Lesotho.
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7.
Samoa: a major
challenge to the
education system
Samoa is a low middle-income country with a small population of less than a
million. It consists of eight islands in the Pacific – two large and six small – and
has a single system of societal organisation and language. The country identifies
boys’ underachievement as a major challenge facing its
Samoa… identifies boys’ education system. This piece discusses the nature of the
underachievement as a problem, followed by the analysis of a vocational education
major challenge facing initiative that is viewed as having helped in addressing the
its education system.
issue.
thE nAturE oF BoYS’
undErAchiEVEmEnt
A perusal of Tables 14 and 15 suggests that girls and boys are almost at par in
terms of participation at the primary stage of schooling. Table 14 indicates that
girls were at a slight disadvantage as compared to boys till the beginning of this
century when the trend changed in their favour. However, the latest data for
2004 shows parity, and the gap on either side has not been significant. But the
story is different for the secondary level of education. Participation rates have
consistently been higher for girls, the gap being quite significant and somewhat
widening over time. Participation rates for girls remain low, generally less than
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50 per cent during the period 1995-2004, but the rates for boys are lower. In
other words, boys have lower participation rates within a scenario of low overall
participation at the secondary level.
tABlE 14: pErcEntAgE primArY nEt EnrolmEnt
rAtio, 5-14-YEAr-oldS, 1995-2004, SAmoA

1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
maLE
87
86
86
86
85
87
81
83
84
85
FEmaLE
87
84
84
84
83
85
83
85
85
85
ToTaL
87
85
85
85
84
86
82
84
84.5
85
Source: Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture, 2004c.
tABlE 15: pErcEntAgE SEcondArY nEt EnrolmEnt
rAtio, 15-19-YEAr-oldS, 1995-2004, SAmoA

1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
maLE
33
34
34
35
37
35
37
35
39
38
FEmaLE
39
39
42
41
45
40
45
43
51
48
ToTaL
36
36
37
38
41
38
41
39
44
43
Source: Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture, 2004c.
Examinations results are analysed next to see whether under-participation
of boys is also coupled with underperformance. Taking into account the
examination structure followed by the national system, four examinations
results are used here as measures of educational performance. These are the
Samoa Primary Education Literacy Level (SPELL) One test for Year 4,
the SPELL Two test for Year 6 and the National Year 12 Examination. At
primary school level, the SPELL Tests for Years 4 and 6 were established and
designed to identify and monitor students who are not achieving minimum
competencies in both literacy and numeracy in schools. The results are
recorded as an ‘at-risk percentage’ across government schools. Most non-
government schools also participate.
Tables 16 and 17 show that a significantly higher proportion of boys have been
at risk at the end of Year 4 as well as Year 6 in comparison to girls for all three
subjects that are covered at this stage: English, Samoan and numeracy.
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The situation is not encouraging for either girls or boys but it seems that boys
are particularly weak in English and numeracy, more than two thirds having
been identified as being at risk at the end of the Year 6 examinations.
tABlE 16: pErcEntAgE oF primArY StudEntS
idEntiFiEd AS At riSK, YEAr 4, SAmoA
SubJECT
gEndEr
1998
1999 2000
2001
2002
2003 2004
EngLiSh
BoYS
37
37
29
18
55
61
19

girlS
22
20
17
11
41
41
8

totAl
29
28
23
15
48
51
13
Samoan
BoYS
49
50
40
26
40
39
39

girlS
28
31
26
15
23
20
19

totAl
31
40
33
21
32
29
28
numEraCy
BoYS
37
33
30
29
33
40
40

girlS
24
22
24
19
24
25
25

totAl
30
38
27
24
28
32
32
Source: Government of Samoa, 2005c.
tABlE 17: pErcEntAgE oF primArY StudEntS
idEntiFiEd AS At riSK, YEAr 6, SAmoA
SubJECT
gEndEr
1998
1999 2000
2001
2002
2003 2004
EngLiSh
BoYS
67
69
51
60
63
68
69

