Boys on the Margin
By Kimberly Safford, Olivia O'Sullivan and Myra Barrs

"This is an enormously inspiring and helpful book: the children’s work
is a pleasure to read and progress is analysed in sufficient detail to guide other teachers in their efforts to turn reluctant boy readers and writing on to literacy."
Margaret Mallet, Books for Keeps, January 2005

Boys on the Margin presents a fascinating picture of a CLPE classroom research project in which a group of Key Stage 2 teachers try out ways of teaching literacy which use discussion, drama and interactive ICT to explore three very different texts, in order to involve groups of boys on the margins of literacy learning.

There is continuing national concern over the achievement of boys throughout primary school and this new book reveals how active, social approaches to literacy learning can create a climate where underachievers become more successful and engaged readers and writers.

ISBN 1872267 40 8
Paperback £20/£18 (lower price for CLPE Schools Network and LEA subscribers)

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Research background: Raising Boys Achievement at KS2 Project
Research paper on National Teacher Research panel website
 

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Reviews for Boys on the Margin

Boys on the Margin: promoting boys’ literacy learning at Key Stage 2
How can teachers create the right conditions for underachievers, particularly boys, to become more enthusiastic and more successful readers and writers? The long-held perception that some boys underachieve in literacy intensified when the Key Stage literacy tests started in the 1990s and boys’ literacy remains a central concern. This book shares the work of a group of classroom teachers in urban, multiethnic schools who took part in a CLPE research project. The findings are useful, interesting and sometimes quite surprising. For example they suggest that it is not always necessary to keep writing tasks short and sharp to retain boys’ interest and that boys do not always prefer non-fiction to fiction. It was when teachers were ‘allowed more time to explore really involving texts and time to develop writing’ that boys made promising progress. Perhaps we should not be surprised to find that learning to respond insightfully and imaginatively to books needs time and commitment.

The participating teachers worked with six Key Stage 2 classes over two terms on three texts: a poem, a short story and a novel. The main teaching strategies, identified as promising in other work on literacy and gender carried out by the CLPE team, were to provide time for reflective talk, for drama and for interactive ICT. The teachers were supported by the project leader who was able to gauge the ‘literacy climate’ of the different classrooms and to see how this impinged on the progress of both boys and girls. Interestingly, the texts chosen might not immediately seem likely to appeal to boys. But their themes were involving when interpreted in a contemporary way by the children. The poem What Has Happened to Lulu? by Charles Causley led to profound discussions on uncomfortable issues with modern relevance like violence, kidnapping and murder. The children were expected to work hard and formal work, for example on spelling, was included as well as a consideration of the structure of the poem. Some children read other poems by Charles Causley and wrote their own stanzas. Most of the boys responded enthusiastically when the project organizer opened an email account for the missing girl. The children emailed questions which the project researcher replied to as ‘Lulu’.

Not everything worked for every child. The Seal Wife, from Kevin Crossley-Holland’s collection, inspired lively talk and writing in some classes about the choices between being with your children or returning to your ‘true’ life for example, but some teachers felt the related CLPE software (which provided links to websites of online reading of other Selkie stories) was too difficult for some children.

There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom, by Louis Sachar, inspired boys to engage in collaborative talk and writing – the ‘social networking’ around texts which seems to come more naturally to girls. One class completed mini-journals prepared by the CLPE team which included writing prompts and free pages for writing and drawing. There were outstanding successes: Christopher, whose first language is Portuguese, did his most extended piece of writing ever. And Yusuf’s connection with the themes in the novel – about Bradley who has problems but wants to change – brought about a breakthrough in his capacity for sustained, involved writing.

This is an enormously inspiring and helpful book: the children’s work is a pleasure to read and progress is analysed in sufficient detail to guide other teachers in their efforts to turn reluctant boy readers and writing on to literacy. More than this, the project teachers found that collaborative, social approaches to literacy and those that allowed more time to get deeper into the texts worked not only with underachieving boys but with all the children in the class. So much so that they have continued to work in this way after the project ended. If more teachers adopt these approaches will future statutory assessments show improved scores for underachieving boys? They might, but these teachers and researchers conclude that the current summative assessment framework with its ‘one-off’ tests is unlikely to reveal the kind of progress made by these young readers and writers with difficulties. Teachers’ formative assessments as part of the everyday work of the class are more likely to tape into their achievements.

(Margaret Mallet, Books for Keeps No 150 January 2005)          

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