NEW: @KuperSimon & @emmavj delve into the growing attainment gap between girls and boys in UK schools, and ask how boys can catch up ft.com/content/3b2509…
How bad have things got? A chart thread follows:
How bad have things got? A chart thread follows:
(1/3) I dug into the numbers to see when and where boys start falling behind ft.com/content/d53298….
The focus tends to be on exam results, but participation is arguably the bigger issue:
Between 16 and 18, boys are dropping out of the system in huge numbers.
The focus tends to be on exam results, but participation is arguably the bigger issue:
Between 16 and 18, boys are dropping out of the system in huge numbers.
(2/3) The effects are felt at university, where the participation gap between young women and men is getting ever wider.
Last year there were 4 new female students for every 3 males.
Last year there were 4 new female students for every 3 males.
(3/3) And the problem is particularly acute for white boys from poor backgrounds.
Only 9% make it to university — the lowest rate of any group.
Only 9% make it to university — the lowest rate of any group.
Finally, the @HEPI_news "Boys to Men" report from 2016 has some excellent additional details and recommendations: hepi.ac.uk/wp-content/upl…
One important addendum to all of this: while boys tend to drop out of education earlier than girls, @sarahoconnor_ highlights here that non-graduate men tend to have much better labour market outcomes — employment and earnings — than non-grad women
OTOH this supports the idea that some boys disengage at school because they expect to go into solid working-class professions, but as more and more jobs ask for a degree — esp those with higher pay and more security — men are likely to suffer from their lower HE participation
Some final thoughts on the HE participation gap, lifted from excellent @StijnBroecke research: dera.ioe.ac.uk/8717/1/DIUS-RR…
• We don't know if some boys miss out on uni because they underperform at school, or if they disengage at school because they've decided uni's not for them
• We don't know if some boys miss out on uni because they underperform at school, or if they disengage at school because they've decided uni's not for them
And finally, some say it's not necessarily a problem for men to be less likely to go to uni, because this could help close the gender pay gap.
But as @StijnBroecke et al wrote:
But as @StijnBroecke et al wrote:
As an aside, I'm certainly persuaded by the argument that uni has become too central to succeeding in the UK, esp in labour market. But to the extent that I believe that's true, it's equally true for men and women, so "it doesn't matter if men aren't going" doesn't cut it for me.
