'Changing Teaching Approach for Boys'

Educators say males need hands-on, practical learning methodsKeisha Hill, Gleaner WriterHIGH-PROFILE officials in the education system have criticised teaching strategies in many Jamaican early-childhood, primary and high schools as counter-productive to optimal learning among boys.Educational institutions in Jamaica continue to struggle with poor male performances at all levels of the system as well as incidents of anti-social behaviour. Nationally, only 27.1 per cent of boys attained passes of grades one to three in the 2009 Caribbean Secondary Education Certificate exams, compared with 38 per cent of females.Fay Carothers, early-childhood specialist addressing a recent Gleaner Editors' Forum, said most boys are underperforming because they do not respond to some traditional methods of teaching."Teachers must understand that if boys want to pursue something, they are going to do it. Teachers can sit right beside them and teach numbers, and they can talk about it and they can draw and they can write. But they are not going to look on the blackboard and remember, and write on paper what teachers say they would like them to do," Carothers said.Carothers said the change to correct this problem must begin at the early-childhood level, in which the young minds of the boys can be shaped not only through academics but aspects of their early socialisation.reduce lecturesFormer Jamaica Teachers' Association president and principal of Jamaica College, Ruel Reid, told the gathering that most teachers prefer to lecture in comparison to a more practical approach. He said teachers must be very careful of only lecturing to their students, especially at the early-childhood level because they will lose interest."There has emerged a new paradigm in teacher education called differentiating instruction. A teacher at all levels should be able to diagnose the gender differences or learning styles in the classroom and teach accordingly," Reid said.He encouraged Jamaican teachers to focus on the interests of their individual male students in an effort to improve their academic performance. He pointed out that boys display characteristics that teachers can use to improve their performance, adding that teachers should take advantage of those characteristics. One way of doing this, he said, is setting high expectations for boys in the classroom and allowing them more room to take risks."How many teachers you see on a regular level come with charts and all those things? Boys like competition and hands-on training. We know that the abstract for boys does not even develop until age 16. Most of the teaching should be geared around the practical, constructive type of learning," Reid said.focus on the individualWayne Robinson, principal of Quality Academics, weighing in on the debate, said it is imperative that the lessons taught, especially at the early stages, be adjusted to deal with boys on an individual basis. He said this would ensure that their specific interests are identified and strategies developed that can cater to them."We have seen an improvement in the school this year with boys stepping up to the plate. I am not saying we have a magic wand, but we have to change their attitudes to themselves and, therefore, to their work, and make them feel that what they are doing is relevant to them and is important to their own well-being," Robinson said.He stated that boys learn differently from girls, and, as Reid had pointed out, teachers should try and make the lessons more practical."Boys are wired differently, they learn differently. If you go to a class and teach, the girl will get it, but you have different entry points for a boy. He wants to see what is done most of the time. You can't just expect lecturing. If you do not give them multiple options, you are going to lose the boys before the girls all the time," Robinson said.keisha.hill@gleanerjm.com