WEBVTT - Why don’t schools understand boys? 0:00:03.880 --> 0:00:06.800 From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey. 0:00:06.840 --> 0:00:13.240 It's Thursday, April three, twenty twenty five. It's tea day 0:00:13.320 --> 0:00:16.400 for the global economy, with exporters around the world waiting 0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:19.599 to find out who will be smashed by Donald Trump's 0:00:19.680 --> 0:00:23.759 sweeping tariffs. The Australian government is considering taking the fight 0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:27.319 to the World Trade Organization if Australian producers are on 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:34.240 the receiving end. Another day, another candidate for Victoria's Chief 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:38.040 Police Commissioner, the acting top cop, has declared he doesn't 0:00:38.120 --> 0:00:41.520 want the job, and now a former senior officer, Sir 0:00:41.600 --> 0:00:45.120 Ken Jones, has put his hand up. That's an exclusive 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:52.560 live now at Beaustralian dot com dot au. What's going 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:56.600 on with Boys? A new study shows boys slipping further 0:00:56.640 --> 0:00:59.840 behind in schools as debate about the mental health and 0:01:00.120 --> 0:01:05.000 online influences of boys dominates the culture. With Netflix's smash 0:01:05.040 --> 0:01:09.680 hit series Adolescens Today, how young men became the focal 0:01:09.720 --> 0:01:12.240 point of a society's anxieties. 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:19.960 Netflix has made its hit series Adolescence free to watch 0:01:20.000 --> 0:01:23.280 for secondary schools in an effort to help pupils understand 0:01:23.280 --> 0:01:27.760 the impact of misogyny and the dangers are being radicalized. 0:01:27.120 --> 0:01:31.400 Online addresses the very real dangers of knife crime, misogyny 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:34.480 and online content. Girls are now outpacing boys in the 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:37.399 classroom and it's having long lasting effects, as the. 0:01:37.319 --> 0:01:41.520 Performance gap between boys and girls has widened nationally since 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:42.319 twenty sixteen. 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:48.080 Boys, they're the topic of the moment, are our sons, nephews, 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:53.240 little brothers and grandkids. Okay, while the adult world is 0:01:53.280 --> 0:01:58.440 still distinctly male dominated, from earnings to representation in parliament 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:01.760 to CEO jobs, there's a shift in the younger years, 0:02:02.040 --> 0:02:05.000 with reports showing boys and young men are falling behind 0:02:05.200 --> 0:02:09.000 girls and women at school, in universities and in early 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:13.400 career earning potential. The latest evidence a report from Catholic 0:02:13.400 --> 0:02:16.960 Schools New South Wales showing boys are over represented in 0:02:17.040 --> 0:02:19.000 the lowest performing cohort. 0:02:20.400 --> 0:02:23.920 Australia has done such a great job in getting girls 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:28.680 to succeed in those traditional boys subjects like maths, science, technology, 0:02:28.720 --> 0:02:33.160 those stem subjects. However, it has come at the expense 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:33.880 of some boys. 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:37.959 Natasha Beta is The Australian's Education editor. 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:42.919 This study from the Catholic Schools New South Wales says 0:02:43.040 --> 0:02:47.720 that boys do worse in disruptive environments. So the classrooms 0:02:47.800 --> 0:02:50.480 rowdy and there are a lot of distractions. The boys 0:02:50.480 --> 0:02:54.280 are more easily distracted and their education suffers as a result. 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:58.919 They're more likely to be top performers in STEM. However, 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:02.680 they're as likely as girls to be the poorest performers 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:05.280 in STEM. And what I think is the most worrying 0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:08.440 thing is that they are twice as likely as girls 0:03:08.520 --> 0:03:12.919 to score in the lowest performance bands in reading and writing. Now, 0:03:12.960 --> 0:03:15.560 that is fundamental to every part of your education. So 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:19.360 if boys aren't learning to read and write really well 0:03:19.400 --> 0:03:21.920 in primary school, they are going to struggle in all 0:03:21.960 --> 0:03:26.240 other subjects. Another issue is that the curriculum has now 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:30.320 been designed so that everything's