The real way to boost boys' school engagement

From debates about the impact of social media influencers and the manosphere to the lack of clear career paths and a high risk of becoming Neet (not in education, employment or training), concerns about boys are widespread at the moment.

Yet teachers and school leaders know it is a long-standing and deeply entrenched issue.

The evidence is stark. To pick just one example from numerous data points, in England in 2023-24 just 24 per cent of disadvantaged boys achieved a grade 5 or above in both GCSE English and maths, compared with 51 per cent of boys not known to be disadvantaged.

This is not a one-off, but a persistent gap - and a sign that the education system still struggles to engage some of its most vulnerable boys.

The wrong diagnosis

It is easy to misdiagnose the problem. Too often, boys’ underachievement is discussed as a personal failing, poor self-discipline or anti-school attitudes. The reality, though, is that the boys who struggle most are not lacking in potential; they are lacking in connection.

They do not consistently experience school as a place where they belong; where their identity is understood or an adult knows them well enough to notice when things are beginning to unravel.

It is also the case that the boys most at risk of poor outcomes are also those most likely to be discussed in deficit terms. They are often described as “difficult”, “hard to reach”, “switched-off” or simply “resistant”.

But many are responding rationally to lives marked by instability, trauma, poverty, fractured trust or repeated failure. Schools cannot solve all of this on their own, but they can become places of trusting, consistent and steady adult relationships.

The power of relationships

This is why schools’ most effective work with boys is about relationships.

Across the country, schools that are improving outcomes for vulnerable boys tend to share a common approach - they build relational capacity with intent.

It works because they make mentoring not an optional extra or an “intervention”, but a serious part of inclusion, safeguarding and school improvement.

They invest in trusted adult relationships, peer mentoring, restorative practice and pastoral systems that effectively combine high expectations with consistently high support and challenge.

The impact of this approach is gaining momentum.

The Lost Boys Taskforce, created by Football Beyond Borders and Boys’ Impact, has brought together leaders from education, youth work and sport to call for a “trusted adult guarantee” for all young people.

With government investment, adults in school and sport settings can be trained so that more young people - particularly boys growing up in poverty - have someone reliable in their corner.

Access to a trusted adult is associated with better engagement, stronger wellbeing and reduced social isolation.

This approach can ensure that vulnerable boys are not known only through attendance codes, behaviour logs or exclusion data, but through relationships with adults who show up consistently, listen without judgement and keep expectations high.

Tough questions and taking action

It’s why trusts and schools should ask themselves searching questions when considering their own strategies for identifying and supporting these pupils:

• Which boys are persistently disengaged from school life?
• Which boys are overrepresented in suspensions, poor attendance and underperformance data?
• Which boys can identify a trusted adult in school without hesitation?

In our trust, this process led us to create a mentoring offer across our 12 schools, as part of a broader inclusion, belonging and relational practice programme.

The mentors in question include school staff, external providers and, in one setting, peers, reflecting our belief that consistency of principle matters more than uniformity of model.

We have offered professional development for teachers, pastoral colleagues and non-teaching staff on mentoring, restorative approaches and relational practice.

We are also developing a practical toolkit to support pastoral teams in connecting with even the most disconnected pupils, and use data on measures of engagement, attendance, exclusions and wellbeing to spot patterns and refine approaches.

Finally, we have collaborated with the Lost Boys Taskforce to engage in partnerships and best-practice exchange with organisations like Football Beyond Borders, Boys’ Impact and GRIT Coaching. This enables us to learn new ideas and contribute our insights to a wider conversation about inclusion, behaviour and boys’ outcomes.

Building the base for learning

None of the above is a soft alternative to academic rigour and high performance; all are prerequisites for it.

A boy who feels unseen will rarely sustain effort for long, while a boy who believes an adult has his back is far more likely to re-engage, take risks in learning and imagine a positive, productive and meaningful future for himself.

The next phase of school improvement for boys must therefore reject the false choice between high standards and humane practice; it must recognise that they need to work together.

Boys do not benefit from lower expectations; they benefit from adults who combine high challenge with trust, and structure with belonging.

Mark Goodwin is director of behaviour, attendance and wellbeing at The Mercian Trust