New Year’s resolutions and boys’ education

Welcome to my first blog of 2016 (New Year’s resolution) where I shall be offering some of my thoughts and views on NSB and educational matters – not always at such length as in this opener.  We will, of course, still be issuing our popular weekly newsletter each term-time Friday.

Firstly, a slightly belated Happy New Year.  It was great to see the boys back in school last week.  I managed to visit all three sites during the first two days of term and I must say all of the boys looked refreshed and raring to go in 2016.

Speaking of New Year’s resolutions, during the first Senior School assembly of the new term, I urged the boys to be hungry for and responsive to their teachers’ feedback.  This followed some work we did as a staff team before term started reviewing how we can make the written feedback we provide the boys as effective as possible in supporting their learning.

With mock exams taking place this week for our GCSE and A level students, they, in particular, will have an early opportunity to put this into practice.  The learning that takes place from the mocks – finding the best approaches to revision and exam technique as well as confirming the security (or otherwise) of subject knowledge and understanding – is just as important as (if not more than) the results.

As I write this, it continues to pour with rain.  We can perhaps consider ourselves more fortunate than those communities including their schools to our north, south and west for whom floodwaters have brought destruction and disruption including to children’s education.

Away from the weather, the good old single sex v co-education debate rose to the surface in the media early in the New Year.

This time it was triggered by a piece from Richard Cairns, Head of Brighton College in Sussex in the Independent School Parent magazine.  His main target was actually girls, whom he claimed were at ‘a huge disadvantage in single sex schools’ – an environment that he described as ‘deeply unrealistic’.

Unsurprisingly, Mr Cairns’ comments provoked some strong responses including from the Girls’ School Association (GSA) and on an ensuing phone-in on national radio.

Having spent my past fourteen years in boys’ schools, boys as learners and the benefits of educating them in a way that matches their needs are pretty clear to me.

Whilst not all boys are the same (and NSB does more than most schools to accommodate individual needs and differences), when it comes to learning, boys generally display a particular set of characteristics and preferences.

Boys tend to be more extrinsically motivated than girls.  They respond better when they understand why they’re completing a task.  They like to know how it fits in with their other learning, its purpose, where it leads to, even what’s in it for them to learn about it in the first place.

For younger boys, in particular, concentration spans can be shorter than girls’.  These boys therefore progress better when learning tasks are tackled in shorter bursts with more changes of state and activity.  Some primary schools label boys as fidgety, inattentive, even naughty, because they can’t sit still and quietly for as long as girls.

Boys and girls also mature at different rates – boys generally more slowly to begin with.  As a result, boys can be several years apart from girls in the same classes and year groups in their physical, emotional and intellectual development.  This can lead to be frustration and demotivation for some boys. In single-sex schools, curriculum content can be tailored to the interests of boys to make learning more engaging for them.

Adolescent boys are less self-conscious when there are no girls around and therefore are more willing to ‘give things a go’ without fear of how they may look in front of a more mature girl in the class.  This can bring particular benefits in learning languages and tackling musical and dramatic performances.

Mr Cairns suggested in his article that boys in single sex schools ‘tend to create their own hierarchies’.  I would argue that this is something that boys do regardless of the type of school they attend.  It is biological rather than environmental and generally occurs when boys are entering adolescence around age 13 or 14 and is caused by the increase in testosterone in their bodies around this time.  It tends to peak in Year 9 and begins to subside after this.

There is a view of boys’ schools as places that breed arrogance, bullying and chauvinism.  Whilst NSB plays to boys’ strengths and natural inclinations, these are underpinned by strong values including those of kindness, respect and humility.  They are promoted throughout the School by staff and pupils.

I often explain to parents that whilst a boys’ school, we are not promoting a monastic existence for our pupils.  Their interaction with girls is, of course, an important part of their personal, social and academic development and we are very proud of our involvement with the local girls’ independent schools particularly Westfield with whom we share some Sixth Form classes.  Last summer, the two schools’ boys and girls joined together for a very successful science trip to America.

It is hard to read Mr Cairn’s article without feeling that he seems threatened by single-sex, particularly girls, schools.  Brighton College is undoubtedly a successful – and highly selective – boarding and day school.  I visited it when Sir Anthony Seldon was the Head and was made to feel very welcome.  I was also struck by the excellent female cricketers that the school was producing.

I wonder what prompted Mr Cairns’ strongly-worded article and its criticism of single-sex schools.  Educational conviction?  He points out that he has been a teacher in both co-educational and single-sex environments – something he and I share. Of course, he also highlights some of the excellent achievements of the boys and girls at his school.

League tables?  Mr Cairns mentions these too suggesting that ‘co-educational schools top the academic league tables’ including, he points, on his patch in Sussex.  So I had a look too.

Brighton College was ranked 17th in the independent schools’ GCSE league table  last year.  Of the 16 schools ranked above them, nine were girls’ schools.  Five were boys’ schools and only two were mixed including my previous school, The Perse in Cambridge, which remarkably happened to be the most northerly of this selection.

Brighton College performed even better in the A level table  where it was ranked sixth behind – surprise – three girls’ schools and two mixed schools.

The article concludes that the decline in the number of single-sex schools is just a ‘common sense’ trend driven by parental demand. It is true that a considerable number of boys’ schools, in particular, have converted to co-education in recent years.  Whilst it is invariably argued that these conversions are driven by educational concerns, the economic case of instantly doubling a school’s potential market and the opportunity to improve results and league table standing through a consequent increase in selectivity are seldom mentioned.

Mr Cairns is, I am sure, a very fine and successful, high profile head.  Like all heads, he has a school to promote.  In his case, it is a co-educational one.  On this occasion, he has crossed a line and sought to rubbish single-sex competitors.

Despite my commitment to single-sex boys’ education at Newcastle School for Boys, I recognise the strength of an independent sector that offers parents choice including over whether they wish to send their children to a single-sex or co-educational school.

[1] The Times http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/education/schoolresults/

[2]The Times http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/education/schoolresults/