Boy-Friendly Schooling

Abstract

Cathcart State High School is a co-educational government school situated in a beachside suburb of a regional Australian city. The school draws from a broad demographic. There are a number of wealthy estab­lished family groupings living in the area. However, the beach economy also draws on a number of transient families in search of better lifestyles and seasonal employment. The principal of this school has taken up the improvement of boys’ educational outcomes as a key educational issue for his school. He has taken as a truth that boys in schools are currently underachieving; despite evidence to the contrary, even within his own school significant numbers of boys have been displaying very good academic outcomes.