One in Eleven Boys Leaves Primary School Unable to Read

More positively delightful news for Hanna Rosin and her feminist friends; a tragedy for the rest of society.

One in 11 boys leaves primary school 'unable to read'

One in 11 boys in England - one in seven in some areas - starts secondary school with, at best, the reading skills of an average seven-year-old.

According to data obtained by the BBC's Today programme, 9% of 11-year-old boys fell well below expected standards.

But in Nottingham that proportion was 15% and the situation was only marginally better in Derby, Manchester, Rotherham and Telford.

The government is bringing in a reading check for six-year-olds.

Education experts said it was hard for children struggling at age 11 ever to catch up.

Just before leaving primary school, children take a reading test as part of their Sats examinations. They are then marked into categories, level 4 being the expected standard.

According to the Department for Education statistics, the proportion of children gaining that grade has increased dramatically over the last 15 years, from 49% to 81%.

But this masks a stubborn problem at the lower end of the school spectrum. In 1995, the proportion of 11-year-olds getting Level 2 or below in English - the standard expected of a seven-year-old - was 7%. In 2010, it had fallen only to 5%.

The figures show the problem is worse for boys. Overall in England, 9% of them - about 18,000 - achieved a maximum of level 2 in reading.

In some local authority areas that proportion was far higher: 15% in Nottingham, 14% in Barking and Dagenham, Telford and the Wrekin, Rotherham, Manchester and Derby.


Dylan William, professor of education at the Institute of Education, said it could be very hard for children struggling with their reading to catch up.

Secondary school teachers are not used to teaching children who cannot read properly, because the syllabus is based on textbooks.

Prof William said it had never been more important to be able to read to a decent standard.
He explained: "Twenty years ago, you got a lot of information from television. Now it's the internet - you have to be more literate."

But Prof William says that will not, in itself, tackle the issue: "Identification is not the problem. If you ask the teachers of those boys who are struggling at 11... they probably were identified as having problems at seven.

"The problem is finding the resources to deal with it."

He says there are solutions, known as "reading recovery" methods. They include intensive tuition and much smaller class sizes.

But these methods tended to be expensive, he said.

If it was girls who were having this very problem, and not boys, would anybody dare suggest that it was just too expensive to bring the girls up to speed?

Boys Age 5 Struggling

Cause for celebration, at least for feminists like Hanna Rosin who relish in the failure and suffering of children when they are male.

Half of boys, age five, 'struggling in basics'

More than half of five-year-old boys are struggling in the basics after a year at primary school, official figures show.

Some 53.1% of boys this age are struggling with skills such as reading and writing, and emotional and social development.

In comparison, 34.9% of girls are failing to reach this target - a gender gap of 18.2 percentage points.

The government said it was concerned boys were lagging behind girls.

The findings are based on teachers' observations of pupils.

The new Department for Education statistics show how many five-year-olds are reaching specific early learning "goals".

Alphabet troubles
 
These cover areas such as social skills, literacy and numeracy, and how many are reaching enough of the goals to be classed as making a "good level of development".

The figures reveal that one in six (15.1%) boys could not write their own name by the age of five, compared to just 6.9% of girls.

Some 9.6% of boys could not say the letters of the alphabet, compared with 5.5% of girls, the data shows.

And 9% of boys could not do simple adding up by the age of five, while for girls that figure was 6.1%.

The data also reveals that poorer pupils, particularly poor boys, are falling behind their richer classmates.

A quarter (24.9%) of poor boys could not write their own name, compared to 12.9% of poor girls, while 16.2% of poor boys could not say the letters of the alphabet.

For poor girls, this figure was 9.7%.

Social status
 
The figures also reveal that 2.2% of poor boys and 1% of poor girls could not dress themselves at the age of five.

A spokesman for the Department for Education said: "It's good news that the number of young children reaching a good level of development has increased this year, and the professionals working hard to help raise standards in the early years should feel proud of their work.

"But there are still too many children starting school without the solid foundation they need to succeed. In particular, we're concerned that boys continue to lag behind girls even before they start school, especially in writing.

"Every child, regardless of gender, background or social status, should get the right help and support in the crucial early years of their lives so they can thrive at school."

Hanna Rosin, I presume, would disagree vehemently with that last sentence.

As would plenty of feminists, who only want to see girls succeed.

They are quite happy for boys to be denied the help and support they need, and actually think this preferable.

But, as I have been trying to emphasise, feminists are very sick people.