girlS
44
48
35
36
38
42
44

totAl
53
58
46
48
50
55
56
Samoan
BoYS
25
28
24
23
27
24
17

girlS
8
10
11
10
11
7
12

totAl
15
19
17
16
19
16
12
numEraCy
BoYS
70
69
66
61
68
77
76

girlS
54
53
51
50
56
64
58

totAl
61
60
58
56
62
71
67
Source: Government of Samoa, 2005c.
Given these trends at primary level, the results at the end of Year 8 do not come
as a surprise. Table 18 shows that in all subjects examined in 2001, 2002 and
2004, the boys’ mean score has remained below the 50 per cent mark. Female
students on the other hand had their mean score above the national average
of 50 per cent at around 53 and 54 per cent in these years. This means that
though girls continue to outperform boys in all subjects including science and
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mathematics, the disparities in mean scores are much less when compared to the
Year 6 level. However, students’ performance in the Year 8 National Examination
is used to select those who will enter the top five government secondary schools.
As such, these results in this examination are extremely important for their
“progression and future educational opportunities” (ADB, 2003).
tABlE 18: nAtionAl YEAr 8 mEAn ScorE
rESultS BY SuBJEct And SEx, SAmoA
SubJECT
SEx
2001
2002 2004
baSiC SCiEnCE
BoYS
48
47
48

girlS
53
54
53

totAl
51
50
50
EngLiSh
BoYS
46
46
46

girlS
54
55
54

totAl
50
50
50
maThEmaTiCS
BoYS
48
47
47

girlS
53
53
52

totAl
51
50
50
Samoan
BoYS
47
46
47

girlS
54
54
54

totAl
50
50
51
SoCiaL SCiEnCE
BoYS
48
47
47

girlS
53
54
53

totAl
50
50
50
Source: Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture: Examiner.
Table 19 shows mean scores by subject and sex for Year 12 National
Examinations for four years. Girls have either been outperforming or are
at par with boys in most subjects. However, though the average scores of
girls are higher in most subjects, the differences are not very great. What
becomes important in the Samoan case is the fact that boys are facing both
under-participation and underperformance, especially at secondary level.
The signs of underperformance start early at primary level, and this feature
distinguishes Samoa from many other countries that face the problem of boys’
underachievement.
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tABlE 19: nAtionAl YEAr 12 mEAn ScorE
rESultS BY SuBJEct And SEx, SAmoA
SubJECT
SEx
2001
2002 2003
2004
Accounting
BoYS
50
52
50
44

girlS
50
53
53
48
EconomicS
BoYS
52
53
52
46

girlS
50
55
55
49
EngliSh
BoYS
43
46
46
44

girlS
49
51
51
50
Food & nutrition
BoYS
34
39
39
nA

girlS
38
42
43
nA
gEogrAphY
BoYS
48
51
50
46

girlS
49
51
50
48
hiStorY
BoYS
50
54
54
47

girlS
53
55
55
49
mAthEmAticS
BoYS
47
51
48
46

girlS
48
49
49
48
phYSicS
BoYS
53
59
57
45

girlS
56
57
57
50
SAmoAn
BoYS
42
44
42
45

girlS
47
48
47
49
SciEncE
BoYS
44
49
51
nA

girlS
49
50
50
nA
dESign tEchnologY
BoYS
35
40
39
nA

girlS
41
36
44
nA
BiologY
BoYS

52
49
47

girlS

49
50
48
chEmiStrY
BoYS

63
58
60

girlS

58
57
51
Source: Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture: Examiner.
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boys’UNDErACHIEVEMENT
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poSt-SEcondArY EducAtion
And EmploYmEnt
The census is responded to by citizens at all age levels, and thus it gives a
view of historical social trends. An analysis of data from the census shows
that boys’ underachievement is a recent phenomenon and
An analysis of data
has helped in reducing the gender difference in educational
achievement. The 2001 census asked respondents to identify
from the census
levels of educational achievement, and the responses show
shows that boys’
that the gender split of those completing university has been
underachievement is a
progressively changing over time. Over 70 per cent of people
recent phenomenon and
75+ who had completed university were males. The relative
has helped in reducing
proportions trended together and 50 years later the gender
the gender difference
proportions equalised in the population that is now 25-30
in educational
years old (Figure 3). This equalisation has since led to a
reversal of achievement trends at the tertiary level, with the
achievement.
current younger generation of women accessing university
much more than their male counterparts.
FigurE 3: gEndEr oF indiViduAlS who hAVE complEtEd
uniVErSitY BY FiVE-YEAr AgE groupS 15-75+, SAmoA
80
70
60
T
n

