BBC’s work with young people leads us to understand that so much of what we do as educators, coaches, tutors, and supporters is about making connections. Boys are wired to connect and belong. So many of our rites of passage, celebratory events, and learning experiences are about relationships and connection. We celebrate this sense of belonging as the ties that bind our tribe together, but, moreover, as the essential ingredient in the learning journey, one that extends beyond the academic sphere.
Boys are always looking for teams, cohorts, ensembles, House groups, and other mechanisms that allow them to connect and relate. At Brisbane Boys’ College, we cultivate these opportunities with purpose.
In their seminal work Reaching Boys, Teaching Boys: Strategies That Work – and Why, international boys’ education experts Michael Reichert and Richard Hawley assert that relationship is the key vehicle in creating fertile ground for boys to succeed in learning.
Reichert and Hawley write:
The research identifies several factors of importance, including a transitive element where motor activity, competition, and role play are integral; a pedagogy and teaching practice that meets the needs of boys as they seek out strategies that work specifically for them; the ubiquity and power of technology in all its forms; and a notion that learners are inherently looking to connect with educators to whom they relate.
BBC’s rich history of working with boys and our desire to continue to use best practices and contemporary research leads us to identify a number of pillars of good practice when educating our students, all of which are underpinned by the notion of connection. A connected boy is a happy and successful boy who can thrive across the domains of school life and beyond, making a difference in the world.
As noted, boys are relational. They experience content and learning through relationships with teachers, peers, and others. As such, it is essential that both boys and those working with them foster this relational element. Taking the time to know boys individually is the first step in creating a learning relationship.
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Boys respond to active learning. There is an element in the makeup of boys that responds to action, movement, and motor activity. Active learning is effective with boys.
As well as authenticity in relationships, boys connect to purpose, meaning, and learning, which is contextual. Boys often look for ‘real-life’ examples of the application of learning concepts, ideas, and theories.