sort of about an essay really, 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:35.000 so even maths and engineering and technology. I'm surprised by 0:03:35.040 --> 0:03:37.080 how much of that is not sort of hands on 0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:42.680 experiments or doing equations under exam conditions. It's about writing 0:03:42.880 --> 0:03:45.600 an essay sometimes you know, thousands of words on a 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:49.680 mathematical concept. Now that is something that inherently will advantage 0:03:49.720 --> 0:03:53.360 girls who are better at reading and writing, whereas boys 0:03:53.480 --> 0:03:56.840 might have much better skills at those perhaps logical or 0:03:56.880 --> 0:04:02.360 technological subjects. But there be being performance punished because they're 0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:04.560 being assessed on written examinations. 0:04:05.200 --> 0:04:09.240 Yeah, so there's change happening in the way subjects are 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:12.240 taught and in the expectations of students. But is there 0:04:12.280 --> 0:04:15.880 also something happening do you think with this generation of boys, 0:04:15.920 --> 0:04:18.800 who I guess are Generation Alpha. 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:21.400 Look, I think part of the issue is that schooling 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:25.359 in particular is a very feminized profession and boys need 0:04:25.680 --> 0:04:29.760 male role models. They need really good adult role models. Unfortunately, 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:31.880 a lot of them are finding them on the Internet. 0:04:32.040 --> 0:04:35.599 So the andrew Tates of the world, the conspiracy theorists, 0:04:35.960 --> 0:04:37.200 the misogynists. 0:04:38.040 --> 0:04:39.839 I think being a female would be a disaster. 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:42.000 I mean, what do you really do You get a guy, 0:04:42.080 --> 0:04:44.160 you love your guy, Maybe you get some nice meals, 0:04:44.160 --> 0:04:46.919 you buy a handbag, you get pregnantly. There's no conquest, 0:04:46.920 --> 0:04:48.680 there's no domination. 0:04:50.000 --> 0:04:53.039 This is very worrying because boys weren't exposed to that 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:56.520 in previous generations, because they would be exposed to their 0:04:56.520 --> 0:04:59.440 own family members, or their teachers or their footy coach, 0:04:59.440 --> 0:05:07.960 et cetera. There's a teaching method known as explicit instruction, 0:05:08.279 --> 0:05:13.000 which is essentially old school teaching methods, which really benefits 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:16.719 boys in particular. Benefits all students, but particularly for boys. 0:05:16.800 --> 0:05:21.160 They thrive on having things explained to them very clearly, 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:26.400 very sequentially, and then having the teacher let them practice 0:05:26.680 --> 0:05:28.080 getting immediate feedback. 0:05:29.000 --> 0:05:30.360 There's a lot of information here. 0:05:30.600 --> 0:05:33.159 Let's step through it slowly and make sure we digest 0:05:33.200 --> 0:05:34.600 everything properly. 0:05:34.640 --> 0:05:35.400 Part of the punt. 0:05:35.480 --> 0:05:39.560 You've got one hundred kilograms of potatoes which are nineteen 0:05:39.560 --> 0:05:42.240 to nine percent water. Now I've got a really great question. 0:05:42.240 --> 0:05:44.760 This is Eddie Woo, a New South Wales high school 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:48.080 math teacher who puts his lessons on YouTube. He calls 0:05:48.120 --> 0:05:53.120 it Woo Tube and has nearly two million subscribers. 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:54.520 Hold on a second. 0:05:54.920 --> 0:05:58.880 Wait, you're right, You're still not quite there yet. He's 0:05:59.040 --> 0:06:03.440 engaging style, credited with transforming the education of countless kids, 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:07.479 is fun and effective because he's clearly the teacher. He's 0:06:07.520 --> 0:06:10.400 not asking the kids to work it all out for themselves. 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:15.600 He's teaching them how to get to the answers. Some 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:17.599 of you are there, but others of you are not, 0:06:17.640 --> 0:06:19.320 so I want to make sure we all get there together. 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:20.960 Okay, they're left out. 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:24.480 To dry and then this is very important for children's learning. 0:06:24.600 --> 0:06:29.159 It's something that the coalition. The federal opposition Education spokeswoman 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:34.440 Senator Sarah Henderson is adamant that every school must be 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:37.760 compelled to use explicit instruction. It is up to the 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:40.840 states and territories to do this. It's slowly gaining traction. 