As an independent boys school known for our focus on character development, it has always been our goal to create a rich environment where boys can succeed both academically and as individuals. Our practice at SHS is based on extensive research in boy-specific learning and development. This is an area that we passionately contribute to through our participation in various national and international coalitions and organizations.
Sterling Hall has been a long-time and active member of the International Boys’ Schools Coalition (IBSC), a non-profit organization of worldwide schools dedicated to the education and development of boys. In fact, over the years, SHS has played an active role in this organization; currently, our very own Rick Parsons is one of only two sitting Canadian Principals on the IBSC Board of Trustees. Today, IBSC member schools such as ours, make up the current roster of nearly 300 member schools from more than 20 countries and five continents. Acting as a Trustee, Rick Parsons works closely with IBSC sharing knowledge and collaborating with others to champion boys’ education. We are very proud to have this affiliation and to play a role in such an important endeavor.
IBSC's 'Better Boys, Better Men' ONLine SeriesHOSTED BY SHS
On May 4 and May 12, The Sterling Hall School co-hosted the Better Boys, Better Men online series for the IBSC global community. Thank you to Principal Rick Parson's for introducing this impactful leader in the field of boy research to ISBC, enabling educators and parents the opportunity to learn much from his expertise.
Based on his extensive research and work on masculinity, Andrew Reiner facilitated two interactive workshops focused on the development of a new masculinity. In these sessions, he discussed how boys are growing up in a world that's radically different from the one their parents knew. Success today both in and beyond the classroom requires self-awareness, self-restraint, empathy, curiosity, collaboration, and communication skills. Many parents, teachers, and coaches however, are still raising, teaching, and mentoring boys in ways familiar to previous generations: The old masculine script however, isn't preparing boys for a new world. Andrew Reiner challenged IBSC members to examine and reconsider ways to equip boys with the tools they need to develop good life strategies and build meaningful connections.
If you would like to learn more about Andrew Reiner's research please clickHERE.
At SHS, We UNDERSTAND BOYS
Through our active participation in IBSC, we have gathered meaningful research on how boys learn, how to foster academic and personal growth in boys, how to address individual boys' needs and how to improve student outcomes. The below content is relevant research from IBSC that has, and continues to informed our practice. Member schools across the globe including our own, have presented this research so that all can benefit. The character-based inquiry project Genius Time, is one such paper that we are proud to say SHS teacher Kate Cowan, presented to the IBSC international community.
The Benefits of a Boys School
Below please find some research from IBSC that delves into why a school like Sterling Hall is an ideal environment for boys.
Schools that make the intentional choice to focus on the intellectual, physical, social, and emotional lives of boys and young men share an appreciation for the intensity and complexity of boyhood. Educators at boys’ schools celebrate and value all that it means to be a boy.
With years of experience, and in collaboration with their peers, teachers at boys’ schools encourage their students to grow and mature at their own developmental pace, using teaching strategies that address learning styles specific to boys. They understand the different and complex worlds of the primary school boy and the young man preparing for university. And they strive to support each individual’s needs and aspirations.
These schools recognize that boys most often are physically active, competitive, and apt to take risks, characteristics that are channeled into their learning experience. Many schools use flexible schedules and class times that permit students to move around throughout the day. Educators stimulate a boy’s interests with a mix of academics, arts, music, or athletics to continuously engage his mind and body. Faculty members also acknowledge the full range of boys’ emotions and vulnerabilities, broadening their spheres and, ultimately, fostering their ability to interact meaningfully with girls and women.
Through action research projects, teachers at member schools of the International Boys’ Schools Coalition (IBSC) continually update their knowledge of best practices in all-boys education. The IBSC offers professional development opportunities that foster in teachers and administrators at all levels a passion for educating boys.
In addition to pursuing high academic achievement, schools for boys share many broad goals: to promote well-being, to develop resilience and empathy, and to see that each student achieves his potential. But none is more important than the essential goal of building good character and, by extension, of helping each boy and young man make responsible choices and live an honorable life.
