There is widespread concern about declining standards in schools. Pupils are failing to measure up to what is expected of them in critical areas such as mathematics and English. However, the situation for boys is very much worse than it is for girls. Boys have lost their comparative advantage over girls in GCSE and A-level examinations, and are now significantly less likely to do well. More girls than boys go on to university each year. According to John Marks, the explanation lies in the post-1960s changes in classroom methods which, in addition to disadvantaging both boys and girls, have had a disproportionate impact on boys. The "disorderly classroom" - the result of changing views on the purpose of schools - may have been more damaging to boys than girls. The abandonment of phonics in the teaching of reading, and the neglect of tables in the teaching of mathematics, as also played a part, and so too has the increasing importance of course-work. John Marks recommends emergency action to counter this massive under-achievement. Crash programmes which do not disadvantage either boys or girls are needed to raise standards in reading and arithmetic.
Finally, changes in education policy should be more rigorously evaluated and their results published, so that the era in which information has been restricted to politicians and officials can finally be brought to a close.
- ISBN10 190338611X
- ISBN13 9781903386118
- Publish Date March 2001
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 3 May 2007
- Publish Country GB
- Imprint Civitas:Institute for the Study of Civil Society
- Format Paperback
- Pages 38
- Language English