Educational Outcomes: Disadvantaged Boys and Young Men

Tuesday 3rd February 2026 Westminster Hall

16:00

[Alistair Strathern (Hitchin) (Lab)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered educational outcomes for disadvantaged boys and young men. 

It is a pleasure as always to serve under your chairship, Sir John. I am pleased to have secured a debate on this important topic today.

Last week, I had the pleasure of joining some truly inspiring parliamentary colleagues to launch the Labour group for men and boys. The group is based on one simple premise: for too long, the Labour party—and progressives more widely—have not been confident enough to speak directly about some of the specific challenges faced by men and boys growing up in Britain today, and it is time to put that right. The Labour party is rightly proud of its deep traditions in championing equalities causes, and has made great progress in everything from the barriers women have faced in the workplace to accessing the right and appropriate healthcare—and there is far more to do on both of those.

However, at times, that agenda has led to a shyness on our part about being equally confident in speaking up about some of the challenges that men and boys—and particularly disadvantaged men and boys—can face throughout this country. That is simply wrong-headed. It not only does a deep disservice to the men and boys across Britain who are held back by some of those barriers, but leaves the field open to far more toxic voices that seek to pit women’s equality and male advancement in opposition to each other, rather than recognising that they are two sides of the same coin and are deeply progressive causes that, together, any progressive should be comfortable championing.

Within all that, the topic for today’s debate, the achievement of young men—and particularly disadvantaged young men—in education settings across the country, is an important cause. The statistics could not be more stark: the Centre for Social Justice highlighted that across early years settings, when we look at the Government’s target of readiness for school, boys constitute the entirety of the gap to where we would like to be based on their progress. At GCSE level, men achieve on average half a grade lower than their female counterparts, while at A-level, across their best three grades, men will again often achieve a grade and a half lower on average.

[Rachel Gilmour (Tiverton and Minehead) (LD)]

The west Somerset side of my constituency bears many of the hallmarks of a forgotten coastal community. In Somerset, 7.5% of young men aged 16 and 17 are not in education, employment or training, which is significantly above the national average in England. Does the hon. Member agree that when young people grow up without the educational infrastructure, networks and opportunities that others take for granted, it shapes their outlook profoundly? It is little wonder that that leaves them feeling neglected and undermines their sense of aspiration.

[Alistair Strathern]

The hon. Member is absolutely spot on. She highlighted a number of important themes that I hope to touch on later in my remarks.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Gentleman for bringing this forward. He is absolutely right, and this is a massive issue in Northern Ireland, as I said to him earlier. There are a number of young Protestant males who do not achieve, are disadvantaged when it comes to free school meals and come nowhere close to achieving educational standards. Our Government back home have put a policy in place to try to address that, but does the hon. Gentleman agree that the Minister should work on this matter collectively with the regional Administration? If there is a disadvantage, not just in Northern Ireland but elsewhere, it is time to work on that together.

[Alistair Strathern]

The hon. Member is right to draw attention to the particular challenge faced by disadvantaged young men. While there has rightly been a lot of focus on challenges holding back all boys and men across education—the Education Committee was due to hold an inquiry into that during the previous Parliament—the compounding impacts of socioeconomic inequality and gender are often less explored.

[Alex Easton (North Down) (Ind)]

On average, disadvantaged boys are already behind in vocabulary and communication by the time they start school. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that there is an urgent need for a targeted, UK-wide speech, language and communication strategy focused on disadvantaged boys, not just in our constituencies but right across the UK?

[Alistair Strathern]

The hon. Member is spot on in drawing attention to the fact that a lot of these problems have early roots, and that our interventions must be as focused as the challenges that we are seeking to address.

Boys’ Impact found that when looking at early years settings, only 30% of boys on average seem to be making a good level of progress, compared with 88% of girls who are not eligible for free school meals. When it came to GCSEs and getting grades 5 to 9 in English and maths, Boys’ Impact found that men, particularly from disadvantaged backgrounds and eligible for free school meals, were achieving half the level of those who were not eligible for free school meals.

