Ros McLellan – författare

"Teachers will find this book invaluable. It is based on quality researchwhich actually evaluates the impact of the various strategies suggestedfor raising boys' achievement. What is more, in contrast to many of themore 'quick-fix' works in this field, the authors’ discussion and analysisis measured and nuanced, and supported by an in-depth understandingof the wealth of theory and research around gender and achievement.It provides a welcome and weighty contribution to an evercontroversial debate."Becky Francis, London Metropolitan University

In this important book, the authors evaluate different approaches and advocate practical, evidence-based strategies, which have the potential to promote boys’ as well as girls’ achievements. The approaches are discussed within the context of inclusivity, acknowledging the diverse needs and interests of different boys and the invisibility and continuing disadvantage of some girls. The book begins and ends with reflections from students of their own school experiences, and makes practical recommendations for the future.

This book draws upon empirical research and work initiated as part of the DfES project on Raising Boys’ Achievement. It brings together theoretical and practical issues, and reflects upon the construction of the debate about boys’ apparent under-achievement from the perspectives of girls as well as boys. The authors critically explore notions of under-achievement and ‘value added’, and consider how useful the concept of the ‘gender gap’ is in advancing the debates.

Raising Boys’ Achievement in Secondary Schools is key reading for undergraduate and postgraduate Education students, PGCE students, headteachers, senior managers within schools and local education authorities, and policy makers.

Collectively, the research presented in this book revisits, challenges, and rearticulates taken-for-granted wellbeing conceptualisations, policies and intervention frameworks, as critical discussion of wellbeing in relation to children and young people from a variety of socio-cultural, political, and economic settings is still relatively sparse. The contributions work synergistically to generate a sophisticated understanding of children’s wellbeing while introducing fresh and context-sensitive approaches.  Pre-conceived and taken-for-granted notions of wellbeing are problematised through four sections in (i) Re-examining conceptualisations of wellbeing in educational research and policy; (ii) Focusing on School environments, schooling, and wellbeing; (iii) Examining the significance of cultural contexts; and (iv) Amplifying children''s voices. The objective is to help generate new ways of researching and thinking about wellbeing and schooling, that transcend monocultural, monodisciplinary and monomethodological strategies. The book aims to stimulate further theoretical and empirical research, as well as development of effective policies and school interventions which nuance rather than reduce complexity of both education and wellbeing.