1st Edition
Yes He Can! Closing the Attainment Gap for Boys at Secondary School
Foreword
Introduction
Part 1: Background
1.1. What's the problem?
1.2. About the schools
1.3. General lessons learned
Part 2: Effective Interventions
2.1. Changing the culture
2.2. Building relationships
2.3. Role models
2.4. Enrichment and celebrating success
2.5. High expectations
2.6. Language skills: Literacy and Oracy
2.7. Rewards and consequences
Part 3: Supporting your staff
3.1. Time to focus on solutions
3.2. Unskilling staff
Part 4: Conclusions
4.1. An optimistic message
4.2. Summary
Biography
Mike Bell taught science in secondary schools and then ran courses in evidence-based methods for the Evidence Based Teachers Network (EBTN). He is the author of The Fundamentals of Teaching, Routledge 2021. He founded and was the lead researcher for the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Men and Boys issues from 2021 to 2025.
"Mike Bell has produced a timely, practical and deeply encouraging guide to improving boys’ educational outcomes. Grounded in evidence and the wisdom of successful school leaders, this book offers real solutions and renewed hope for boys, families and educators across the English-speaking countries."
- David Maywald, Author and advocate for men, boys, healthier relationships and social balance
"The schools in these pages turned the lens round and asked a much more uncomfortable question: not “What is wrong with the boys?”, but “What are we doing, as adults, that may be holding them back?”
- Richard V Reeves, President, American Institute for Boys and Men (AIBM)
"As someone who has written a number of books on helping boys with their learning and having visited dozens of schools to persuade them to take action, it is great to see this book which has the testimony from teachers who have actually acted and can show their success. It should be a wake-up call that boys’ underachievement is not inevitable."
- Gary Wilson, author of Boys will be Brilliant
"It has been a privilege to contribute to this book. Mike has used my own words, rather than his interpretation of them, showing practical strategies for how schools closed the attainment gap for boys.
- Andy Eadie, Assistant Headteacher, Cardinal Langley Roman Catholic High School
"The underachievement of boys is a problem we share on both sides of the Atlantic, and what makes Yes He Can! so valuable is that it moves past diagnosis to proven solutions — drawn straight from the schools that have actually closed the gap, without extra funding and without holding girls back. We will do our best to promote this practical and hopeful book throughout North America."
- G. Lawrence DeMarco, LL.M, Executive Manager, International Council for Men and Boys