A commitment to integrity and a strong ethical foundation are a school’s first priorities, and educating students about how to become a good man informs every aspect of the day. Some schools do this teaching with an official code of conduct; others have developed a formal character education curriculum; a great many teach critical values through their faith-based affiliations. Often it is the experience of performing with the orchestra or playing on the soccer team that affords a lesson in courage, perseverance, or teamwork.
Each initiative is strengthened by outstanding faculty who model ethical behavior daily, and also by student leaders, peer counselors, and other mentors. Boys learn that there are clear expectations to do what is right. They also learn that there are many routes to becoming a good man.
Most schools have a program of service learning that encourages students to work within the greater community to help others. At some schools, those programs are conducted with area girls’ schools, giving boys the opportunity to interact in a respectful and supportive way with their female peers.
It’s a simple fact that boys and girls grow at a different pace. Boys’ strengths are different from those of girls. While girls generally develop earlier physically and socially, refining their reading and writing skills sooner, boys are more spatial and visual by nature, and they demonstrate a natural affinity for areas like abstract mathematics. They are also hard-wired to learn more easily through action than words.
Using fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging), researchers have observed differences between the developing male and female brain that demonstrate why boys and girls learn in different ways. Boys’ brains are wired to require movement, space, action, and rest. They also learn better when material is presented in small portions. Thus, a typical coed classroom that favors verbal and auditory learning can put an active boy at a disadvantage.
One of the important advantages of a single-sex education is the opportunity it presents to create a learning environment, literally and figuratively, that accommodates what boys and young men need. In a school that is boy-centered, teachers introduce more kinesthetic and sensory experiences into their curriculum, engaging boys more fully in their learning.
Educators like Abigail Norfleet James (Teaching the Male Brain: How Boys Think, Feel, and Learn in School) have translated brain theory into classroom practices for teachers of boys and young men, identifying tangible ways to address natural weaknesses as well as strengths.
Each faculty member in an all-boys school has made a conscious choice to teach boys. They enjoy boys’ irreverent humor and draw energy from their natural exuberance. Their passion to teach boys requires a commitment to build relationships, craft a curriculum, and lead a classroom that engages each student in the way he learns best.
As specialists in boys’ education, teachers take into consideration the interests and talents unique to boys when they prepare each lesson. Because they know boys often prefer to work cooperatively, faculty can use teams effectively in project-based assignments. And because they understand the rhythm of a boys’ classroom, they can plan physical activity into class time and extended breaks like recess into the school day.
Classrooms filled with boys are rarely quiet. Research conducted at boys’ schools has demonstrated the importance of action and accomplishment in teaching young men and boys. Educational researchers Michael Reichert and Richard Hawley have found that successful lessons often introduce a memorable element — a novelty, kinetic activity, game, or role play — that facilitates the intended learning outcome. Learning swordplay can make the text of Romeo and Juliet more interesting and approachable.
The work of educator Adam Cox stresses that boys need to know why something is important in order for it to have significance for them. “Boys,” he says, “thrive on purposeful work” and “relish real-time achievement,” when they are assigned tasks that give their school experience personal meaning.
At Sterling Hall we maintain a focus on relational learning; our teachers employ successful relational strategies in both academic as well as social and emotional learning. The teacher-student relationship is a necessary condition for successfully engaging boys in learning – the research below on adolescent and younger boys proves it. Find out what works for teachers, students, and parents, as well as factors to avoid that can lead to breakdowns.
Without the social pressures of a coed environment, students in an all-boys school can explore the full range of their personalities and potential. Eschewing stereotypes, they discover they have many roles to play as a scholar, athlete, artist, musician, and friend.
By stressing the importance of subjects like literature, languages, music, dance, drama, and the visual arts within the curriculum, a boys-centered school assists students in finding their innate creativity and imagination, while developing their communication skills and pursuing other strengths and interests.
Risk takers by nature, boys find a new comfort level with nontraditional subjects and activities when they are encouraged to do so by trusted mentors within the safety of a close-knit community. Young men, who may not step up in the presence of girls, take on leadership roles at all-boys schools, often heading community service programs or serving as mentors to younger students.
Boys’ schools have a key role to play in fostering what psychologists like Michael Thompson (Raising Cain, The Pressured Child) call “emotionally literate boys,” who respond to others with empathy and compassion. Such schools appreciate that boys “will not express feelings as girls do” and provide guidance in coping with the many expectations schools, parents, or society may have for them as young males.
