Boys in Education Week 2018
Students and staff from Sts Peter and Paul Preparatory School arrive for the Trilateral Research Launch.  ©

British Council

The British Council presented their second annual Boys In Education Week from 30 April – 03 May 2018, under the theme: Supporting a Nation of Champions. After an overwhelmingly positive inaugural staging, last year’s event again focused on our boys, their teachers, parents, and other stakeholders who play a role in their holistic development.

“Last year (2017) we presented an opportunity for our male students (grades 5-9) to highlight the challenges and opportunities in their school life. Simultaneously, we brought parents, teachers and policy-influencing stakeholders to the table to engage each other in a meaningful way, to discuss challenges, opportunities and possible solutions to address boys’ learning, motivation and engagement. We also aim to address the wider issue of gender equity, with a view to demonstrating how engaging boys, contributes to a more egalitarian education system, for the advancement of both, boys and girls.” explains Olayinka Jacobs-Bonnick, British Council’s Director for Jamaica.

Boys In Education Week was developed to coincide with Child Month and is grounded in the Trilateral Champions Project commissioned by the British Council in partnership with the Jamaica Teaching Council. The week of activities seeks to give students more confidence in their ability to contribute responsibly to society while creating a safe space for dialogue and sharing new ideas for teachers and education leaders from Jamaica and the UK.

Conversation about universities in the UK in the Career Speed Networking Day
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British Council

Boys Can: Parents Empowerment Forum
Rhodes Scholar Timar Jackson engages parents during the Empowering Parents Seminar in 2018.  ©

British Council

Photography of Boys Can - Teachers' Gender Equity Forum
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British Council

Four kids in the Boys Can: Mentoring Day event
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British Council

Boys In Education Week 2018
These digitally-savvy boys were all too happy to collect some 'likes' in our Facebook frame.  ©

British Council

Through their “Creating Equity in Teaching and Learning” module, the JTC highlights that: “the concerns for the underperformance of boys have been expressed island-wide. The results of various formal examinations provide the evidence that the education of boys is in a crisis… The question of why boys are underperforming within our school system has been linked to a number of factors including teaching methodology; socio-economic background; lack of communal support from parents and schools and structure of the education system insufficiently caters to the needs of young men.”

The week of activities will build on the work done in 2017. On Monday 30 April, there will be an Empowering Educators Seminar. On 01 May, there will be an Empowering Parents Seminar, which will be supported by the Boys Can Mentoring Day on 02 May and the Careers Speed-Mentoring Day for boys and girls on 03 May 2018. All events will take place at the Knutsford Court Hotel in Kingston.

To date, we have worked with more than 300 student and 80 teachers. We have engaged more than 40 parents and collaborated with stakeholders in the UK. The 2019 staging of Boys in Education Week is set for 29 April to 03 May.

See also