0:06:41.320 --> 0:06:43.919 I think the dominant teaching method of the past couple 0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:47.520 of decades, which is choose your own adventure. Here's a problem, 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:49.680 you go off and solve it on your own and 0:06:49.880 --> 0:06:53.120 ask any questions that you might have. That does not 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:56.800 serve a lot of children, and particularly for boys, it's 0:06:56.800 --> 0:06:59.320 disadvantaging them. 0:07:00.200 --> 0:07:03.280 One of the things that has changed in schooling since 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:05.640 say I was at school, maybe you were at school, Natasha, 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:09.520 is that discipline has changed. So once upon a time 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:13.480 it was corporal punishment, then it changed to being about exclusion. 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:15.160 You know that if you did the wrong thing, you 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:18.400 were sent out of the classroom, or maybe you were suspended. 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:21.760 We hear teachers saying that they don't feel empowered to 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:24.800 actually discipline kids anymore. Is that part of the picture 0:07:24.840 --> 0:07:27.920 with boys that perhaps they responded better to a much 0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:30.600 more binary form of classroom management. 0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:34.040 Look, I've just spoken to a principal who was telling 0:07:34.040 --> 0:07:39.600 me about the importance of structure, routine, boundaries, and consequences 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:42.280 for boys even more than girls. And he is saying 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:45.040 that they thrive in a structure when they know what 0:07:45.080 --> 0:07:47.480 they're supposed to do. They step over the line, there's 0:07:47.480 --> 0:07:51.160 a consequence. Nobody wants to bring back the cane or 0:07:51.200 --> 0:07:54.640 corporal punishment. I think they were horrible times. However, the 0:07:54.680 --> 0:07:58.320 pendulum has swung back the other way, and we have 0:07:58.440 --> 0:08:01.840 some very entitled parents out there who will automatically take 0:08:01.880 --> 0:08:04.840 the side of their child. They will threaten to sue 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:08.920 teachers or schools. They will become physically violent, they'll punch 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:12.120 teachers or principles. I think it is just shocking that 0:08:12.160 --> 0:08:15.520 they should be standing behind the teachers and giving the 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:20.280 teachers the authority to manage classrooms. Another issue I think, though, 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:23.640 is it inherently is with the curriculum that we have 0:08:24.440 --> 0:08:29.200 a curriculum that rewards sitting still and looking straightforward and 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:32.680 being quiet the whole time. It doesn't reward doing things 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:35.800 with your hands or asking Lots and lots of questions. 0:08:39.200 --> 0:08:43.400 Coming up. Are all boys schools doomed? And will education 0:08:43.720 --> 0:08:45.800 shift any votes at the federal election? 0:08:58.360 --> 0:09:00.920 Well, I'm an old boy. The school and my son 0:09:01.040 --> 0:09:04.360 is also an old boy, and the intention was always 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:08.520 that i'd have a grandson, but I won't bringing to 0:09:08.559 --> 0:09:09.319 a co ed school. 0:09:10.480 --> 0:09:14.080 Last year, new students attending the prestigious Newington College in 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:17.040 Sydney's Inn West were greeted by a throng of parents 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:20.160 and old boys at the school's or Nate front gates. 0:09:20.800 --> 0:09:24.640 But it wasn't the welcoming committee. It was a protest. Basically, 0:09:24.640 --> 0:09:27.199 they've been setting the parents a lie for many years. 0:09:28.080 --> 0:09:30.680 The schools plan to go co ed by twenty thirty 0:09:30.679 --> 0:09:35.160 three prompted a backlash from alumni and parents, and it's 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:39.400 even the subject of legal action. Stan Moore's Newington College 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:42.000 is being sued in the Supreme Court after a student 0:09:42.080 --> 0:09:44.679 claimed it's violating its one hundred and fifty two year 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:49.439 old trust by admitting female students. Newington's move to co 0:09:49.640 --> 0:09:54.480 education is a sign of the times. Are we going 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:57.880 to lose something there? Natasha? Do you think if boys' 0:09:57.880 --> 0:10:01.880 schools essentially die out because boys' parents don't want the 0:10:01.880 --> 0:10:06.080 boys to be surrounded by only male influences, that we 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:09.520 disadvantage some boys who might have done better in that environment. 