Bridging the gender gap. Analysing boys’ school experiences and educational challenges

Abstract in English

This thesis investigates how teaching practices and classroom dynamics influence boys’ educational experiences, emphasising the interplay between environmental structures, social norms, and individual meaning-making in Swedish classrooms. It employs a mixed methods approach within a pragmatist framework, using an explanatory sequential design combining quantitative breadth and qualitative depth. This design facilitates a nuanced analysis of both patterns and processes in boys’ educational trajectories. By drawing on data from five sub-studies, including systematic literature reviews, large-scale surveys, classroom observations, and in-depth interviews, this framework provides the potential to conduct an empirically grounded analysis of how boys may interplay with, respond to, and contribute to their learning environments.

The thesis adopts a transactional theoretical framework, grounded in Deweyan pragmatism, to explore how experience, meaning-making, and habit formation emerge through dynamic interactions within the learning environment. Educational outcomes are not understood as individual traits but rather as products of situated and relational educational processes.

The results suggest boys rely heavily on structured teacher support and exhibit heightened sensitivity to environmental cues. Their engagement is frequently constrained by traditional masculinity norms and peer dynamics, which may conflict with academic expectations and discourage help-seeking and self-regulated learning strategies. This contributes to a fragmented learning process and highlights the role of classroom context in sustaining or disrupting gendered performance patterns.

Further, a key contribution is the didactical perspective on how relational support, responsive teaching, and structured learning environments may foster more inclusive and equitable conditions for boys, counteracting gendered disparities in educational attainment. The thesis aims to equip educators, school leaders, policymakers, and stakeholders with knowledge and guidance while enhancing academic discourse. It does so by presenting an integrated theoretical model and striving to merge empirical insights with theoretical analysis and practical application.