Commons Sense

House of Commons · Westminster Hall

Educational Attainment of Boys

05 March 2024 · 6 other contributors · 12,769 words

Opened by Nicholas Fletcher

Responding minister: David Johnston

Education

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Nicholas Fletcher raised concerns about educational attainment of boys in Westminster Hall. A government minister responded.

Key points

  • Boys underperform girls in education at every stage, from primary to higher education levels.
  • The gender attainment gap has persisted for over three decades with no biological reasons supporting it.
  • Nicholas Fletcher highlights the importance of addressing the gender attainment gap early, before boys reach age 11, to prevent societal issues and costs later.

Key requests to Government

The Government should provide political leadership by publicly acknowledging the gender attainment gap exists and that boys' underperformance is a problem for the whole educational community to solve. A sector-wide taskforce, summit of headteachers, ring-fenced research programme, 'This boy can' campaign promoting careers in teaching and other professions, inclusion of the gender attainment gap in Ofsted assessments, encouragement of mentoring schemes, and more. Fletcher requests that schools be instructed to acknowledge whether a gender attainment gap exists in their institution and what measures they are taking to address it if one does exist. He also mentions the need for mentors and role models for boys who do not have male figures at home.

How the debate unfolded

MPs spoke in turn to share their views and ask questions. Here's what each person said.

Opened the debate

Nicholas Fletcher

Boys are underperforming in education at every stage compared to girls. The gender attainment gap has persisted for over three decades despite no intrinsic biological reasons supporting it. Boys perform worse than girls in reading, writing, and maths at age 11; fewer boys achieve grade 5 or above in GCSE English and maths at age 16; significantly fewer British boys go to university compared to girls of the same age; boys are also behind in A-levels, T-levels, vocational education, and higher education. Additionally, more than 400,000 young men are NEETs, not in education, employment or training. Nicholas Fletcher is concerned about the lack of male role models for boys in separated families, with 2.6 million separated families having 4 million children. He highlights the importance of family involvement and the need to address the gender attainment gap early on, before boys reach age 11. He emphasizes that not addressing this issue could lead to societal problems and increased costs later.

Other contributors (6)
  • Alexander Stafford Con Ruislip-Northwood

    Mr Stafford expressed concern about the detrimental effect of VAT on private special schools and highlighted the undeniably shocking statistic that more than three times as many men take their own lives every year compared to women. He argued for a new approach focusing on early education, calling for more male role models in teaching and encouraging small changes across the education system to improve outcomes for boys. Alexander Stafford discussed putting VAT on private schools to fund improvements in education and asked if this would apply similarly to healthcare for improving mental health outcomes. On literacy, the speaker questioned whether there should be a statutory requirement for every primary school to have a library, noting that one in seven primary schools currently do not have this facility.

  • Catherine McKinnell Lab Newcastle upon Tyne North

    McKinnell highlighted the educational attainment gap between boys and girls, noting that by the end of primary school in 2022-23, two-thirds of boys reached expected standards compared to three-quarters of girls. She called for early language interventions funded by government and free breakfast clubs to improve children's readiness for learning. McKinnell also proposed recruiting 6,500 new teachers and ending tax exemptions for private schools to fund these improvements.

  • David Evennett Con Bexleyheath and Crayford

    David Evennett highlighted the persistent attainment gap between boys and girls, noting that in 2023, only 76% of girls met the expected standard in reading compared to 70% of boys. He emphasised the underperformance of white working-class boys from disadvantaged backgrounds, who have lower higher-education participation rates than any other demographic when analysed by sex and ethnicity. Evennett stressed the importance of providing role models beyond teachers, such as successful sportsmen or businesspeople, to inspire young boys and highlighted the need for schools to adapt their curriculum to reflect diverse career opportunities. David Evennett expressed concern about Labour's policy towards helping working-class boys achieve better educational attainment, stating the issues were generalised.

  • Jim Shannon DUP Strangford

    I draw attention to the significant disparity in educational attainment between boys and girls, with statistics showing that more than half of all boys are not meeting basic literacy standards. Mr Shannon highlighted the challenges faced by boys in educational settings, emphasizing the need for tailored support and individual attention. He recalled his own experiences and the societal changes that have made it harder for boys to succeed academically. He mentioned specific statistics from Northern Ireland where Protestant males from working-class backgrounds are the lowest achievers, with some all-boys schools having only 30% of pupils achieving A to C grades in five GCSEs. Shannon also discussed programmes like Usel and Glastry College that help boys who have fallen through the cracks, noting their importance for providing educational opportunities and emotional support. Jim Shannon thanked the hon. Lady for her words and comments, mentioning World Book Day events happening in Portcullis House. He asked if it would be a Labour party intention to ensure books and reading were a core part of any child's education should they change the Government.

  • Peter Gibson Con Darlington

    Boys perform worse than girls in education, with specific groups like Gypsy, Roma and Traveller boys facing particularly low attainment rates. Peter Gibson highlights the importance of role models and resources to inspire working-class boys and discusses initiatives such as Life-changing Libraries scheme to promote reading among children. Peter Gibson questioned the shadow Minister about modelling on how many children from private education would end up in the state sector if policies changed. He also pointed out that the Labour party does not level up opportunity by robbing it from those already enjoying it. The hon. Friend thanked Mr Fletcher for visiting Beaumont Hill Academy and asked if the site of their planned 48-place new special school was visited during the visit.

  • Steve Double Con St Austell and Newquay

    Mr Double highlighted the importance of considering factors beyond academic attainment for boys, noting a disparity in NEET rates between boys and girls. He raised concerns about high suicide rates among men under 50 and questioned societal pressures on young men, particularly toxic masculinity. Mr Double also addressed mental health issues in schools, expressing that disproportionately more boys are affected than girls. He criticized the Government's decision to increase unauthorised absence fines for parents and urged for better support for children with mental health or neurodiverse conditions.

Government Response

David Johnston

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Paisley. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Don Valley (Nick Fletcher) on securing a debate on this important subject. The Government's track record in education has been improving standards dramatically. We have risen up international league tables and although girls continue to outperform boys across most headline measures, the gap is narrowing: at key stage 2 it fell since 2022; similarly at key stage 4 from a gap of 6.6 percentage points between girls and boys achieving a grade 5 in English and maths in 2018-19 to 4.3 percentage points in 2022-23. The Government's approach is to provide schools with resources and expertise targeting support at those who need it most, especially disadvantaged young people. Pupil premium funding will rise to more than £2.9 billion in the coming financial year—an £18 million increase from the year before. We are also investing significantly in education to ensure that all young people can reach their potential with the core schools budget next year being the highest ever in real terms per pupil. The Government has invested over £17 million in the Nuffield early language intervention programme and provided appropriate support through the national tutoring programme, where more than half of pupils tutored under the programme were boys. We are also addressing issues such as SEND and mentoring to ensure children reach their potential by being in school and supporting those who need it most. In response to teachers' gender imbalance, we have seen an increase of over 6,500 male teachers since 2010 but aim for further progress through campaigns to attract more men into teaching. Regarding permanent exclusions, our guidance provides clarity on their use only as a last resort and ensures they do not mean exclusion from education. We also acknowledge the need for better access to professions like medicine and law for individuals from working-class backgrounds. Finally, we accept that there is always more that can be done to improve outcomes for children of all backgrounds, including boys.

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