91����

“When they are in primary, rather than a boy letting their friends know they can’t read a page, they mask it with their behaviour. Then they get into secondary school and it starts to be more difficult than it was in primary. They slowly, slowly disengage; combined with the fact that they don’t want to be there, they don’t want to be wearing that uniform. The truth is they don’t know what they’re supposed to do or who they are supposed to be. They have a real loss of identity. ‘What is masculinity? You’re telling me it’s not Andrew Tate. You’re telling me I can’t have that banter. What am I meant to do?’”

These words from a headteacher in the North East make clear the confusion for a lot of boys who are growing up caught in a mix of academic and identity struggles.

The more I talked to boys for the report I co-authored, and recently as part of the government review of young people not in education, employment or training (Neet), and the more I looked at the data, I have become convinced there is something going on with boys that needs to be properly addressed.

And when I spoke to headteachers across the country about it, they all said: “Not before time.”

Boys struggling in education

Does this mean there are no issues to address in girls’ education? Of course not. There is still, to name one example, a long way to go to improve the take-up of science and maths subjects by girls. And many girls feel the intense anxiety and brutal pressure of the online world.

The reason for the focus on boys now is that the data tells a clear story. Boys, on average, are underperforming, relative to girls, in key areas such as literacy and higher education attainment. Five statistics tell the story:

1. Early years: 60.7 per cent of boys (75.3 per cent of girls) are “school-ready” - in other words, meeting a “good level of development”.
   ��
2. Year 6 Sats: in reading, writing and maths (combined) for 2025-25, 59 per cent of boys met the expected standard compared with 66 per cent of girls.
   ��
3. GCSEs: 43.9 per cent of boys get “good” GCSEs (compared with 47.0 per cent of��girls)
   ��
4. Exclusions: 7,695 boys in England were excluded from school in 2023-24 (compared with 3,190 girls).
   ��
5. Higher Education: In 2025, 159,000 UK males (44 per cent of the total) aged 19 and under attended higher education, compared with 204,000 of their female peers (56 per cent of the total).

Social pressures

But it’s more than educational attainment. Many boys report feeling anxious, unhappy, angry or just lost.

We spoke to many who spend hours online with influencers trying to find ways to improve themselves, bombarded with pressures from those selling cryptocurrency, gym maxxing and a variety of approaches for building up their confidence and making themselves look more attractive.

So rather than leaving such a vital societal issue to attention-seeking headlines, media punditry or quack remedies, I have been asked by a new research organisation, the , to chair a commission over the next year looking into boys’ education and how the education system can be reformed to better meet the specific educational and developmental needs of boys.

What the world means to boys

At its heart, the Boys’ Education Commission will look at how, in an increasingly fast-paced, rapidly changing digital world, we bring up boys to flourish: how we show them they are valued, how we give them a rich and varied education, how we ensure they have role models and how we prepare them to take their place as valued and successful members of society.

We will look at “education” in its widest sense. Not just narrow exam success, though that matters, but how boys grow up with the confidence and tools to flourish as successful men, fathers, brothers, sons, friends and work colleagues.

Our starting point is that boys are not a problem to be “fixed”, but a source of huge, often untapped, potential.

The commission will explore the education system from early years to the end of higher education, and propose the solutions necessary to ensure it really delivers for boys.

The commission will seek to understand the root causes of these disparities and develop actionable recommendations for government, policymakers, the education system, boys and their parents.

I want to get underneath the data and find out the root causes of some of the issues, and bring together the best ideas and thinking about what can be done about it.

I am excited to be accompanied on this journey by some brilliant practitioners, teachers, headteachers and thinkers, each with a different perspective on the issue.

Ten starter questions

Our style will not be just to beaver away behind closed doors, but to debate the issues with those on the frontline working in schools and in charities for young people. Our aim is to get as many people to contribute to the thinking as possible.

These are 10 of the key questions to start our exploration. I’m sure more will follow.

1. What are the barriers to boys thriving at school? How is this broken down by place, class and ethnicity?
   ��
2. Internationally, which education systems produce the best outcomes for both boys and girls - not only in terms of academic standards but in terms of social engagement, motivation and wellbeing?

2. In the UK, what lessons can be learned from schools that achieve better for their boys than average schools?

3. What changes would be required to replicate, or better, the best in global and UK systems at each developmental stage?
   ��
4. At what point does it go wrong for some boys - eg, the transition from primary to secondary or the post-16 fork in the road?

5. How should the curriculum and assessment system support boys’ education?

7. How can non-formal education support boys’ learning and development?
   ��
8. How should the post-16 system be designed to ensure it delivers for boys and the wider economy?

9. How do identity, status and attitudes towards manhood affect young men?

10. What are the relationships that can make the biggest difference for boys as they grow up, and how are they nurtured?

I am under no illusions that a lot of this is tricky territory. The online world is a minefield, getting to grips with identity is elusive and balancing exam success with a wider focus on the whole child involves real trade-offs.

But I believe it is worth getting stuck into. For a healthy society, we need boys to thrive. I’d love you to join the debate and share your ideas.

Peter Hyman is a former adviser to Sir Keir Starmer and Tony Blair, a former headteacher and co-founder of Voice 21. He is author of the Substack To contact the Boys’ Education Commission, email boysedcomm@menandboys.org.uk To find out more click

��