Teaching Boys: Developing Classroom Practices That Work

Persistently cheeky, disruptive, even aggressive boys can be found in classrooms everywhere, as can the victims of bullying. These boys’ behaviours often pose a problem to themselves as well as to others. As the hotly contested debates about boys’ education swirl around them, what can teachers actually do to improve boys’ performance in the classroom?

Teaching Boys provides a practical framework for teachers to improve boys’ education in ways that are appropriate for their school context and also sustainable.

Drawing on intensive research in classrooms where innovative teachers are achieving good outcomes with boys, Keddie and Mills show how other teachers can learn from their success. They acknowledge that there are no simple solutions, but show that what teachers do in the classroom really does matter. They emphasise the importance of understanding the impact of dominant and subversive masculinities at all levels of schooling, on both boys and girls.

’What is original about this book is that it marries theory and practice in a way that speaks to the everyday realities and concerns of teachers who work with boys in schools’

Associate Professor Wayne Martino, The University of Western Ontario

’What is impressive about Teaching Boys is the way in which Keddie and Mills pull together the best research on boys and schooling with the best research on pedagogies.’

Professor Bob Lingard, The University of Edinburgh

Amanda Keddie is a pedagogy, curriculum, and educational-sociology research fellow at the University of Queensland. Martin Mills is an associate professor in the School of Education at the University of Queensland. He is the author of Challenging Violence in Schools and Leading Learning and the co-author of Teachers and Schooling Making a Difference.