New Commission to Investigate why Education is Failing Boys

The Centre for Policy Research on Men and Boys (CPRMB) has launched a Commission on Boys’ Education to find out why boys are falling behind at all levels of education and how to ensure they thrive.  The commissioners are drawn from education, academia and organisations championing men and boys and will operate under the leadership of Peter Hyman, political strategist, writer and former headteacher.  Peter has been a senior advisor to Sir Tony Blair and Sir Keir Starmer and co-founder of two schools and the education charity Voice21, of which he remains a trustee.

Peter says,

“Having spent the last year listening to more than 1000 young people across the country, I am in no doubt that there’s something happening in society around boys and men – their identity, their sense of purpose, their growing anxiety about where and how they fit in.

“Evidence from academic research and educational outcomes indicates that boys, on average, are underperforming, relative to girls, in key areas such as literacy, and higher education attainment. But more than that, many boys and men report feeling unhappy, angry, or just lost.

“So rather than leave such a vital societal issue to panic-filled headlines, media punditry or quack remedies, we are setting up a Commission to conduct a focused, time-limited inquiry into how the education system can be reformed to better meet the specific educational and developmental needs of boys.”

The commission will take evidence from educators, practitioners, parents, students, and other stakeholders to try to find out what’s going wrong and to identify ways to improve the situation.  It will look at what’s already been published on the subject and examine the data coming out of educational institutions at all levels.  It will also set in train original research.

Peter says,

“We will look at ‘education’ in its widest sense. Not just exam success, though that matters, but how boys grow up with the confidence and tools to flourish as successful men, fathers, brothers, sons, friends and work colleagues.”

The commission will explore the education system from early years to further and higher education and propose the solutions necessary to ensure it really delivers for boys. It will be a commission that will actively seek to generate public debate and get as many perspectives as possible nationally and internationally.

The Commission will seek to understand the root causes of these disparities and develop actionable recommendations for government, policy makers, the education system, boys and their parents.

The Commissioners:

• Luke Tryl – Executive Director of More in Common, former special advisor to the secretary for Education, former Director of Strategy at Ofsted
• Peter Hyman – Chair
• Caroline Barlow – Headteacher and Co-Chair of the Headteachers’ Roundtable (HTRT) think-tank
• Dr Alex Blower – founder of Boys’ Impact, an organisation examining and addressing the gap in GCSE outcomes for young men eligible for Free School Meals.
• Jeffrey Boakye – Author, English teacher and Senior Teaching Fellow at Manchester Institute of Education (MIE)
• Polly Curtis – Chief Executive of Demos, the cross-party think tank.
• Ed Fidoe– Founder and CEO of the London Interdisciplinary School
• Shuab Gamote – Advocate for young people, on the advisory group for the Milburn NEETs review, and co-author of Inside the Mind of a 16-Year-Old
• Jo Heaton – CEO of Northern Lights Multi Academy Trust and previously a member of the Expert Advisory Group for Recruitment & Retention and the Headteacher Reference Group, and a National Leader of Education.
• Sana Khareghani, Chief Strategy Officer at Era4, former Head of the UK Government’s Office for AI
• Dr Sophie King-Hill – Associate Professor at University of Birmingham specialising and author of Reframing Masculinity for Young Men and Boys: We’re in this Together. 
• Professor Bill Lucas – Professor of Learning and Director of the Centre for Real World Learning, University of Winchester, and co-chair of the strategic advisory group for the 2021 PISA test of Creative Thinking.
• Stuart Manifould – CEO @The Dome Youth Zone, Crewe and former COO of Cheshire Football Association.
• Ian Pryce CBE – former CEO, Bedford College Group. 
• Richard Reeves – President of the American Institute of Men and Boys, and author of Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male is Struggling, Why it Matters, and What to Do About It.