We need fathers' revolution to help failing sons – Brown

Story in full GORDON Brown last night called for a "fathers' revolution" to turn around the under-achievement of boys in the classroom.

The Chancellor said Britain faced the possibility of a "wasted generation" because of the gender gap in the academic performance of pupils.

Mr Brown said parents must work together with schools to ensure young men do better in formal education.

His comments add to an increasingly vigorous debate over boys' educational achievement.

In Scotland this year, 30 per cent of boys achieved five or more Standard Grades at levels 1 or 2, compared with 39 per cent of girls. At Higher level, girls again performed better, with 24 per cent gaining three or more Highers in S5, compared with 18 per cent of boys.

In universities the gap is also growing, with over 10,000 more women than men graduating from university last year. Between 2000 and 2005 the number of female higher-education students rose by 11 per cent, while male student numbers increased by just 1.4 per cent.

Teachers' groups welcomed Mr Brown's intervention. But a parents' representative said the gender difference may not be as serious as was being portrayed.

Mr Brown, who has two sons, said boys were falling behind because they learned in different ways, but also because of social changes such as the demand for more traditionally feminine skills such as communication.

Delivering the Donald Dewar Memorial Lecture organised by Glasgow University,

Mr Brown, a close friend of the late first minister, began by paying warm tribute to Mr Dewar and his fight for a better future for every child.

He said to honour this legacy, schools must address the challenge of closing the gender gap between boys and girls. "The gap which opened up 20 years ago remains stubbornly large," he said. "It exists across all social classes. Indeed it exists across different types of school - both high-performing and under-performing, both private and state."

As part of his drive, the Chancellor announced a review of how teaching methods and the curriculum in England were tailored to boys' particular needs.

He said: "For many boys and young men, and girls, this is a time of uncertainty; too many under-perform and some risk falling into the margins of our society. We must never accept the existence of a wasted generation.

"One priority I have argued for is what I call a fathers' revolution - more fathers becoming directly involved in their children's learning and schooling."

He said more could be done to encourage fathers' role in the home through allowing more to work flexitime. Ultimately, however, Mr Brown said the challenge was down to a modern idea of citizenship and the responsibility of parents to work with schools and the community for the benefit of children.

Ronnie Smith, general-secretary of the EIS teaching union, welcomed Mr Brown's comments. He said: "The rate of improvement in pupil attainment has been faster among girls in recent years. We have seen a trend, but it's unclear whether we should expect parity of performance. We do find unevenness in relative performance in different subject areas, so it's a complicated question."

But Judith Gillespie, development manager for the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, said politicians were too hung up on the gender gap. "The gap is nothing new. A lot of skills boys have are to do with risk-taking, whereas girls like to please. We just have to work with that."

David Eaglesham, general-secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association, was also sceptical about the differences. Instead, he called on politicians to focus on the attainment gap in more deprived areas.

Single-sex classes 'lead to laddish behaviour'

RESEARCH carried out by Scots academics has suggested that, far from improving boys' performance, single-sex classes can lead to rising indiscipline.

Experts at Strathclyde and Glasgow universities looked at schools where pupils had been split up on the basis of gender.

Their report, which was commissioned by the Scottish Executive, found that boys-only classes sometimes "exacerbated behaviour problems, heightening laddish behaviour".

The findings, which were published in May, also said that many boys were actually disadvantaged by single-sex classes.

It said: "There is evidence... that not all boys have needs or preferences that can be accommodated in 'boy-friendly' approaches.

"Quiet and reflective boys, for example, might well be more disadvantaged by such tactics, as might some girls."

The report went on: "While some pupils thought [single-sex classes] were good, others expressed clear dislike for the strategy.

"For both boys and girls, their relationship with the teacher and the ability of the teacher to motivate them was more important than the form of classroom organisation which was adopted."

They found school 'totally irrelevant'

ELEANOR Coner has three sons and says only one really found school helpful; the other two found it "irrelevant".

Her eldest son, Christopher, now 22, did not excel at academic subjects but felt obliged to try for university because this was held up as the best option. However, it did not suit him and he ended up dropping out.

Mrs Coner, 44, of Dunbar, blames the school system for failing to play to her son's strengths or offer him an alternative to university. He is now training to be a nurse, a skill to which he is much better suited.

Her second son, Thomas, did well at school and is now at university studying geography. However, her youngest, Matt, 16, has just dropped out of school because he, too, found it "totally irrelevant". Although he wants to be a policeman, his school held up university as the only option.

Mrs Coner, who works as an information officer with the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, thinks young boys have difficulty concentrating. What skills they have are not catered for and many of them do not see a future in the subjects they are studying. "We have this situation where, at age 13 or 14, children have to decide what they want to do in life. That is a problem for boys because a lot of the time they are just being boys.

"And if they cannot see the relevance of what they are doing, they just do not bother.

"The message boys are getting is that if you do not do a university degree you are second-class.

"You have to work on that so that schools give support and resources to different classes and links with colleges so boys have another option."