Many boys in New Zealand are having difficulty at school and are not reaching or achieving to their potential. Over the last 30 years there has been an increasing gender gap in education with girls outperforming boys in most curriculum areas. More boys are likely to be disciplined, expelled from school, placed in special education programmes and leave school without qualifications, than girls of the same age and ability. The aim of this research was to develop a clearer understanding of boys' learning needs and in the process to develop some strategies for improved pedagogy. To achieve this aim and ensure that boys' voices were heard and accurately recorded, boys were trained to be student researchers and consultants within the study. Schools tend to practice a strategy of silence by denying students voice. However students can be valuable collaborators in research and school improvement when given the opportunity. This thesis recorded the voices of boys from Year level 9, 11 and 13 of three culturally and geographically dissimilar secondary schools. A diverse and broadly representative sample of boys was crucial for the study to establish a boys' perspective on school issues. The methods used to collect boys' experiences and perceptions were individual semi-structured interview, boys' only focus groups and a student motivation measurement. Over 400 boys were involved. This research established that boys could be taught the skills and abilities to make a valuable contribution as researchers and consultants to the research process. The boys were astutely aware of the issues of education within their school and were able to process information in a responsible and honest manner. There was a uniformity of viewpoint between boys from the three schools and Year levels on ways they perceived factors enhance and hinder their learning. In particular, boys love activity and challenge and require it to engage their body and their mind. A key component to teaching boys is the teacher/boy relationship that establishes a mutual respect, individual care and consistency of expectations. A disturbing revelation is that a number of boys believe that teachers and schools do not expect them to achieve as well as girls. This attitude must be addressed by all concerned with boys' education and well being.

This Master essay has examined boys´own view of success factors for learning. The attended school is organized with pupils from 6-16 years old. It is a school in West Sweden, which has good results among boys leaving school, the difference from the country´s results are significant. The purpose of the study has been to find out from an organizational and pedagogical perspective which success factors therer are for boys´ learning. The study has a qualitative approach and semi structured interviews were conducted in groups of two or three pupils (boys) in grade nine. The method for the interviews is called Perception Map (Sherp, 2018) and has been completed like a dialogue in the group. What emerged out of the interviews are analyzed by using three research questions: Which are boys´own view of success factors at the current school? How do the boys connect the success to the school´s profile? To what extent are the boys´view of success factors characterized by quality education? In the results of the study it can be concluded that the two perspectives are interdependent and that the basic conditions are a factor of great importance. The small school and the small classes provide the conditions for the teachers to have time to meet each of the students and get to know them and everyone´s needs. These meetings are the basis of a good relationship that can be created between students and teachers, and the good relationship creates security and a calm environment. To sum up, this together provides the conditions for teaching and learning. What then happens in the classroom is dependent on the teacher´s competence and ambition to motivate, interest and catch the students´ attention. It also means that the school´s culture is characteristic of the values that prevail in the boy´s group and the prerequisite for whether a study culture is created instead of an anti-study or anti-effort culture. / Sammanfattning Denna magisteruppsats har undersökt pojkars egen syn på vad som är framgångsfaktorer för lärande. Undersökningen är gjord i en F-9-skola i västra Sverige bland pojkarna i åk nio utifrån att skolan har signifikant högre genomsnittlig meritpoäng än rikssnittet för samma grupp. Syftet med studien har varit att utifrån ett organisatorisk och pedagogiskt perspektiv få fram vilka framgångsfaktorerna är för pojkars lärande. Studien har både en kvalitativ och en kvantitativ ansats, där halvstrukturerade intervjuer har gjorts i grupp om två till tre elever. Intervjumetoden har varit föreställningskarta enligt Scherp (2018) och eftersom den gjorts i grupp har den karaktäriserats som ett lärande samtal. Nyckelord och utsagor har sedan analyserats utifrån de tre frågeställningarna, varav den sista även analyserats utifrån Håkansson & Sundbergs (2018) sju riktningsgivare för en kvalitativt god undervisning:  Vilken är pojkarnas syn på skolans framgångsfaktorer? På vilket sätt kopplar pojkarna framgången till skolans profil? I vilken utsträckning kännetecknas pojkarnas syn på framgångsfaktorer av kvalitetsmässigt god undervisning? I studiens resultat kan man dra slutsatsen att de båda perspektiven är beroende av varandra och att de grundläggande betingelserna är en faktor med stor vikt. En modell utifrån pojkarnas utsagor visar att skolkulturen eller skolans kontext blir en bärande faktor för övriga faktorer. Den lilla skolan och de små klasserna ger förutsättningar för lärarna att få tid till att möta eleverna och lära känna dem och deras behov var och en. Dessa möten är grunden till att en god relation kan skapas mellan elever och lärare och den goda relationen skapar trygghet och studiero. Detta sammanlagt ger förutsättningar för undervisning och lärande. Det som sedan händer i klassrummet är beroende av lärarens skicklighet och ambition att motivera, intressera och fånga eleverna. Det innebär också att skolans kultur är bärare av de värderingar som råder i pojkgruppen och förutsättningen för om en pluggkultur skapas istället för en antiplugg- eller antiansträngningskultur.