Working together in the classroom, on the playing field, or in the performance hall, students are united by a special bond of brotherhood. Many boys’ school graduates say the friendships they developed with their peers and with faculty are among the most important benefits they carry with them from their schools.
Relationships are critical to a boy’s learning according to researchers Reichert and Hawley. They report that boys thrive in an educational environment where they first establish positive, trusting relationships with teachers whose high standards and subject mastery students value. They write, “…[R]elationship is the very medium through which successful teaching and learning is performed.”
In this reciprocity of relationships, where teachers are forthright and caring, boys also develop the confidence to drop their guard and give of themselves. This relationship-based education model not only enhances the learning process, it also contributes to a boy’s growing sense of belonging to his class, his team, and his school. In the outstanding teachers, coaches, and counselors who are by their sides each day, boys find important role models. Female faculty members play a key role in fostering positive, respectful attitudes toward women. These relationships also promote empathy, courage, and resilience.
This connection of brotherhood extends to a broader community of what many schools call Old Boys — alumni who stand ready to positively support these young men now and in the future.
The New Zealand Council for Educational Research has published promising research. Analysis of New Zealand male school leaver qualifications 2010-12 shows that boys' schools have higher qualification achievements than coeducational schools.
In 2012, the New Zealand Council for Educational Research published promising research showing that graduates from boys' schools have higher qualification achievements than those from coeducational schools. Analysis of New Zealand male school leaver qualifications 2010-12 shows that boys' schools have higher qualification achievements than coeducational schools. Further analysis of school leaver achievement also showed higher qualifications for boys' schools.
In engaging and supportive single-sex environments, students explore their values and establish a foundation for making responsible decisions; they explore their own definitions of self, who they are and who they want to become; they learn to forge healthy relationships; they step out of their comfort zone to explore their full potential.
At Sterling Hall, we understand the importance of fostering resiliency in our boys and we do so through our Values In Action (VIA) Character Program. As well as learning about and practicing character development in class, the VIA Core Virtues and character strengths are weaved into co-curriculars, teams, and on field trips, and our entire community reflects on character in events like assemblies. Boys also have the opportunity to recognize character through initiatives such as the Buddy Bench, Recess Rockstar and the Sterling Stars programs as well as many other leadership opportunities.
Our boys learn early on to recognize their own unique strengths as identified through the VIA core virtues and character strengths, and become confident by challenging themselves to deepen them on a daily basis. They also learn the power of these strengths in relationships and community.
The following research paper reinforces the important work that we are doing at SHS. It concludes that through resiliency education, students can become more comfortable with the terminology and can begin to practice the traits that are required to be resilient. Without character education, resiliency is merely a theoretical concept that teachers and principals talk about. It will have limited or no impact in the lives of students unless they are made aware of its various nuances and practical applications in their lives.
Furthermore, more opportunities in all areas of school life are required to be undertaken by students if they are to improve their resiliency. These activities will provide teachers and other educators with the foundation for discussions with their students as they relate to resiliency. Students should participate in what they enjoy and value, but should also be encouraged to choose activities that stretch their comfort zone and expose them to new situations. This is something that we speak of a great deal at SHS. It is these new, “uncomfortable” and challenging experiences that will stretch the students thinking and provide them with the confidence and resilience that will carry them through life with ease and grace, long after their time at SHS.
This research, completed by our very own Kate Cowan, SHS Grade 2 teacher, examines the impact of student-led, character-based inquiry projects on students’ self-awareness. Over the course of four months, a class of 17 Grade 2 boys developed and pursued “Genius Time” inquiry projects and explicitly linked their work to character strengths. In an attempt to help students develop a deeper understanding of character traits, opportunities for student choice and agency were incorporated into the project action. A comparative study of questionnaires and self-assessments as well as observations and interviews allowed a deeper understanding of the effectiveness of the intervention.
