IOE professor debates whether the higher education system is failing boys

The debate focused on whether the UK higher education system is failing boys with Professor Mills arguing against the motion.

Chaired by Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI) Director Nick Hillman, the debate featured former Chief Executive of UCAS Mary Curnock Cook and the BBC’s Sean Coughlan, who argued that the system is failing boys, while headteacher Sarah Fletcher joined Professor Mills against the motion.

Professor Mills argued that within a broader system of gender inequities it is dangerous to construct ‘boys’ as ‘victims’ within the higher education system. He raised concerns about the gender pay gap, the gendered higher education curriculum, sexual harassment, and the side-lining of issues related to racism and homophobia. 

He suggested that in considering the lower participation of men in higher education there needed to be a greater focus on intersectionality and the ways in which other factors, such as poverty and ethnicity, work with particular forms of masculinity to cause some boys to reject school based learning. 

The Festival of Higher Education, held at the University of Buckingham, covered a range of topics relevant to the sector, including mental health and wellbeing in education, widening participation, decolonising the curriculum and the higher education sector post-Brexit. 

Links

• View Professor Martin Mills’ research profile
• Centre for Teachers and Teaching Research
• Department of Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment
• Festival of Higher Education