ABSTRACT
While statistics have been used to prove that many boys are underachieving in relation to girls, several different reasons have been given for how this situation has come about. The explanations for why, where and how boys and girls achieve differently in schools depends on the point of view a person holds (see Chapter 2). Those people who strongly believe that gender is in-born will tend to see any inequalities in achievement as a consequence of hormonal, chromosomal or brain differences. Similarly those who believe that gender is ‘fluid’ will argue the case that what it means to be a ‘schoolgirl’ or ‘schoolboy’ is diverse and differentiated and will appear differently in each educational setting. Then there is the idea that schools, particularly primary schools, are ‘feminised’. For example, it has been argued that the predominance of women primary teachers has resulted in male teachers avoiding working in this sector and therefore depriving boys of necessary male role models. Or again, the fact that the majority of teachers are women has meant that there is a tendency to favour ‘girls’ learning styles’ and the kinds of learning behaviours associated with females such as cooperation and studiousness. And, in the same vein, it has been suggested that, however well meaning they are, women teachers simply have not recognised the particular difficulties faced by boys in learning how to be boys (Pollack, 1998; Gurian, 2002).
