Boys in Education in Europe

Abstract

The paper discusses the phenomenon of the “boy crisis” in education by following trajectories which seek to describe the situation of boys at school in different countries across Europe in its complexity. The current study of the Role of Men in Gender Equality (Scambor, Wojnicka & Bergmann, eds., 2012) offers an international comparison of the situation of boys and outlines major trends related to gender disparities in education across Europe. An in-depth analysis of male early school leavers leads to a deeper understanding of boys and men as heterogeneous social groups. Relations between so called “costs” and “privileges” in education show considerable varieties due to differences between boys, with educational careers being strongly influenced by social class, “race,” and ethnicities as well as migration backgrounds.

Teaching boys in neoliberal and postfeminist times: Feminization and the question of re-masculinization in the education system and policy field

“…As Scambor and Seidler (2013) argue and which the discussion and critique provided in this paper support:…”

“…Given such conditions, what I have highlighted is how the pedagogical and policy context for teaching boys continues to get reconstituted in terms which resort to a neoconservative politics that endorses feminization as the problem and re-masculinization as the solution to addressing the problem of 'failing boys'. However as Scambor and Seidler (2013) explicate, such dominant framings of the boy problem simply tend to reproduce or reconstitute hegemonic masculinity rather that supporting a more "gender sensitive reflection on masculinity" (p. 14). Furthermore, as Budde's (2006) research in Germany shows, boys are not being provided with the opportunity to reflect on gender identity, relations and practice with the view to providing a social imaginary that is consistent with promoting more democratized and progressive versions of masculinity (Martino/Pallotta-Chiarolli 2003).…”

“…These postfeminist narratives about ‚failing boys' and panics over an encroaching feminization as the source of the problem for boys in schools have been proliferated, not only in North American, but also across the European Union (Scambor/Seidler 2013;Budde/Mammes, 2009: 185). FaulstichWieland (2013) and Neugebauer et al (2011), for example, specifically document this concern about feminization and the demand for more male teachers in primary schools in Germany, while Driessen (2007) specifically identifies this postfeminist phenomenon of a ‚male repair agenda' in the Netherlands (see also Timmerman 2011).…”

“…This question of feminization has resulted, and continues to result, in the call for more male teachers as role models and for a fundamental re-masculinization of public education as a basis for addressing the problem of ‚failing boys' in schools. Such policy and media generated narratives are evident, not only in North America, Australia and the United Kingdom, but also in Europe, Malaysia and the Caribbean (Driessen 2007;Figueroa 2006; Hoque/Razak/Zohora/Islam2010; Neugebauer/Helbig/Landmann 2011; Pech 2011; Scambor/Seidler 2013;Timmerman, 2011).…”