Boys' literacy : negotiating the territory

The issue of boys’ literacy has been explicitly named as ‘dangerous territory’ – difficult to negotiate in terms of the validity of ‘failure’ rhetoric, the stereotyping of boys’ abilities and interests and the intersection of gender with factors such as class and geographical location. In this article, we address the issue of boys’ literacy through the lens of engagement, in particular using the MeE framework as we report on a national study into the motivation and engagement of boys, which had an emphasis on boys from disadvantaged backgrounds. The study investigated sites which were gaining strong outcomes for boys through a focus on engagement. In particular, we discuss the literacy programs from two sites in the study. We address the complexities of the issues faced by these schools as well as the complexity of their approaches and we believe they provide highly useful examples of attempts to meet the needs of their boys without simplifying the issues involved.