English Lead teacher Marianne Le Rossignol wonders if the much discussed language attainment gap for boys has more to do with us than them…

Something troubles me.

There’s a little girl in Reception who calls out in assembly every day. She’s only five but – in general – the kids know the drill pretty quickly as far as assembly goes: the children walk in to the hall in long rows and sit down with their legs crossed; the grown up stands up at the front and talks about stuff; the children sit quietly (unless they are asked a question, when they put their hand up if they know the answer). Easy.

But this little girl calls out. Every time. She always has something to say and she shouts that something out loudly and clearly so that even the big kids at the back can hear her. She’s got one of those cute, squeaky voices and tiny blonde plaits so the other children all giggle behind their hands when she does it and the adults look at each other and smile.

What troubles me is this: there’s also a little boy in Reception who calls out in assembly every day. He offers his opinions and tags little extras on to whatever the grown up is saying in a voice that’s clear and confident too. Only, when he does it, the stern teaching assistant from Class 1 does her cross face at him and makes a shushing sound and if he doesn’t shush pretty quickly, he gets moved to sit by an even sterner grown up.

What troubles me is that she is learning that her voice and her words are an asset and he is learning that to talk is to be in trouble; she is entertaining and interesting and he is just naughty and wrong.

As English Lead Teacher, I am charged with turning the ‘whole school priorities for English’ into an ‘Action Plan for English’ each year and this year, top of my list was the priority ‘narrow the gap between girls’ (higher) and boys’ (lower) achievement in writing’. Me and all the other English Leads in primary schools across the country, I’d hazard a guess.

So I had a good old think about it and then I put together my plan and it was received with some sense of bemusement and wonder when I presented it to the rest of the staff. Because I hadn’t gone for the standard ‘run more writing intervention groups for boys’; ‘buy more reading books about football and super heroes’ (what about boys who hate football and super heroes and girls who love them, I always think?) and ‘let them write on the ipads’ solutions but had instead put together a plan that echoed my feelings about what should already be common practise in all primary schools.

1. Stop telling boys off for things that girls get away with, especially if that thing is them expressing themselves.

2. Stop asking the children to line up in separate boys’ and girls’ lines and then making comments about how neat and sensible the girls’ lines are and how loud/scruffy/naughty the boys’ lines are. If we are readers and writers when we are calm, focused, sensible, neat - what exactly are we telling them?

3. Stop giving boys physical jobs and girls quiet, sensible jobs.

4. If you are fortunate enough to have a male teacher at your school, give them the English Lead job rather than the PE/Science/Computing Lead job.

5. Get a male teacher in your school. Or better still, several. And some male teaching assistants and some male visitors and parent helpers and lunchtime staff and let them all model proud and confident talking, reading and writing.

6. Make talk a priority for boys and girls from the very start – encourage it, promote it, reward it. We can’t write what we can’t say.

7. Put words in tiny mouths, not pencils in tiny hands. It is better to write later after lots of great talking than it is to be made to write earlier when you simply have nothing to say.

As teachers, we need to change the narrative for boys so that they can begin to identify confidently as writers as easily as their female classmates. We need to show them boys and men who write and find ways to make their characteristics not only fit with writing but enhance writing. We need to read stories about boys who can weave magic with their words. We need to make certain that we do not force writing too early or put boys in a box in Reception and shut the lid.

When it comes to Year 6 and the boys are out-performed in English by the girls, can we blame them if they’re just being what we have spent seven years teaching them that they are – scruffy, disorganised, unfocused, silly? If they’re just doing as they’re told?

Marianne Le Rossignol is raising two boys – one ten and one newborn – and has been teaching and leading English in primary schools for seventeen years.