A battle ensues, the teacher threatens, the boy reluctantly picks up the paper muttering that it's not fair. David Shores, the consultant running the program, uses this scenario to ask teachers to reflect on the messages about power and control that underlie relationships in many schools. But this isn't helpful when it comes to teaching boys ways of resolving conflict that are not simply based on making people do what you want. That means finding ways of being flexible, sharing responsibility and fostering trust and mutual respect in relationships between students and teachers. The latest research gives a strong message that relations with teachers lie at the heart of changes needed if boys are to achieve their academic potential.
Boys see their school problems primarily in terms of their relationships with teachers.
He respected us. The importance of the good teacher isn't just part of schoolboy folklore - there is conclusive evidence, both from international and Australian research, that teacher quality is by far the most important factor in determining academic outcomes for students. Analysis of recent VCE achievement data by Dr Ken Rowe, principal research fellow at the Australian Council for Educational Research, shows teacher-effects account for a massive 59 per cent of variation in a student's achievement. The boys are right. The developmental lag between boys and girls, and males' less-strong verbal skills, means that boys in early primary school are particularly prone to poor early progress in literacy, which, in turn, contributes to later problems with inattention and behavior problems.