50
CE
mAlE
r
40
E
FEmAlE
P
30
20
10
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
FivE-yEar agE grouPS 15-75+
Source: Government of Samoa, 2003c.
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boys’UNDErACHIEVEMENT
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While there have been positive developments in post-school education
and training, the numbers of enrolments are still insignificant against the
number not enrolled. In 2001 the total population between the ages of 15-
25 was 34,503 and the average number in each age cohort in that range was
3,137 with none less than 2,614. The majority of any age cohort are outside
formal tertiary education. This group should not be seen as ‘drop outs’ as
the vast majority will be engaged in economically and socially worthwhile
activities. However, they are outside the formal track of educational
provision and as a consequence do not have easy access to up-grading of
skills. Establishing a meaningful national strategy for the post-school sector
requires that the scope of the issue must be recognised. In fact, constant
pressure on the formal post-school institutions by increased numbers of
applicants has pushed entry standards up. The paradox that is facing the
national system is that with a chronic skills shortage in all areas, access to
technical and vocational education has to be rationed and entry standards
to post-school higher education are being raised (Government of Samoa,
2005c).
In terms of employment, we see a very different picture, with more
than twice as many males employed as females. Table 20 shows the
disaggregation of employment by industry and gender. The figures show
that the bulk of employment is within the ‘agriculture, hunting and forestry’
and ‘manufacturing in traditional/ home setting’ categories (41 per cent).
The majority of males are involved in agriculture, hunting and forestry,
while the greatest numbers of females are also concentrated in this sector
as well as manufacturing in traditional/ home setting. Females outnumber
males in home and service related activities such as manufacturing in
traditional/ home setting; wholesale and retail trade; education; financing,
insurance and business servicing; health and social work; international
organisation; and also in manufacturing in formal setting where they may
compromise the bulk of the process workers in enterprises such as Yazaki
and Vailima.18
18 Yazaki international is a Japanese company that constructed a wire-harnessing plant in

1996 that has become the country’s biggest private sector employer. Vailima Breweries

produce and export beer.
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tABlE 20: diStriBution oF EmploYmEnt BY induStrY,
2001, SAmoA

