Boys & LeadershipBoys & Leadership

Geoff Barton, HeadteacherGeoff Barton, Headteacher

King Edward VI School, Bury St EdmundsKing Edward VI School, Bury St Edmunds(Suffolk)(Suffolk)

www.geoffbarton.co.uk April 19, 2023

Creating a Leadership Culture for Boys

Creating a Leadership Culture

“Don’t bring me problems; bring me solutions”

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Creating a Leadership Culture for Boys

•It’s not about quick hits

•It’s about a whole-school culture

•It’s a lever for school improvement

So who are we talking about?

Creating a Leadership Culture for Boys

Self-esteem, rather than self-confidence

Sense of pride

Being seen to do something worthwhile

Seeing strength beyond ‘macho’

Accepting rather than hiding emotions

Coaching, mentoring, leading others

What the researchers say

From Kindlon & Thompson, Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys

What the researchers say• Give boys permission to have an internal life, approval for the full range of

human emotions, and help in developing an emotional vocabulary so that they may better understand themselves and communicate more effectively with others

• Recognise and accept the high activity level of boys and give them safe places to express it

• Talk to boys in their language – in a way that honours their pride and their masculinity. Be direct with them; use them as consultants and problem solvers

• Teach boys that emotional courage is courage, and that courage and empathy are the sources of real strength in life

• Use discipline to build character and conscience, not enemies• Model a manhood of emotional attachment• Teach boys that there are many ways to be a man

What the researchers say

Raising Boys' Achievement: Key Findings Homerton College, University of Cambridge

What the researchers say

Boys respond well to an integrated approach to literacy, where the emphasis is less on the technical aspects of learning to read and write, and more on the process of becoming a reader and a writer, through a focus on literacy in its broadest sense. Drama provides a medium through which this approach might be successfully delivered.

What the researchers say

Increased engagement and higher levels of achievement can be effected through a direct focus on teaching and learning, where teachers in departments think specifically about pedagogy and how it can be refined to make learning more accessible to students, and where students come to understand and appreciate how they learn.

What the researchers say

Target-setting and mentoring have a strong potential to raise achievement for boys when they are framed within a tutorial system with a clear remit to address academic issues, where staff and students are data literate, where protected time exists and where they are given high priority by all staff. An interventionist approach can allow boys to reconcile the need to protect their macho image with the desire to maintain academic aspirations.

What the researchers say

Single-sex classes can contribute to raising achievement because they enable a classroom environment to be created which allows both sexes to learn with less distraction and disruption, thus helping students to develop as confident learners. Such advantages will only be fully maximised when different teaching and assessment approaches are explicitly explored and implemented.

What the researchers say

Sociocultural approaches underpin other strategies through challenging dominant images of masculinity and street culture by creating an alternative culture within school. Strategies aim to engage boys, to get them fully on board and to raise self-esteem for learning.

What the researchers say

All the preceding strategies have the potential to be successful providing that they are tailored to the local context, there is full leadership support, commitment is shared by all staff involved, and there is an ordered learning environment with clear boundaries and high expectations.

What the researchers say

Boys respond well to an integrated approach to literacy, where the emphasis is less on the technical aspects of learning to read and write, and more on the process of becoming a reader and a writer, through a focus on literacy in its broadest sense. Drama provides a medium through which this approach might be successfully delivered.

Creating a Leadership Culture for Boys

What the boys told me …

Creating a Leadership Culture for Boys

1: Think of people in music, media, sport, politics. Who do you see as positive role-models?

Michael Jordan; Johnny Wilkinson; Richard Branson; Marcus Trescothick; Gary Lineker; David Beckham; Paul Merton; Tiger Woods; Slash; Thierry Henry; Bob Geldof; Rolling Stones

Creating a Leadership Culture for Boys

2: Think of teachers who motivate you most successfully. What do they do?

Mr G - funny; tells us what we need to know; knows his stuff

Mr W - teaches well; encouraging; takes no rubbish from anyone

Mr W - honest; encourages everyone, not just the best

Mr P - energetic; makes lessons active

Mrs C - lively; fun

Mrs W - explains clearly; not patronising

Creating a Leadership Culture for Boys

3: How could we encourage you to take on leadership responsibilities around school?

•Give everyone in Year 11 someone to look after in Year 9

•Give us more responsibility

•Get us teaching younger students - eg how to play the guitar

•Better rewards policy

•Extra privileges

•Give us more say

•Rewards - eg non-uniform

•Let us run clubs

Creating a Leadership Culture for Boys

4: Put these in rank order: •Lessons

•Breaks / lunchtimes

•Extra-curricular activities

•Weekends

100% like weekends best

79% like lessons least (98% in bottom two)

50:50 split between breaks / extra-curricular

Creating a Leadership Culture for Boys

THEME 1: ENVIRONMENT

• Not superficial

• Images

• Cheesy motivators

• Humane toilets

• Assembly make-up

• School coat; achievement assembly suits

• Duty team approach / Barton Breakfasts

• Power quotations

If you think you can, you can. And if you think you can’t, you’re right.

(Henry Ford)

The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen.

(Frank Lloyd Wright)

Yesterday I dared to struggle. Today I dare to win.

(Bernadette Devlin)

"I've missed over 9,000 shots in my career.  I've lost almost 300 games.  26 times I've been trusted to take the game-winning shot . . . and missed.  I've failed over and over and over again in my life.  And that is why I succeed."

(Michael Jordan)

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more … you are a leader.

(John Quincy Adams)

Creating a Leadership Culture for Boys

THEME 2: LEARNING & TEACHING

• Involvement & humour

• Develop ‘house-style’ on behaviour & language

• Use Strategy to drive pace/variety agenda (school day)

• Use assessment for learning / starters / literacy

• Expect leadership in lessons

• Develop an all-embracing accreditation system

Creating a Leadership Culture for Boys

THEME 3: SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

• Build into improvement plan, systematically

• Use students for evaluation - create data a drip-feed

• Publish survey on teaching styles / role models

• Coach the micro-skills of teachers

• Students taking on clubs, etc

• Evaluate all aspects of culture - soap in toilets; coats on in tutor time; participation rates; attitudes

Creating a Leadership Culture for Boys

NEXT STEPS …

•Prioritise and evaluate mercilessly

•Talk to boys

•Publish results

•Work on a house style (eg behaviour) / micro-skills

•Look at rewards

•Look at the subliminal messages of the environment

Boys & LeadershipBoys & LeadershipGeoff Barton, HeadteacherGeoff Barton, Headteacher

King Edward VI School, Bury St EdmundsKing Edward VI School, Bury St Edmunds(Suffolk)(Suffolk)

www.geoffbarton.co.uk April 19, 2023