[Chris Bloore (Redditch) (Lab)]

Redditch was a town built on unionised workers, needle making, aerospace and engineering, and that heritage matters. Too many boys now leaving schools in my area leave without a clear vocational route into decent jobs. Does my hon. Friend believe that the industrial and skills strategies should be place based, with apprenticeships funding, employer-college partnerships and union involvement, so that education in towns such as Redditch can lead directly to rewarding jobs?

[Alistair Strathern]

I completely agree. I know that my hon. Friend is a big champion of some of these issues, for the benefit of Redditch and well beyond. Some of the important steps that he has highlighted are fundamental to tackling some of the challenges that we are looking to address here today.

It is clear that there is a case for action, but what should we be doing? It is regrettable that although the Education Committee intended to set up an inquiry into this issue in the last Parliament, that has yet to be picked back up in this Parliament. I think a renewed focus by the Select Committee on this topic would be especially welcome, particularly if it explored where the compounding impact of socioeconomic factors, along with gender, is further holding back young men and boys across education. But we should not need to wait for any such inquiry to act. Given the wealth of evidence that we have been talking about today and that other Members have thought to highlight, it is important that the Government set out their own plan and strategy to treat this priority with the urgency that it deserves.

[Adam Dance (Yeovil) (LD)]

About 90% of children in higher-income households can get a dyslexia diagnosis when needed, compared with only 43% in lower-income households. Does the hon. Member agree that not identifying neurodiversity has a huge impact on education outcomes for disadvantaged young boys and, to start changing that, we must roll out universal screening for neurodiversity to all primary school-aged children?

[Alistair Strathern]

The hon. Member is spot on in highlighting the fact that, particularly when we are talking about boys’ lack of achievement, ensuring that we identify the full suite of needs they have early and put in place appropriate interventions is vital. It is an often overlooked fact that 70% of young people with education, health and care plans across the country are boys. The gendered aspect to some of the special educational needs and disabilities challenges faced right across the education system will be fundamental to ensuring that we get our reform agenda right.

The heartening thing for the Government should be that there is lots of good practice to build on. When I look back to my own time in teaching, which I assure you, Sir John, was not a catalogue of universal great practice to be learned from, and think about some of the young men where I was able to have the impact I wanted, it came down fundamentally to one thing—the quality of the relationship I was able to build with them. That observation might seem so simple as to be banal, but in Westminster discourse and in policy making, we can often overlook this simple fact. When dealing with vulnerable and isolated young men, who often feel quite alienated, relationships are everything.

[Luke Murphy (Basingstoke) (Lab)]

Will my hon. Friend join me in paying tribute to Chris Edwards and Peter Beeching at Brighton Hill community school in my constituency? They have set up the GOAT Boys scheme—the greatest of all the boys’ schemes—standing for growth, ownership, attitude and tenacity. It is a mentoring scheme designed to tackle that very issue—to ensure that every child has a trusted adult outside their family, to build resilience, purpose and connection and help to tackle the educational attainment gap, which this debate is all about. Will my hon. Friend join me in endorsing schemes such as that? It has already signed up 70 pupils locally and 50 schools nationally. Would he encourage similar schemes elsewhere?

[Alistair Strathern]

Absolutely. My hon. Friend makes a really important point. It was a real pleasure to meet Chris, his constituent, at an event as part of the Lost Boys Taskforce work earlier in the year. They are doing really inspiring things. I hope that together we can better showcase those and build on some of the successes we have already seen in relation to the Government’s youth strategy, which recognises the importance of trusted adults at its heart.

[Carla Lockhart (Upper Bann) (DUP)]

The hon. Member is making a really powerful speech. Even one intentional male role model can transform boys’ engagement at school, yet 2.5 million children in the UK grow up without a father figure. The “Lost Boys” report from the Centre for Social Justice shows boys falling behind girls at every stage of education, with Northern Ireland facing very stark outcomes. Does the hon. Member agree that there is a need to promote more role models, so that boys can thrive in education and beyond?

[Alistair Strathern]

The hon. Member puts the point incredibly well, and I hope to be able to touch later on some of the powerful schemes available to already deliver some of these role models. They do not always have to be parents; that is not always going to be available for every child we seek to support.