ToTaL
%
maLE
%
FEmaLE %
AgriculturE, hunting, ForEStrY
17,711
35
15,613
44
2,098
14
mAnuFActuring in trAditionAl/
homE SEtting
5,422
11
1,912
5
3,510
23
puBlic AdminiStrAtion
3,322
7
2,143
6
1,179
8
priVAtE houSEhold with EmploYEES
2,884
6
2,022
6
862
6
wholESAlE And rEtAil trAdE
2,757
5
1,460
4
1,297
9
FiShing ActiVitiES
2,575
5
2,240
6
335
2
EducAtion
2,341
5
864
2
1,477
10
othEr communitY, SociAl And
pErSonAl SErVicES
2,096
4
1,566
4
530
3
mAnuFActuring in FormAl SEtting
1,941
4
907
3
1,034
7
trAnSport, StorAgE And communicAtion
1,929
4
1,636
5
293
2
conStruction
1,674
3
1,601
5
73
0
rEStAurAntS And hotElS
1,522
3
770
2
752
5
FinAncing, inSurAncE And
BuSinESS SErVicing
1,082
2
526
1
556
4
ElEctricitY, gAS And wAtEr
906
2
808
2
98
1
hEAlth And SociAl worK
843
2
341
1
502
3
intErnAtionAl orgAniSAtion
472
1
220
1
252
2
rEAl EStAtE, rEnting And
BuSinESS SErVicES
268
1
175
0
93
1
not StAtEd
854
2
545
2
309
2
ToTaL
50,599 100
35,349 100
15,250 100
Source: Government of Samoa, 2003c.
The 2001 census indicated that about 50 per cent of the population aged 15
years and over were economically active (52,998 persons). Two thirds of the
economically active population was male (36,772). About 25 per cent of the
population worked in a paid job and another 25 per cent worked in agriculture.
However, the census reports that while there are fewer females in work
than males, females had a lower proportion of unpaid work than their male
counterparts, indicating that females who did become economically active were
more likely to choose and gain paid employment than males. These statistics
allow us to surmise that, other than those who attend the already-mentioned
alternative education centres that take in boys who have dropped out from the
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boys’UNDErACHIEVEMENT
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secondary education system, boys leaving education will enter some form of
economic activity, but this could often be within the informal or traditional
agricultural sectors that do not always guarantee regular pay.
culturAl contExt:
mASculinitY, gEndEr idEntitY
And SociEtAl rESponSiBilitY
The Samoan culture has a complex construction of male gender identity and
masculinity that is intrinsical y connected to strong societal responsibility for the
family and the col ective. The culture is based on a fa’amatai, a system of vil age
government by chiefs cal ed matais. The matai governs an entire aiga or extended
family. The aiga is the foundation of the wider society. Boys in particular are
encouraged to respect the matai, and young men wil see that the greatest honour
is to become matai but know this is only achieved by visible
The Samoan culture has evidence of support to community welfare.
a complex construction The relationship of brothers (al male relatives) to sisters (all
of male gender identity female relatives) is defined in terms of a protectorship, where
and masculinity that is the brother is the provider and protector of the sister. Once
intrinsically connected children are old enough to work, their relationship to their
to strong societal parents becomes that of caregiver and service provider in return
responsibility for the for the years they had been taken care of. The relationship of
family and the collective. extended families within a vil age is defined by the hierarchy of
high chiefs and orators. Together, the vil age families operate as
kinsfolk bound by a common heritage as signal ed by the vil age honorific.
Gender-specific roles are followed. Girls are expected to be competent in the
women’s tasks of weaving and the like. The young women enter the aualuma
or village women’s committee, which focuses on the production of traditional
mats and the welfare of the families. The young men enter the aumaga or men’s
group and focus on developing proficiency in fishing, agricultural tasks, food
preparation and the ‘ava ceremony (held on special occasions). Leadership
is held by the chiefs and orators in a mutually dependent relationship. In
everything, people operate as kinsfolk in the activities that sustain their lives in
the village.
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The link to walkabout and other rites of passage is through a system of what can
most simply be called community service. The so-called ‘untitled men’ (taulelea)
are the strength of the village and its workforce: the farmers, the fisherman and,
in former times, the warriors. They remain untitled until such time as they are
chosen by the family to be a matai. Service is a significant factor in choosing a
matai as expressed in the Samoan saying: “O le ala I le pule o le tautua” (the way
to authority is through service).
There is a sophisticated hierarchy when it comes to the views of youth reaching
the ears of the village council. They have a choice of three avenues: aualuma
the female descendents of the village, aiga – their family or aumaga – the group
of untitled men. Views have to be filtered through these gate-keepers before they
reach the council of chiefs. The village council still has remarkable power, but
this is increasingly coming into conflict with movements away from traditional
society as the country becomes modernised. The implications of this could result
in alienation and social disenfranchisement for boys and adolescents. A worrying
factor within Samoan society is the high incidence of suicide among males.
Table 21 shows the suicide numbers since 2000 disaggregated by sex. Over
these six years, three quarters of suicides were males. The age range for males
was from 10 to 76 years old. It is possible, though difficult to prove, that there
is a link between boys’ underachievement in education, the suicide rates and the
traditional system of administration. More research is needed into these aspects
to understand the association and linkages.
tABlE 21: SuicidE numBErS BY SEx, 2000-2005, SAmoA

