Bibliography: leaves 264-273. Ch. 1: Introduction -- Ch. 2: Religion -- Ch. 3: Princes men -- Ch. 4. School culture and impact -- Ch. 5: Discipline -- Ch. 6: Competition and success -- Ch. 7: Conclusions. "This study is an oral history based on interviews with fifty men who left Prince Alfred College (PAC) between 1960-65. The aim was to define the codes of masculinity that were accepted and taught at the school and any other definitions of masculinity that were occurring simultaneously" -- abstract.

The impetus of this study was a concern for the education and general welfare of boys. The interest in boys’ education has grown notably over the past ten years. This interest is evident in media reports, popular psychology texts, education reports and scholarly writing. Academic research on boys’ experience of education is less prolific although it does include studies conducted by Australian and international researchers. Central to this commentary on boys’ education is the concept of masculinity. Here there is a strong claim that boys’ academic performance and behaviour is influenced by the way they construct and live out masculine expressions. This research study is situated in a Catholic secondary school for boys (referred to as the College) and seeks to illumine the school experiences of students at the school. As school Counsellor I noted that some boys were displaying a lack of motivation for learning, resisted independent thinking and seemed to be opposed to authority. These characteristics, in turn, contributed to diminished academic performance and troublesome classroom behaviour. This observation raised issues in respect to the boys’ perceptions of masculinity and the various expressions of masculinity within the school. An analysis of historical and contemporary documents identified a mismatch between the stated vision and mission of the school and the structural organization it creates. This mismatch pointed to a critical gap between the stated purpose of its education and the social reality of boys’ educational experience. This critical gap was particularly evident in the school’s commitment to educating boys within a social justice framework. It seemed that investigation into the gender regime of the school and the implications this has for students was warranted. A review of literature in respect to the concept of masculinity and boys’ education served to further clarify the research problem and the purpose of this study. This review identified the various contemporary understandings of masculinity. It also explored the current debate about what is happening to boys in education and provided an outline of particular elements of the social constructionist’s understanding of collective masculinity expressions within a school setting. Commentary on how a school can configure its particular gender regime was of particular interest to this study. This review identified three research questions to guide this study. These questions are: Research Question 1: How do the students of the College understand masculinity? Research Question 2: What is the College’s gender regime? Research Question 3: What are the implications for students of the College’s gender regime? This research study was informed by a pragmatic understanding of the epistemology of constructivism and the principles associated with the theoretical framework of symbolic interactionism. A two-stage research design of exploration and inspection was employed to aid data collection, analysis and interpretation. In the exploratory stage data was collected through a questionnaire to 255 of the 301 Year 12 cohort. These data were analysed using both quantitative and qualitative methods and the results gave direction to the type of data needed in the second stage of the study, the stage of inspection. In the stage of inspection, data were obtained through two processes, one-to-one interviews and focus group discussions. An analysis of data collected in the second stage of the study led to the identification of a number of key findings in the way boys understand masculinity and the school has organized its gender regime. These findings highlight the domination of playing sport and the subordination and marginalization of other masculine expressions. They also give evidence of the existence of a critical gap between the school’s stated purpose based on Christian values, justice, holistic development, respect for the dignity of the individual, human striving and so on, and the reality it produces. The study concludes by outlining a number of recommendations that suggest themselves for the future development of the College. It recommends that the school introduce a gender education programme for students, review the gender regime that supports playing sport as the dominant masculine expression, and provide structures and opportunity for other masculine expressions to find approval and acceptance. Finally it is recommended that the vision that the school holds for the education of boys and its structural organization be open to scrutiny and exploration in order that what the school holds to be most important in the education of boys will be intentionally pursued.

Bibliography: leaves 264-273. / iv, 273 leaves : charts ; 30 cm. / Title page, contents and abstract only. The complete thesis in print form is available from the University Library. / "This study is an oral history based on interviews with fifty men who left Prince Alfred College (PAC) between 1960-65. The aim was to define the codes of masculinity that were accepted and taught at the school and any other definitions of masculinity that were occurring simultaneously" -- abstract. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Adelaide, Dept. of Education, 2001

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This research project investigates the ways in which six Indian boys who have been officially proclaimed failures in grade 11 construct their masculinity in Meadowlands Secondary School, a predominantly Indian technical secondary school in a working class area of Chatsworth. The way in which failing Indian boys construct their masculinity is under-researched in South Africa. When boys are officially declared academic failures by the school, they often take other ways to validate their masculine identities. This study focused on the complex relationship between their academic failure and the formation of their masculinities. Drawing from semi-structured in-depth interviews with six boys who failed grade 11 in 2003 and are currently repeating grade 11 in 2004, the study shows the complex relationship between school failure, and the formation of boys' masculinities in three areas. These areas are the formal academic dimension of schooling, the informal social dimension of schooling and outside school activities. The major fmdings from the interviews indicate that boys construct their masculinity by resisting the demands placed on them in schools and engage in disruptive activities. They find alternate power and prestige in wearing brand name clothes, wearing jewellery, carrying cellular phones, having girlfriends, clubbing, taking drugs and joining gangs. They find school boring and equate academic achievement with being feminine and thus being gay and resist doing school-work. They are thus able to construct their masculinities in ways that are anti-school and anti-authority. The study concludes by suggesting that failing boys at MSS are in trouble and that schools and teachers must be more alert to why failing boys behave in the ways that they do. At MSS it is suggested that the school encourages the development of sport as a way of exposing boys to different ways of being a boy. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2004.