When we consider these vulnerable young men, it is sometimes little wonder that they feel mistrustful and alienated from the system. They have reasons for that. All too often, media and social discourse can paint them sometimes as problems or, even worse, as abusers in waiting rather than recognising the real strength and assets they could be and often are to our communities. Indeed, research by Boys’ Impact found that those narratives can be incredibly pervasive in media commentary about young men’s achievements and, worse still, are believed by a significant minority of teaching staff, too, with all the impact we would then expect in terms of how comfortable young people feel in those classrooms, and their sense of belonging and willingness to engage.

We have to put this right. We need to put a strength-based relational model connecting with young men across the education system back at the heart of our work. There have been some really good examples of delivering that already, not just those already mentioned by hon. Members. It has been a real privilege to work with groups such as Football Beyond Borders and Beyond Equality to see at first hand the inspiring work they are already doing in schools across the country to demonstrate the impact that relational practice can have, giving young men space to define and talk through on their own terms what it is to be a man in Britain today, and what their aspirations for a good, progressive life could look like.

It is little wonder, seeing the incredibly moving and powerful impact that these interventions can have, that they have been held by so many school leaders, but the really important thing to note is that these interventions are scalable. Boys’ Impact has shown through its 16 hubs across the country, working with hundreds of educational leaders and organisations, that by rolling out strength-based relational approaches to working with disaffected and disadvantaged young boys, we can have really powerful impacts, improving attainment, attendance and a sense of belonging. We should consider and learn from that as part of our wider approach to curriculum reform and the schools White Paper.

It should not just be the mindset that we need to change. We also need to learn from specific interventions that can have a meaningful impact. Other Members have rightly highlighted the importance of role models. When working with disaffected young men, we know that family figures, father figures and community figures can have powerful impacts in transforming their life chances for the better. That is why we should look to learn from models like Australia’s powerful dads’ clubs, which convened dads across 250 schools in Australia to provide greater support, greater engagement in their child’s learning and activities such as read-along clubs and after-school sessions, which help support fathers to take a more active role in their child’s development, with all the powerful impacts based on the Fatherhood Institute’s work that we would expect for that young person’s attainment, achievement and sense of self.

It is important to recognise that not every young person will have a father figure available to them, but the encouraging thing is that it should not matter when it comes to establishing positive male role models. Lads Need Dads is already doing inspiring mentoring work in schools across the country to show the value of bringing in volunteers to work as peer mentors for young men, particularly with a focus on literacy. At a time when we know that reading for pleasure is far less common among young men than it is among women, and literacy is so important for underpinning so much of success in early years and beyond, those types of interventions have shown that it can be a powerful tool in driving up literacy and engagement with reading among young men, and also improving young men’s own sense of self and belonging by providing them with that important male role model as an effective peer mentor.

The Government’s wider work to encourage more male role models in early years settings and primary settings is to be encouraged. We know the gender disparity in workforces has been allowed to fly under the radar for far too long, so I am glad to see it achieving a central role in the new workforce strategy, but we need to build on that. We also need to recognise that there are a wider range of factors that can sometimes hold back boys’ success. As Richard Reeves put it, sometimes when dealing with young people, particularly at an early age, rather than seeking to address their needs we can simply see them as “malfunctioning girls”.

The Institute for the Science of Early Years rightly points out that when young people, particularly very young people, lack access to the exercise and activities they sometimes need to burn off steam as young men, it can lead to their misbehaving in ways that are too often construed as misbehaviour, rather than actually just simple failures to self-regulate. Again, there are lots of interventions in early years and primary settings that are leading the way in showing how we can address this. Greater use of outdoor active learning and daily miles have been shown in primary and earlier settings to help improve boys’ sense of belonging, behaviour and engagement. As we think further about how we can forensically break down these barriers for young boys’ achievement, I would like to make sure we consider those tools, too, as part of our work in early years and primary settings to make sure we really are setting up every young man to succeed.

I could go on for far longer than I have time for today, talking about examples of great practice. It has been inspiring to hear so many examples from colleagues in the room. There is a wealth of evidence out there. It is deeply compelling about the need to act, so we have simply no excuse not to. I hope I have left the Chamber today in no doubt about the urgency of the issue and the need to address it, but also no doubt about the fact that it is a deeply progressive cause that Labour colleagues should feel a real strength in championing. It is central to our mission to break down barriers for disadvantaged young people who would otherwise be set up to succeed, which is the underlying reason why I am a Labour politician. We have a great chance to put things right. Inspiring colleagues from across the House are looking to support us, and I look forward to working with the Minister to make sure we succeed.