2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
ToTaL
%
mAlE
11
11
7
8
16
5
58
75
FEmAlE
3
4
2
4
3
1
17
22
not Known
1
1




2
3
totAlS
15
16
9
12
19
6
77
100
Source: Fa’ataua le Ola, 2005.
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boys’UNDErACHIEVEMENT
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don BoSco tEchnicAl cEntrE
Background
Don Bosco Technical Centre is a single-sex institution that responds to the
needs of marginalised boys who left regular formal secondary schools without
completing the course. The Centre aims to facilitate holistic development
of boys through focusing on technology education, career preparation and
opportunities to develop social awareness. It opened with 32 students in 1989
and the number had increased to 250 in 2005. Students are mainly from the
rural villages of the two largest islands, Upolu and Savaii.
The Centre provides a four-year programme of study in design and technology
associated with woodwork, metalwork, plumbing, mechanical engineering and
boat building. The contents include theory, practical applications and information
about the range of available career possibilities. In addition, students are offered
courses in mathematics, communication skil s, fa’asamoa19 or cultural education,
basic literacy and religious education. The Centre also seeks to develop in its
students the virtues of honesty, integrity, responsibility, trust and loyalty and strives
to foster a commitment towards religious and moral convictions.
The Centre operates a flexible arrangement whereby students may leave on
finding employment. Students who remain at the Centre for the full four years
have a very high rate of success in terms of finding work or continuing with
their studies. The curriculum is aimed at preparing students for employment,
self-employment or to go on to further studies at Samoa Polytechnic. This case
study is a brief investigation into the philosophy and practices of the institution
in relation to the educational development of boys.
Boys’ experience of barriers to achievement
in mainstream schools
Eleven groups of factors were identified by students as barriers to their
achievement in mainstream schools. In order of the most frequently to the least
frequently mentioned, these were:
1 teacher and teaching-related factors,
2 home factors,
19 Fa’asamoa refers to the Samoan way of life and encompasses beliefs, values and cultural practices.
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boys’UNDErACHIEVEMENT
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3 poor self-image and behaviour,
Teachers’ attitudes
4 girl-related factors,
appeared to be
5 school rules and punishment,
a major issue in
6 language and literacy,
underachievement as
7 drugs,
students experienced
8 peer pressure,
disrespect in the form of
9 school management,
corporal punishment,
10 attitudes and behaviour of others, and
threatening language,
11 resources.
humiliation,
Teachers’ attitudes appeared to be a major issue in
favouritism and
underachievement as students experienced disrespect in
lack of attention to
the form of corporal punishment, threatening language,
weak students.
humiliation, favouritism and lack of attention to weak students.
Pedagogy was described as narrow, uninspiring, not providing feedback or
review and not providing differential learning for varying abilities. The most
frequently identified home factor was poverty in terms of being cash-poor,
resulting in an inability to pay school fees and meet other school costs. The
presence of girls was viewed as distracting, and also leading to fear of being
ridiculed in front of them. Interestingly, none of the students mentioned
any alienation from school as a result of perceptions that school or academic
achievement is a ‘feminine’ pursuit or pastime, a factor that has come up in
studies on boys’ achievement in countries such as Australia and Jamaica. It
appears that poor performance also emanates from poor knowledge of English,
which is the medium of instruction in secondary schools. A test of students
entering the Centre showed that none of them had the proficiency required for
learning other subjects through that language.
Aspirations and achievements at the centre
Students at Don Bosco Technical Centre were mostly aspiring to have the
requisite skills for finding a livelihood option. A strong sense of wanting to pay
