Boys And The Burden Of Labels: An Examination of Masculinity Teaching in Schools

There has been growing concern over the last several years regarding Relationships, Health and Sex Education (RSHE) in schools. The content children are being taught, and the age at which they are taught it, has been the subject of an intense public debate. These concerns have generally arisen due to the fact that a contested set of beliefs about sex and gender have become embedded within many schools. This report examines the emergence of another controversial set of beliefs about boys and young men, and the extent to which schools are incorporating these as they approach the issue of masculinity within RSHE.

The conversation around sex equality in the UK is considered almost exclusively through the lens of feminism. There is a risk associated with any effort to talk about policies relating to boys and men on their own terms – that is, without reference to women and girls. Accordingly, there is a sense that any focus on men and boys is acceptable only when it positively impacts the lives of the opposite sex. This narrative is clear in the Government’s approach, which is considering rolling out specific education for boys – but only in order to curb violence against women.

Over the past decade, an ideology that frames masculinity as destructive or ‘toxic’ has crept into mainstream thinking. ‘Toxic masculinity’ refers to the notion that there is something inherent to masculinity (traits relating to manhood and by extension boyhood) that is socially destructive. If masculinity is toxic, all boys and men must be too. Rather than addressing the challenges boys are facing today, these beliefs suggest the issue lies with boys themselves. Arguably it is not a coincidence that extremist figures such as Andrew Tate have become more popular, with a minority of boys and young men turning to dark corners of the internet in search of an identity which has been deemed as toxic from inception elsewhere.

Similarly to how other contested beliefs have entered mainstream thinking, the Family Education Trust sought to understand the extent to which this approach to masculinity is emerging within the classroom. This paper will firstly outline how discourse surrounding ‘toxic masculinity’ has developed within the UK, before explaining why these beliefs are problematic. It then sets out the obligations for schools regarding the RSHE curriculum, before assessing how a sample of schools are teaching pupils about masculinity. In July 2024, the Family Education Trust sent out over 300 Freedom of Information (FOI) requests to schools in England to assess the prevalence of schools teaching ‘toxic masculinity’. We share the results of that survey and a number of notable trends. Finally, we offer a number of recommendations to Government and schools on how they should approach the subject of masculinity within the classroom going forward.

Read the full paper in PDF!