[Sir John Hayes (in the Chair)]

We will now hear brief contributions from a couple of Back Benchers who have gone through the proper process and notified both the mover of the motion and the Minister.

16:15

[Leigh Ingham (Stafford) (Lab)]

It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Sir John. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin (Alistair Strathern) on securing this incredibly important debate.

Education should be the great leveller in this country, but for too many disadvantaged boys and young men it is drastically falling short. I was genuinely shocked by how poorly boys in Staffordshire are doing, particularly once they reach secondary school, but the warning signs start early. At the end of primary school, 79% of boys meet the expected standard in science, compared with 86% of girls. Although the gap sounds small on paper, it is the start of a stark trajectory that we see repeated again and again as boys move through their education. By the time they reach their GCSEs, the picture is deeply concerning. In 2024, just 36.3% of Staffordshire boys achieved grade 5 or above in English or maths, and that figure had fallen from the year before. Behind every single one of those percentage point drops is a young man whose life, aspirations, opportunities and future are being narrowed.

Research from the Higher Education Policy Institute shows that boys who fall behind in education are more likely not only to struggle at school but to face poorer outcomes in life. Boys who disengage from education are less likely to progress into further or higher education, and are more likely to experience economic inactivity. The report also warns that a combination of underachievement, weak employment prospects—which my hon. Friend spoke about—and social marginalisation can leave some young men more vulnerable to political alienation.

When boys struggle with learning, their difficulties are too often labelled as behavioural problems, leading to sanctions instead of support and a widening of the gaps. Targeted support too often arrives late, once the disadvantage has become entrenched. I ask the Minister, what more is being done to identify and support disadvantaged boys early, before those small gaps turn into lifelong barriers?

Disadvantaged boys and young men have talent and potential in abundance. If we care about boys’ education, we must stop being surprised—like I was—by those outcomes, and start acting earlier and more robustly.

16:17

[Jodie Gosling (Nuneaton) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Sir John. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin (Alistair Strathern) for securing this debate and allowing me two minutes to speak.

I was a primary school teacher for 25 years and an early years practitioner, and I have seen very young children become disengaged with education—especially boys, who are already on a pathway to not showing us what they are capable of. Part of my role was to be a forest school leader, and I worked with small groups of challenging boys who were causing disruption in classrooms—not learning, and disrupting the learning of others. We used to work outside, building ambition, resilience and concentration through physical work, tree climbing and exploring. The boys and girls in the forest school—although it was predominantly boys—were given a sense of autonomy over their learning and control of their lives. The transformation of those disadvantaged children was significant. Teachers in the classroom afterwards said that their concentration, behaviour, attainment and even attendance had improved while they were taking part in those courses.

I attended Harrogate Army foundation college with the armed forces parliamentary scheme, and was absolutely blown away by the stories of 16 and 17-year-olds—predominantly boys—who told me that they had dropped out of school, sometimes years ago, had no GCSEs, spent their days playing games, watching YouTube or getting into a bit of bother, and now were up at 6 and passing exams. They had never considered that possible, and they were physically fitter than they had ever dreamed. There are many studies linking physical activities such as running and forest school to better attainment and improved concentration.

I agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin. Does the Minister believe that in order to address the decades-old issues with the gaps in boys’ attainment, we need to consider evidence from when they have engaged and succeeded, and reconsider the environment in which we are asking them to learn by taking a more creative approach to education that meets their emotional and physical needs?

16:19

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education (Olivia Bailey)]

It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Sir John. As the mum of two boys—and two boys with two mums—I express my gratitude to my hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin (Alistair Strathern) for securing this valuable debate. His powerful speech made a clear case for the importance of supporting boys to succeed in our education system. I congratulate him on the launch of his new group on men and boys and hear his powerful argument that this is a progressive cause. I have no doubt that he was an excellent teacher and role model for the boys in his class. He made lots of powerful arguments in his speech, including about the importance of strength-based relational work when talking about Football Beyond Borders, Beyond Equality and Boys’ Impact.