back a debt to parents, church and society exists. Boys seem to bear on their
shoulders the burden of being the breadwinner and protector. Students reported
a sense of achievement at the Centre in terms of the enhancement of skills
related to technology and its application and the development of appropriate
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boys’UNDErACHIEVEMENT
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attitudes, values and behaviour, and other life skills. Many of them also reported
improvement in language skills. They acknowledged developing a sense of
purposefulness, a keenness to learn and a disciplined lifestyle. They also made
special mention of communication skills in which many spoke of an increased
confidence to interact in group, class and whole school situations with audiences
of different ages. The boys also appreciated the emphasis on developing
independence and self-confidence shown in letting them design and complete
projects on their own. Students felt respected and cared for.
Students were clearly positive in their sense of belonging to the Centre. They
enjoyed going to school and felt engaged in the activities. They experienced
and appreciated the sense of purposefulness, and showed a keenness to learn
and a disciplined lifestyle. Many of them felt that the Centre had contributed
in bringing positive changes to their outlook and behaviour. There was a sense
of pride in what they had been able to achieve. Therefore, an important part of
their achievements at Don Bosco was regaining their sense of self, a desire to
try harder, be productive and make a contribution to family and village, and to
seek further knowledge and understanding in order to achieve all this. Learning
life skills was highlighted by students as an important accomplishment, and they
acknowledged achievements in religious knowledge and application.
One source of pride has come from the emphasis on knowledge, skills and values
associated with racing the long boats or fautasi. These were the traditional
means of transport between islands or around the coastal villages of the same
island. They each have around 50 rowers and are now primarily used in
competitions during national celebrations. Besides Don Bosco, no other school
has rowed a fautasi during the national competitions. rowing was also used as
an opportunity to teach science and cultural principles involved in boat design,
the art and skills of rowing, the discipline involved in maintaining fitness, and
the principles of working as a team and making monetary contribution to the
school through their prize money.
Effective approaches and processes at the centre
Analysis of the processes at the Centre led to the identification of seven
principles that helped in achieving high levels of acceptance and support from
students and ensured their good performance. These principles were identified
by the students themselves in the order that they are presented:
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boys’UNDErACHIEVEMENT
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1 enabling school environment,
2 school leadership, attitudes and philosophy,
3 nature of the curriculum,
4 education for life,
5 teachers’ attitudes and philosophy,
6 teachers’ pedagogical knowledge and skills, and
7 teacher-student relationship.
The school emphasises creating space for respectful and meaningful dialogue
between teachers and students, principal and students, and students and
students. An annual retreat organised as a residential one-week event for the
entire school provides an excellent opportunity for team-building. regular
whole school meetings with the principal are another method for developing
a shared vision and sense of ownership. The principal used these meetings to
challenge, motivate and counsel the students, and they are perceived by students
as having a great impact. The Centre’s participation in outside-school events
– including competing in the fautasi races, performing traditional dances and
having sports teams in the local competitions during national celebrations
– helps in developing a collective identity and cooperative
attitude. Highlighting the achievement of students is followed as
The school emphasises
a strategy to build and nurture their self-esteem and self image.
creating space for
The school does not allow corporate punishment.
respectful and
meaningful dialogue