Conclusions
In summary, the character-based inquiry project provided the boys with meaningful opportunities to explore character strengths as well as develop and learn more about different character strengths. This in turn, enabled students to form a deeper understanding and the ability for more meaningful self-reflection and growth. The implications of this project beyond the results for my students were two-fold. Firstly, it demonstrated the potential that student voice and choice has in the classroom. Beyond the implications this had for character-development and self-assessment, the results and student enthusiasm suggest that student-led projects can encourage more growth and zeal for learning than more traditional modes of class projects. Secondly, this project has inspired the potential for future research in two areas. Primarily, there remains a dearth of exploration and research when it comes to best practices for character education. While its inherent importance has been widely recognized, this project made it evident that there remains room for growth in the educational field when it comes to the mode through which character education is incorporated in the classroom.
While earlier research conducted by IBSC strongly supports the critical nature of the relationship between teacher and student, this study asks how that relationship may be the same or different at lower grade levels where parents play a larger role and boys may be less likely to voice concerns. “No factor is more important for the establishment and maintenance of a successful connection than the boy’s perception of the teacher’s attitude toward him,” the report notes. In their roles as “relationship managers,” however, teachers of younger boys may need help in noticing when a boy disengages.
In November 2016, IBSC published a new research report available exclusively to member schools and the communities they serve. Based on research conducted at diverse schools in three different countries, Relational Teaching with Primary and Junior Boys identifies the features of successful relational strategies employed by teachers. The teacher-student relationship is a necessary condition for successfully engaging boys in learning – the research on adolescent and younger boys proves it. Find out what works for teachers, students, and parents, as well as factors to avoid that can lead to breakdowns.
IBSC contracted with the Centre for Innovation, Research, Creativity, and Leadership in Education (CIRCLE) to conduct this in-depth research. From September 2016 to June 2018, 48 boys' schools representing nearly 40,000 students and 4,500 teachers worldwide participated in a range of survey instruments, presentations, and conference activities to inform this research.
Always central to the mission at boys’ schools, character education has gained new urgency in recent years. Learning how to navigate change and complexity with a strong moral compass, building character strengths such as perseverance and grit, and understanding one’s self and purpose for others are fundamental for boys’ well-being as they make the journey to manhood. In truth, however, most schools struggle with this vital work — even those that claim to do a good job at it.
In this action research project, the researcher sought to explore the emotionally charged topic of failure. The research was based around a number of boys who presented with signs of stress and anxiety, most of which seemed to stem from a fear of the unfamiliar and the unknown. Curious to discover why this was becoming more prevalent in young adolescents, the researcher worked with Grade 7 students on this meaningful project.
Modern-day life and the smoke and mirrors of social media seduces both adults and young adolescents alike into believing that life is picture perfect. The mistaken belief that nobody ever fails and that success is the only option, is flawed and misguided. Obviously, life is not like that. Asking Year 7 students to tackle the confronting topic of failure was a risk, but the results spoke for themselves.
The most powerful impact from this project was the boys’ ability to tackle challenges and obstacles with a fresh sense of optimism; not in the sense that they would be infallible, but in the sense that they were essentially being given the opportunity to explore and embrace their vulnerabilities. This often taboo subject, where vulnerability in males is compared with weakness, needs to be confronted and challenged, particularly in a world where toxic masculinity is all too prevalent. While the activities chosen were challenging and intentionally difficult, they were also low risk.
The greatest success from this project was the fact that the boys applied the lessons learnt to life outside the classroom. They tried a new position in sport, signed up to learn a new musical instrument or joined the 11 choir, and took greater risks with their assessments, as discussed earlier in this report. Essentially, they started moving out of their comfort zones; empowered, motivated and vulnerable. They had discovered the power of being fearless, not flawless. Six months after completing the project, many of the boys have indicated that they were able to self-regulate more successfully and independently, without the fear of failure when experiencing negative emotions and tackling new challenges and obstacles. Removing the fallacy of failure and empowering the boys to take risks with their learning, yielded more positive results than could have been imagined. The boys re-discovered a love of learning and the joy that comes with conquering something new. Nurturing agency in the boys will continue to be in the forefront of my teaching practice.
Recent research suggests that the highest performing boys consistently cite two aspects as drivers of boys’ personal achievement: a sense of belonging within a positive school culture and explicit understanding of character expectations. Both of these are aspects we at SHS strived to incorporate in our practice.
