Understanding Boys Underachievement - U.K.

In this Teachers.TV 4 minute clip our friends from the U.K. present how the gender achievement gap in the GSCE [General Certificate of Secondary Education] results effect how boys are prepared for the world of work.

Debra Myhill of the University of Exeter has been researching boys underachievement for years. In the clip she says there is an "increase in classroom achievement as students participation in class increases".

Here is Professor Myhill's list of suggestions for instructing boy learners [and all students]:

1. Have high expectations.
2. Monitor whether your teaching is stereotyped in any way.
3. Engage an active teaching model.
4. Make sure all children are involved.
5. Provide formative assessment so students can adjust and refine along the way.

The clip ends up with 3 suggestions for our boys.

1. Be interested in what they like to read and write.
2. Have the boys in our charge be more meticulous in their writing.
3. Encourage course work completion.