The educational achievements of New Zealand boys may be
falling victim to the soaring divorce rate, according to
experts.
The connection has been made as a new report confirms that
boys are lagging behind girls at secondary school, with the
gap greater in New Zealand than any other developed country.
The findings come in a report by the 30-member Organisation
for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which
compared achievement by 15-year-old boys and girls in 40
countries.
"There are significant gender differences in educational
outcomes, and these appear as students grow older," the
report said.
Last year's National Certificate of Educational Achievement
(NCEA) results, released this month, showed girls
outperforming boys by wider margins as pupils got older.
St Bede's College rector Justin Boyle pointed to boys'
education suffering when parents divorced.
"Invariably, we find if mum and dad have split they (boys)
have not had the male role model in their lives to encourage
them in a holistic way about how they get educated."
Divorce statistics released this month showed about one-third
of New Zealanders who married in 1983 had divorced before
their 25th wedding anniversary.
Education consultant Joseph Driessen said children who came
from broken homes were typically 25 per cent behind other
children in achievement.
"Boys are affected by divorce very deeply because 85 per cent
of custody goes to the mother and guys just disappear. That
needs to change," he told The Press.
"We need to have a family split-up philosophy where we
realise that sons need their fathers. All custody and access
should be 50-50." Mr Boyle said boys' schools could help form
well-rounded men. "We are in a good position in a boys'
school to look at particularly boys' issues and address them
head-on," he said.
The OECD report said single-sex schools in New Zealand were
more effective for girls than for boys.
A Ministry of Education report released yesterday showed boys
outnumbered girls by more than two to one in needing
specialist literacy teacher help.
Bookmark/Search this post with:
