Admissions Handbook 2011 - The Southport School

Admissions Handbook 27
Boys’ Education
Meeting Contemporary Challenges in Boys’ Education
With all the new research and growing number of ‘experts’ in the field, you would think modern parenting
would be somewhat a breeze.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Finding ways to successfully navigate your family through the complexities of modern living while often
juggling additional responsibilities can be a challenge.
However, when your child’s school is active in discovering, interpreting, evaluating and presenting the latest
research and methodologies, the way forward can suddenly become very clear.
TSS, under the Headmastership of Greg Wain, is such a school. Greg’s keen professional and personal
interest in matters relating to the education and raising of children, particularly boys, gives parents a clear and
straightforward presentation of what works and what doesn’t and why.
Since his arrival at TSS nearly five years ago, Greg has offered primarily new parents the opportunity to
attend one of his Boys’ Education Information Sessions in which he discusses the need for boys’ education
which is focused on what works best for boys.
However, he also has recognised the need for current parents to renew their thoughts on raising their sons
based on this new brain research and these sessions have now been extended to include all parents.
Many parents, after hearing Greg’s presentations, have been pleasantly surprised at how simple some of the
techniques are which help with raising children, particularly in the adolescent years.
“Often Mum and Dad attend together and several couples have remarked it is the best marriage guidance
counselling they have received! This comes from the research showing the hard wiring and developmental
differences between boys and girls as well as men and women – men are not hopeless, just different!” said
Greg. “When these differences are understood, men and women are better able to see various strengths and
challenges.
“There are a number of physical brain differences which we are only now beginning to appreciate courtesy of
the advancements in diagnostic equipment,” said Greg.
Historically, much scientific research on brains was done after the subject was usually advanced in years and
deceased. Advancements in technology mean that brains can now be studied during the subject’s lifetime with
age comparisons made using the same subject.
“Already basic differences are showing boys and girls are very different, not just in terms of their
development, but also in how as men and women we perceive and interact with and within the world.
“For example, physical differences in the formation of the cochlea mean boys do not hear as effectively as
girls. Female teachers need to talk relatively loudly, certainly louder than they might perceive is necessary, in
order to be heard by boys. On the plus side, boys are 10 times less likely than girls to be distracted by
extraneous noise. This means girls prefer a quieter learning environment while boys can ‘tune out’
superfluous noise quite effectively. This probably explains why males are so good at watching the television
and not being distracted by anything else happening in the house at the same time!”
Using the example of pre-school aged children, Greg highlights another major difference between boys and
girls, which emerges at quite a young age.
“Girls will see ‘what it is’ so if you ask them to draw a picture of their playground they will fill it with details
such as colours, flowers, swings, toys and other children. On the other hand boys see ‘where is it in space’ and
try to capture the motion of the scene. This typically leaves you with a ‘pretty’ picture by the girls while the
boys often present a picture with very little use of colour but lots of lines to represent movement. Both
drawings are valid yet show the difference in our ‘hard-wiring’.
“I strongly hold the belief that teachers who understand these differences will be more effective in the
classroom particularly in an all-boys’ environment such as TSS.”
Greg says dealing with teenage boys can be more successful when techniques, which take into account the
differences between males and females, are used.