Building Agency Among Classroom and Co-Curricular Teachers to Support Boys’ Well-Being

In 2024, IBSC contracted with Professor Andrew Martin at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) to conduct research on Building Agency Among Classroom and Co-Curricular Teachers to Support Boys’ Well-Being. 

Highlights from the Final Report

The Project
This UNSW-IBSC research project investigated the educational practices that support boys’ academic and social emotional wellbeing in classroom and co-curricular life. The research implemented a multi-part methodology among IBSC member schools to investigate: school students’ perceptions of effective (classroom and co-curricular) educational practices (Part 1); ways that exemplary classroom teachers and co-curricular leaders operationalize effective practices in their daily interactions with students (Part 2); and school leaders’ advice on action they take to support effective daily interactions between teachers/co-curricular leaders and students (Part 3).

Strategy Resource
Emanating from Parts 1-3 of the project was a Strategy Resource comprising an Executive Summary, key student findings from Part 1, key teaching and leader strategies from Parts 2 and 3, illustrative vignette/case-study samples from Parts 2 and 3, and a list of select recommendations for teachers/co-curricular leaders and school leaders. This Strategy Resource is a separate publication accompanying the project’s Final Report.

Conclusion
This multistrand project brought together data identifying ways that educators and school leaders can support students’ educational and personal wellbeing. Synthesizing stakeholder findings from data collected in Parts 1-3 culminated in practice directions actionable by school staff to promote students’ academic and social-emotional wellbeing through school—and beyond.

We thank the 40+ IBSC member schools that participated, making it possible to share these valuable results with our global community of boys’ educators. The final report and strategy resource are available exclusively to IBSC members.

Andrew Martin

Andrew Martin is scientia professor, professor of educational psychology, and chair of the Educational Psychology Research Group in the School of Education at the University of New South Wales, Australia. He specializes in student motivation, engagement, and achievement—including a focus on boys in these areas. Honorary research fellow in the Department of Education at the University of Oxford, he is also fellow of the American Psychological Association, American Educational Research Association, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, and Australian College of Educational and Developmental Psychologists. Martin ranks in the top five in the latest five-yearly international rankings of the most published educational psychologists, top 10 on Google Scholar in the educational psychology category, and top 20 out of 100,000+ authors indexed in education globally for Scopus-based citations. He is a consulting editor for Psychological Review and Journal of Educational Psychology and also serves on numerous international editorial boards. Martin has led and co-led numerous national and international government and nongovernment educational research tenders and consultancies.

To access his publications, visit  https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Andrew-Martin-22.