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:12.440 I think we need to be creative about this. I've 0:10:12.480 --> 0:10:14.680 spoken to schools that are co ed, but they will 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:18.360 have girls only classes and boys owned classes. Now, I 0:10:18.400 --> 0:10:21.400 think that's brilliant that they can study in an academic 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:25.680 environment that is a same sex environment, but they can 0:10:25.880 --> 0:10:29.800 mingle in the school yard. I do think that we 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:32.439 live in a world that is co ed. It can 0:10:32.480 --> 0:10:35.520 be quite artificial to segregate boys and girls, and I 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:38.560 do think that it's healthy to learn how to get 0:10:38.559 --> 0:10:39.800 on with the other sex. 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:43.600 If there was one thing that schools could do better 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:46.160 for boys, what would it be? Is it, for example, 0:10:46.600 --> 0:10:48.720 getting more male teachers back into classrooms. 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:52.320 I think having more male teachers would be fantastic. I 0:10:52.320 --> 0:10:55.600 think also celebrating other things that boys are good at. 0:10:55.760 --> 0:11:00.640 We have too much emphasis on just the academic outcomes. 0:11:01.120 --> 0:11:04.880 I think we need to change our assessment methods AI. 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:07.240 What is going to happen, and what is happening is 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:09.840 kids are just cutting and pasting everything out of AI. 0:11:10.160 --> 0:11:12.839 That is not learning right. So if we can go 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:16.280 back to more practical hands on learning, we have more 0:11:16.360 --> 0:11:20.959 tests where kids are doing things without calculators, etc. I'm 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:23.640 very old fashioned this way. I do believe that human 0:11:23.679 --> 0:11:30.359 brains need to learn how to do things themselves. 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:34.680 So what's the election arithmetic on this. 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:40.559 Jason Clair, the federal Education Minister, has done some magnificent 0:11:40.640 --> 0:11:45.120 work in trying to fix teacher training programs, introducing phonics. 0:11:45.360 --> 0:11:48.080 He's put all of these targets into school funding agreements, 0:11:48.120 --> 0:11:50.160 so that schools have to have a phonics test and 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:53.520 a numeracy test in near one. They have to have 0:11:53.640 --> 0:11:57.800 literacy coaches, they have to have small group tutoring, better 0:11:57.840 --> 0:11:59.880 mental health. It's the first time we've ever had in 0:12:00.000 --> 0:12:04.160 any targets tied to funding. Now, the Coalition agrees with 0:12:04.240 --> 0:12:06.400 all these things, but thinks that Labor has been too 0:12:06.440 --> 0:12:10.760 slow and too soft and too inefficient in imposing it. 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:13.640 So they just plan to do the same thing, but 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:14.599 on steroids. 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:14.920 Right. 0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:18.319 So the other issue is funding. Labor is saying that 0:12:18.400 --> 0:12:21.280 the Coalition will cut funding. The Coalition is saying it 0:12:21.320 --> 0:12:25.120 will not cut funding. Labor is claiming that it's pumped 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:28.720 all of this extra money through school agreements. However, that 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:30.800 money was not in the federal budget. It's written in 0:12:30.800 --> 0:12:33.880 an invisible ink. So I think the debate will not 0:12:33.920 --> 0:12:36.040 be so much over money this time. It will be 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:41.120 about the curriculum and about what parents see as a 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:46.120 failure of systems to ensure that children are mastering basic 0:12:46.480 --> 0:12:50.640 skills and learning to think for themselves. 0:12:59.320 --> 0:13:02.199 There needs to be now is The Australian's Education Editor. 0:13:02.520 --> 0:13:06.160 You can read her exclusives and her analysis anytime at 0:13:06.200 --> 0:13:08.199 the Australian dot com dot au