ABSTRACT
This chapter considers the arguments for single-sex schooling, boys-only classes, and the idea that male teachers are the best role models for male pupils. As students progress through a teacher preparation program, they gradually form a schema or expectation of how a typical classroom functions, including beliefs about appropriate behaviour for boys and girls in the classroom. In a separate piece of research into the classroom practices of male primary school teachers, Becky Francis notes the “absurdity in expecting that men teachers would teach, or relate to pupils, in predictable or uniform ways simply on the basis of their ‘maleness’”. Little wonder then that Francis’s research found deeply contradictory statements, with different pupils labelling male teachers as both “stricter” and “kinder” than their female counterparts. Much of the research contends that mixed ability teaching is more likely than grouping by “ability” to lead to improved results for boys.
