Ummm ….. let’s talk about Boys and School in NZ
I went to a boys’ high school back in the day. It wasn’t flash (it is worse now – the leavers get UE at 1.4%). But at no point was I told that there were certain parts of academia (e.g. English) that I was unsuited to through being male.
Roll ahead six years after leaving that school and I was sitting in the staff room of another boys school. As the external exam results were discussed the HOD English excused the English results (in comparison to Math and Science) on the basis that “after all we are teaching boys.”
Three examples give us that state of play that our approach has got us to in 2022.
1.
- Matched single sex schools. Here are five examples (I can find no matched example where the boys school is ahead).
| School Name | Decile | UE% Leavers | Retention to 17year old % | Transition to Degree Study % |
| Wellington Girls | 10 | 88.0 | 96.9 | 76 |
| Wellington College | 10 | 75.2 | 95.5 | 71 |
| Westlake Girls | 9 | 81.8 | 96.3 | 73 |
| Westlake Boys | 9 | 69.9 | 90.9 | 61 |
| Christchurch Girls | 9 | 74.3 | 95.1 | 75 |
| Christchurch Boys | 10 | 51.1 | 87.5 | 49 |
| Palmerston Nth Girls | 8 | 66.5 | 91.5 | 59 |
| Palmerston Nth Boys | 8 | 38.5 | 83 | 31 |
| Whangarei Girls | 5 | 49.7 | 72.9 | 34 |
| Whangarei Boys | 5 | 26 | 63.4 | 22 |
- Retention. One myth is that in South Auckland – and other low decile areas – that it is the girls leaving early.
Into Year 13 only 38% of the males remained while 73% of the females did?
What is happening here people and what are the solutions?
For the full processed data set for all NZ High Schools’ leavers contact: alwyn.poole@gmail.com