Inquiry 5: Positive messages to boys in school

Many people are concerned about the influences boys receive in school: ideas about masculinity, what it means to be a man, their role in society, online influencers etc

Inquiry aims

Chaired by APPG co-chair Mims Davies MP, this inquiry aimed to find out what is being said to boys on these issues by a range of organisations that schools are inviting in to talk to them. The report attempts to create some guidance on good practice for schools.

Our inquiry

We heard from eight organisations who are invited into UK secondary schools and asked them to tell us:

  • What messages they give to boys in schools.
  • Why they give these messages.
  • Any messages which they consider unhelpful.

As with our previous inquiries, we used the transcripts of the presentations to create a short report and suggested guidance which we hope will be useful to parliamentarians in navigating this complex subject and also be useful to schools in planning positive and effective messages to their boys.

Our report

See and/or download the full report here

Evidence sessions

We held two Evidence sessions: online, via Zoom on Monday at 4pm on 28th April and 19th May, with 4 speakers at each 1 hr session.  We asked them to present for about 10 mins with space for questions and discussion.

Session one speakers (28 April)
Session two speakers (19th May)
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