My hon. Friend the Member for Basingstoke (Luke Murphy) talked about the GOAT Boys scheme as another good example of work that is happening across our country, and my hon. Friend the Member for Stafford (Leigh Ingham) made a powerful argument about the importance of early support for disadvantaged boys. Boys deserve that support early, and should not just be discounted as having behavioural problems. My hon. Friend the Member for Nuneaton (Jodie Gosling) talked about the importance of physical activity and the importance of the fantastic scheme that she visited for the armed forces where young boys who have dropped out of school have found the opportunity to contribute and find their place in the world. I thank everyone for their contributions.

We know that there are far too many inequalities in our education system and we have heard today some of the data about working-class boys. Removing barriers to opportunity in education is the driving purpose of my Department. This Government stand for excellence everywhere across education and care, for every child to break the unfair link between background and success, and to deliver opportunity for all. The foundation of our mission is to ensure that every child has the best start in life because, as we have heard today, what happens in children’s earliest years makes the biggest difference to their life chances. On average, 40% of the overall gap between disadvantaged 16-year-olds and their peers had already emerged by the age of five. Higher proportions of girls achieve a good level of development at the end of reception year compared to boys.

In our plan for change, we set an ambitious milestone for this Government: that 75% of children—a record number—will start school ready to learn by 2028. Our “giving every child the best start in life” strategy sets out the immediate steps to do that: making early education and childcare more accessible, improving quality in early education and reception classes, and expanding and strengthening family services.

Once young boys are in school, every child and young person deserves an education that meets their needs—one that is academically stretching, where they feel like they belong and have the opportunity to achieve and thrive no matter their background. However, we know that the current school system is not working for all pupils. Too many are not being included, particularly working-class children, children with special educational needs and disabilities, and every child who could be stretched to go further. That needs to change, which is why our upcoming schools White Paper will set out our vision for a system that delivers educational excellence for each and every child.

My hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin has asked for a strategy for boys in the educational system, and I am sure that the Minister for School Standards would be happy to meet with him to understand how our vision can best support boys to succeed in school. One area where we are really keen to encourage the participation of boys is our National Year of Reading. That campaign is aimed at everyone, because the decline in reading enjoyment is an issue across all sectors of society. However, there is a focus on boys aged 10 to 16, as data shows that only one in four boys say that they enjoy reading. To help reach teenage boys effectively, we have recruited a wide range of celebrity ambassadors and partners who many boys follow and engage with. That is alongside £28 million that we have committed to drive standards in reading and writing, particularly for those who need the most support, including boys, who underperform in English.

My hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin also spoke about the importance of role models, and what better role model is there than an inspirational teacher? As part of our drive to recruit 6,500 expert teachers, we are particularly keen to see more male teachers teaching, guiding and leading the boys in their classrooms. We want the profession to attract excellent male teachers who stay and thrive. Of course, that is just as important in the early years, too.

It is also important that we support boys to have strong mental health and a broad and positive understanding of masculinity. As part of that work, we will provide access to specialist mental health professionals in every school by expanding mental health support teams. That will give every child and young person access to early support to address problems before they escalate. Our revised relationships, sex and health education guidance also supports pupils to challenge harmful gender stereotypes.

When our young people leave school, we remain determined to break down barriers to opportunity and widen access to high-quality education and training. That includes our renewed focus on young people who are not in education, employment or training, where we know that the proportion of young men aged 16 to 17 has been higher than that of young women. That is one reason why £34 million has been committed to the NEET prevention package set out in the post-16 education and skills White Paper, including a new risk of NEET indicator tool to help local areas identify and support young people before they disengage. That is backed up by the Government’s £820 million investment in the youth guarantee to support young people to develop skills, access opportunities and transition into meaningful employment.

In closing the debate, I would like to underline this Government’s commitment to breaking down barriers for all and ensuring that all disadvantaged boys and young men receive the support, education and opportunities they deserve. Once again, I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Hitchin for introducing this important debate, and all my other colleagues for their excellent contributions.

Question put and agreed to.

16:26

Sitting suspended.