The combination of theory with practical and workplace
experience is clearly considered an effective approach by both
between teachers and
students and teachers. The incorporation of life skills, values
students, principal
and culture in planned curricular activities helps in giving
and students, and
education a lifelong focus. The development of interpersonal
students and students.
skills, understanding gender-related issues, diversity, decision-
making skills, creative thinking and problem-solving skills, analytical skills
for assessing self and others, information-gathering skills, and coping and
stress-management skills prepare them to face the world for life. Teaching
styles are such that they depict confidence in students’ ability to do things on
their own. Students appreciated teachers’ special attention to those who were
perceived to be weak. Teacher-student relationships appeared to be relaxed
and based on trust and respect.
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boys’UNDErACHIEVEMENT
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gender identity: notions of masculinity
It is interesting to note that the notion of masculinity promoted in the Centre
matches that prevalent in traditional Samoan society. The boys most often see
themselves in the role of protector of their parents, sisters, extended family,
village and church. They see themselves as being responsible for providing for
their food needs and shelter and meeting family obligations to the church and
the village. The relationship to sisters is sacred and seen as feagaiga or covenant,
the i’oimata or ‘pupil of the brothers’ eye’. This means as males their duties are
to protect their sisters, be of service through ensuring there is sufficient food and
that it is cooked for them, and do all the household chores. Although following
patriarchy where women have limited economic and political rights, in Samoan
society boys and men are expected to cook and do other work in the household.
Masculinity is also associated with leadership for which, as noted earlier, service
is a prerequisite. Through service, males can learn to be leaders responsible for
safeguarding family assets, distributing family resources and representing the
family at village and church forums.
There is a strong belief among the boys of this masculine identity being their
heritage. The school also seems to reinforce these notions through “making the
boys aware of their role in families and society; to become good fathers, matai
and providers of the family”, as expressed by one teacher. Notions of masculinity
are grounded in cultural beliefs and practices that are very much part of life in
their villages. This has helped in giving the boys a strong identity. However, it
can be questioned on the ground that it does not help in any way in reducing
some of the pressures on boys or some of the restrictions that girls face.
concluSionS
The case study provides a number of signals for addressing the issue of boys’
underachievement, though some of them remain inconclusive and others
need careful interpretation. The positive experiences of students at Don Bosco
Technical Centre clearly indicate the need for reforming the school pedagogy,
management processes and teachers in terms of their attitude and approach.
This indication is quite definitive and it is also clear how the contrasts in such
experiences between mainstream secondary school and this Centre had helped
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cASE StudY: SAmoA
students gain confidence and feelings of self-worth. Another important issue
relates to the issue of vocationalisation. Such positive experiences are often
taken as an indicator of the need for the secondary level of education to be
vocationalised, especially for boys. While there is no doubt that some of the
vocational courses need to be incorporated as a choice available to students, this
cannot be promoted as the most desirable option for boys,
…some of the processes
especially those coming from rural or lower socio-economic
backgrounds. What can be said here with greater confidence is
and approaches used
that some of the processes and approaches used for vocational
for vocational courses
courses at the Centre provide principles for making any
at the Centre provide
classroom pedagogy more interesting and effective. This
principles for making
includes the focus on interactive activities, showing confidence
any classroom pedagogy
in students by allowing them handle complete projects
more interesting
themselves, and so on.
and effective. This
The case study does not provide definite indicators regarding
includes the focus on
single-sex school. Although the absence of girls appeared to
interactive activities…
have helped the boys, the presence of girls did not emerge
as the most important reason for low performance in mainstream secondary
schools. Another critical area is notions about maleness, masculinity and boys’
ability to process themselves as males in Samoa, and the interactions between
these philosophies, practices and some of the evident patterns for males such
as suicide and underachievement. As noted earlier, the overwhelming majority
of those who commit suicide are males, and with such deep-rooted beliefs in
the role of the male in servitude to the family, it would be important to find
out what happens to male’s notions of dignity when they find themselves in
positions of underachievement at school and then in the community if they are
unable to get paid employment. In sum, this being the first study in Samoa
focusing on boys’ educational achievement, there are many unknown areas that
should be the focus of future research.

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about the authors
Jyotsna Jha, PhD in Economics of Education, works as Advisor, Education
and Gender and Education and HIV/AIDS at the Commonwealth Secretariat
in London. Prior to that she was based in India, where she had extensive
experience in research, evaluation and implementation-support projects for both
government and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and for national and
international agencies. Her previously published work includes a book titled
Elementary Education for the Poor and Other Deprived Groups: The Real Challenge
of Universalisation
and chapters in Gender and Social Policy in a Global Context
and Reinventing Public Service Delivery in India: Selected Case Studies. Most of her
recent writing has focused on equity issues in education.
Fatimah Kelleher is a Programme Officer at the Commonwealth Secretariat and
has been working on universal primary education (UPE), looking at such areas
as education delivery to nomadic populations, teacher deployment, education
sector planning and other factors surrounding the sustainability of UPE. She
has previously worked with civil society, NGOs and government in Nigeria,
Sudan and the UK, and has been involved with varied formal and informal
programmes dealing with both education and gender issues.
133



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