Boys Don’t Try? Rethinking Masculinity in Schools by Matt Pinkett and Mark Roberts

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This is a book aimed firmly are practitioners, the thinking Pinkett and Roberts are offering is looking to directly change the experiences in the classroom.

They begin by unpacking some of the stats, while White British Free School Meal Boys do have the lowest attainment of any of the groups that are tracked, they point to the attainment of all disadvantaged (defined by the standard measure of eligibility Free School Meals) groups being lower than their non-disadvantaged peers and a number of ways that current educational practices make the links between disadvantage and lower attainment a self-fulfilling prophesy.

They reject the language of Toxic masculinity – finding Tender and non-Tender masculinity which they borrow from blog post by Terra Loire

They look to overturn the myths that create low expectations of certain groups, when teachers have low expectations, pupils attainment will tend to match those expectations. To raise attainment you first need to raise the expectations.

They also debunk a lot of the crude attempts to engage boys in education – this is often as simplistic as teachers working on the assumption that “boys” like football therefore if you put an educational task in the wrapper of football, boys will suddenly engage – any engagement you achieve will be superficial – and matched by the disengagement of those boys that have no interest in football.

They equally debunk attempts to be the “cool” teacher, and the temptation for male teachers to seek to gain engagement with their lessons by being “one of the lads” – often role-modelling the exact lack of regard for the value of education they thought they were overcoming.

It is perhaps easy to point out the problems but the value of the book is that throughout it they are offering practical solutions. Some they acknowledge will take an investment of time and energy to make effective, two things that are a rare commodity for many (most) teachers in our overstretched schools. But when faced with the stats our education system is failing too too many boys, with consequences throughout their lives, so something needs to change.

The (Re) Ritualisation of the Transition to Motherhood within the Church of England by Alice Watson

Joint Liturgical Studies 

I don’t normally include Joint Liturgical Studies within the scope of this blog – but I found Alice Watson’s reflections particularly enlightening.

Despite the devotion to the Mary, mother of Jesus, in some traditions, it is general within the frame of her being the Blessed Virgin Mary – making it a devotion that acts to highlight her distinction from every other mother.

The liturgy of the Churching of Women after childbirth, for all the problematic baggage around purification, was a a liturgy that was focused on the mother.

Alice Watson points out that The Church of England’s Common Worship replacement, the Thanksgiving for the Gift of a Child moves the focus from mother to child – and in her experience created a sense of marginalisation.

Given many struggle with post-natal depression and other struggles around identity and sense of self after the birth of a child the lack of any liturgical provision seems a genuine oversight (given Common Worship provides for so many many other situations…).

Alice Watson offers some suggestions about the potential content of such a liturgical response which deserve to be more widely known – maybe not for routine use but so Ministers can add them to their toolkit of pastoral responses.

Crafted with Pride Edited by Daniel Fountain

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Making the link between activism and crafting is at one level to point out a practical issue – in an era before print-on demand and drop-shopping sites if you were a small activist group if you wanted a visible identity or expression of your campaign you were going to have to make it yourself.

But there is more going on here – there are choices made towards the handmade that go beyond necessity. People are still crafting their protest banners. Zine makers might rarely be physically copying and pasting their content now, but the ethos remains the same.

The reflections on the UK AIDS Quilt, draw out the connection, the investment of time in making a personal tribute. It was interesting to have read out it a week or so before going to see it on display at Tate Modern – the tenderness of it and the tragedy of it – but also the logistical demands of caring for the Quilt, the rarity of the opportunity to display it.

The creativity of many of the work discuss is part of its power – when you are denied the chance to speak you can make your voice seen instead. There is also a tendency towards the witty, which creates the potential for subversion without confrontation.

And in need for queer activism is rising again – to now is not the time to put the sewing machines and badge makers away...