Spotlight on boys' learning

By STUART DYE education reporter

The Government has assembled a taskforce which it hopes can solve the problem of boys' failure at high school.

Results from the National Certificate of Educational Achievement show boys are under-achieving in core subjects.

The most significant gap at Level One is in English where the proportion of girls receiving excellence grades is twice that of boys.

Yesterday Education Minister Trevor Mallard told the country's first boys' education conference of its kind that he had selected a reference group that would advise on boosting boys' performance.

"I believe significant progress can be made in the area of some boys' educational engagement and achievement," Mr Mallard said.

There was not much difference between boys' and girls' achievement at primary level, and the gender gap narrowed again at university.

The group would look at innovative measures and effective practices to lift boys' performance at secondary. It would investigate achievement at both mixed and all-boys' schools, said Mr Mallard.

He said there was no "silver bullet" solution.

More than 250 people attended the three-day conference held at Massey University's Albany Campus.

It is New Zealand's first university-based conference on boys' education and, according to organiser Michael Irwin, is vital to the well-being of the nation's youth. "Not only are boys not doing as well in the classroom, they are making worrying statistics in other ways too."

Boys represented 90 per cent of young people in residential care, he said.

Mike Leach, Tangaroa College principal and a member of the new taskforce, said boys tended to go through a period of low self-esteem after intermediate school that caused them to lose sight of academic goals.

Boys and school

Of school pupils, boys make up

* 73 per cent of students with behavioural problems

* 74 per cent of those needing literacy help

* 72 per cent of those referred to speech and language therapists.