Not just a ‘boy problem’: an exploration of the complexities surrounding literacy under-achievement

Abstract

This paper examines literacy under-achievement and the limitations of gender-based literacy reforms grounded in essentialist notions of masculinity. It draws on qualitative case-study research conducted in one Ontario secondary school in a working-class community. It focuses on two grade 9 students and their teacher who participated in a larger study which examines how the norms and values associated with school-based literacy practices contribute to under-achievement. The cases highlighted in this paper are employed to raise critical questions about the way in which literacy under-achievement continues to be articulated as a ‘boy problem’. This paper also illustrates how the complex and situated nature of the students’ gendered and classed identities, interwoven with contextual and pedagogical factors, contribute to literacy under-achievement for some boys and some girls. In addition, it argues that the disjuncture between in- and out-of-school literacy practices warrants further study.

Keywords:

• gender
• boys
• literacy under-achievement
• social class
• in- and out-of-school literacy practices

Notes

1. Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) is an independent provincial agency funded by the Government of Ontario, Canada. Its directive is to conduct province-wide tests in reading, writing and mathematics at the primary, intermediate and secondary-school level and report the results to educators, parents and the public (retrieved July 18, 2010, from http://www.eqao.com/AboutEQAO/AboutEQAO.aspx?status=logout&LangE).