Control and constraint: issues of concern for boys in the middle years of schooling

This paper draws on the data from a broader study to focus on relationship issues at the centre of boys’ experiences of school in the middle years. Within the context of acknowledging that positive teacher–student relationships are central to improving educational outcomes, we present boys’ desire for greater control and autonomy over their everyday school lives and their resentment with being controlled and constrained by their teachers’ enactments of authority. With the purpose of developing more equitable relations that are informed by sound educational research and gender theory we support the call for schools to construct professional learning communities. Given the current impasse in boys’ education and the unacceptable levels of disengagement continuing to characterise the middle years we see this holistic response as critical in working towards ‘best practice’.