This thesis explores the ways in which a group of boys who belong to gangs enact their masculinity. The focus is on African boys' construction of their masculinities within gang cultures at a primary school in Inanda, Durban. The school is an exclusively African co-educational school and predominantly African teaching staff. Data collection involved qualitative methods that primarily include observation and unstructured interviews. These research tools were used to investigate the interrelatedness between violence, gangs, and masculinities. This study demonstrates that young boys in gangs enact violent masculinities which are bound up with issues of race/ethnicity, gender, class, and context in the making of young gang cultures. The performance of violent gang masculinity produced the exaggerated quality of masculine protest, in which violence is employed as a compensation for perceived weakness. This study reveals that gang of boys are enacting masculinity that is oppositional to school's authority by contravening school rules and regulations in multiple ways. This research has indicated that modes of masculinities are shaped, constrained or enabled by gang cultures. Gang boys acted out their protest masculinity in multiple ways. They are anti-school authority, anti-social and undisciplined. The study also demonstrates that there are many socio-economic and political factors that impact negatively on the school such as unemployment, poverty, and violent gang crime. The social, economic and political contexts are therefore crucially important in understanding a multiplicity of masculine identities amongst gang boys at the school under study. Schooling is an important arena where masculinities are enacted in various forms including violent (gang) masculinities. The overall conclusion stemming from the research project is that attempts to reduce violent gang masculinities in the school need to include a gender strategy that tackles gender inequality. In South Africa this could form part of the Life Skills curriculum. Much greater attention needs to be given, in the life skills curriculum and through the ethos of the school as a whole, to promote gender equality and in particular models of masculine identity not predicated on force and violence. / Thesis (M.Ed.) -University of Natal, Durban, 2004.

Poor learner discipline, a problem for both educators and learners at South African public schools, ranges from violence to issues with classroom management. As a result of learner-on- learner violence, learners generally feel that schools are unsafe places to be in (Premdev, 2008). Schools have become challenging contexts for effective teaching and learning to take place in, owing to the presence of bullying, disobedience, drug addiction, vandalism, rape, assault, use of obscene language and disrespect for teachers (Anderson, 2009). With examination results on a downward spiral, De Lange and Mbanjwa (2008) report that poor learner discipline in schools is strongly implicated in learner underachievement. This study, which is an exploration of educators’ and learners’ perceptions of poor learner discipline, is underpinned by research in the construction of masculinities, which submits that masculine identity is a gendered social construction, and as such, is subject to transformation. The research project suggests that whilst schools, by virtue of the ways in which they tend to be organised, condone and perpetuate the formation of hegemonic masculinities in boys, they are also able to effect meaningful change and usher in emancipation to this locale. Some of the key findings include:- • Poor learner discipline in boys reflected their own constructions of dominant male gender identities, formed as a result of their life experiences in a world embedded with notions and practices of patriarchal hegemony; • Poor learner discipline and the ineffective management thereof contributed to a poor teaching and learning environment that disadvantaged all learners; • Female educators relinquish their agency to successfully deal with poor learner discipline when they choose to let male educators handle their disciplinary problems, thereby becoming complicit in entrenching notions of male superiority; • Male educators tend to resort to the use of corporal punishment; • Violence in the home and wider community is reproduced in learners at school. The study discusses approaches that may be employed in achieving a more just and empowering teaching and learning context for educators, as well as learners at schools. / Thesis (M.Ed.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2013.

This investigation is to determine the extent of male participation in home economics courses in public schools. Related questionnaires were completed by participants and results tabulated. It was determined that the student's own interest, and their perception of how homemaking will help later are influencing factors for enrollment in homemaking classes. Food preparation, getting along with others, grooming, clothing selection and construction and using new equipment properly are areas of interest to male students. The belief that homemaking is for girls, and the lack of interest in the content and activities of homemaking classes account for the low male participation. Community understanding, friendly attitudes of counselors, a well equipped department, and practical homemaking courses could attract more male participation.

Lack of academic success among Black male students has become a focus of educational debate. Concerned educators have led the search for effective models of intervention and prevention. Current literature indicates that positive interaction with adult male mentors in the educational. setting might foster academic success among Black male students. This study investigated the effects of a mentor program on the academic success and self concept of selected Black males in the junior high school. A mentor program was implemented in an Alexandria, Virginia junior high school. Based upon teacher and administrator referral, 50 students who might benefit from participation in a mentor program were identified. Twenty-five students were randomly assigned to the treatment group and participated in the full mentor program. The control group of 25 students was monitored. Eleven city agency and school staff members served as mentors to the experimental group. / Ed. D.

South Korean adolescents’ motivation for high academic achievement is strongly influenced by extraordinary parental support, pressures to achieve, and the practice of utilizing both public and private learning environments in South Korea. To remain competitive, educational leaders may benefit from observations of other countries’ academic successes and consider the implications for the current American educational structure. The purpose of this study is to explore South Korean male adolescents’ daily educational routines and their perceptions of their internal and external educational support systems in relation to their academic achievement. Furthermore, this study provides insightful data for educators, educational leaders, and global education critics about South Korean adolescents’ academic motivations and determinations. Such insights may be important to decision makers in evaluating education models. The review of literature for this study examines South Korea’s economic progression, educational structure, and familial and cultural standards. In this qualitative research, I observed and documented the educational perspectives of students, parents, and teachers at an all-male high school in Seoul, South Korea and collected data from the participants through interviews, observations, and reviews of academic-related documents. I used these data to better understand the relationship between adolescents’ family influences and adolescents’ academic achievements. I also used these data to achieve a reality-based understanding of how adolescents’ internal and external influences and motivations affect academic achievement. Although I could not formulate generalizations from this qualitative research, this study does provide insights into the relationships between South Koreans’ family standards, influences, and attitudes, and South Korean adolescents’ personal investments and value systems in education. / Department of Educational Leadership