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Tackling the Educational Underachievement of Boys and Young Men – Conference Line Up Announced

Press release

6th November 2018

Keynote speaker: Robert Halfon MP, Chair of the Education Select Committee

The Men and Boys Coalition’s first annual conference (Creating Positive Futures for Boys and Young Men) to be held on International Men’s Day (19 November) will focus on the critical issue of boys’ academic, emotional and relationships education – an area of public policy that has long since been ignored.

Key speakers at the conference at Mary Sumner House in Westminster include:

  • Robert Halfon MP, Chair of the Education Select Committee and former Minister of State at the Department for Education.
  • Former head of UCAS and leading advocate for addressing boys’ educational underachievement, Mary Curnock Cook OBE
  • Writer, campaigner and former Government children’s mental health champion, Natasha Devon MBE

The conference will explore issues on the latest best-practice on removing the barriers to boys’ academic attainment access to university alongside understanding the challenges they face. A 14-point action plan will also be published at the conference.

Boys are behind girls educationally throughout the education system. Yet there are no policies or campaigns to specifically address this hampered by no recognition, despite this gap starting several decades ago and has been widening since. Key education statistics include:

  • In 2018, 62.3% of males received A*-C grades whilst 71.4% of females received the same results.
  • In 2018, over 76,000 more A*-C A-Level grades were received by females that males.
  • In 2017, 65,000 fewer men went to university than women — over the past ten years this figure is 520,000 — and every year this gap continues to expand.

The Men and Boys Coalition is a network of responsible charities, academics, and professionals committed to taking action and raising issues affecting the well-being of men and boys.

Conference details can be found at:

https://www.menandboyscoalition.org.uk/conference/

This release is available as PDF here:

RELEASE Creating-Positive-Futures-for-Boys-and-Young-Men-06.11.2018-Final

 

ENDS

Notes to Editors

For further inquiries contact Dan Bell on 07747 463255

Email: info@menandboyscoalition.org.uk

Website: www.menandboyscoalition.org.uk