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Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Times
Boys are falling behind at school — could mentors be the answer?
Boys need mentors including workmen and Scout leaders to boost their attainment, a new think tank has suggested. In a parliamentary debate on boys' education on Thursday, it will call for a minister for boys as well as a new strategy to tackle the problem. Boys do worse than girls at almost every subject and level at school and this is too readily accepted, according to the Centre for Policy Research on Men and Boys. • Classroom crisis: number of male secondary teachers at record low A briefing sent to MPs before the debate, which will be led by Sam Rushworth, Labour MP for Bishop Auckland, says that boys' underperformance at school is ignored and there should be a campaign to boost results. Girls achieve on average higher grades than boys in primary school tests, GCSEs, A-levels and first-class degrees, although slightly more boys attain A*s, the top grade at A-level. The think tank's trustees include Professor Sir Michael Marmot, professor of epidemiology at University College London; Professor Roger Kirby, former president of the Royal Society of Medicine; and Dr Anna Machin, an anthropologist who has written books on fatherhood. The organisation wants a full research programme on the reasons for boys' and young men's relative underperformance, a strategy and plan to address this and for the government and local authorities to work with civic organisations such as the Scouts and cadets to increase boys' membership. It said: 'There should be a nationwide campaign and strategic project to encourage and increase the number of male mentors available to young men and boys whether through schools, including more male teachers … or [with] relatable leaders such as tradespeople or community leaders.' Previously the government ran the campaign This Girl Can to get more girls into sport, and the think tank called for a similar initiative for boys, which could give them careers advice, including routes into under-represented careers for men such as health and social care and education. The briefing says: 'Policymakers including governments at all levels should talk up young men and boys to give them confidence. There should be a ministerial role with explicit responsibility for improving boys' educational attainment. 'The level of under-attainment and disengagement is impacting on the economy and wider society and will impact on the government's plans for a national employment rate of 80 per cent.' Mark Brooks, director of policy at the think tank, said that it was important to raise the profile of the 'politically under-recognised issue'. He added: 'Boys are behind girls at every stage of education and it seems to have been accepted as normal with little in the way of research and solutions. We would like to see a full strategy to find out the causes with a plan to boost boys' results. This can be included in the government's schools white paper, due in the autumn.' Brooks also called for a campaign to give boys confidence and skills in finding jobs and careers, plus a national scheme for increasing male mentors, particularly those without male role models in the home. Teachers and head teachers have urged the government to fund September's pay rise fully. In May, the government accepted the recommendations of the School Teachers' Review Body to raise the salaries of teachers and school leaders in England by 4 per cent from September. Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, said schools would have to find about 1 per cent of the pay awards themselves 'through improved productivity and smarter spending'. In a joint response to Phillipson, four education unions have set out their 'united view' on the need for the government to provide additional investment to fully fund the pay increase for the next academic year. The National Education Union, the National Association of Head Teachers, the Association of School and College Leaders and Community said: 'Investing in the improvements needed to teacher and school leader pay and conditions is vital to tackling the recruitment and retention crisis.' They warned against creating a 'false trade-off' between teacher pay and reductions in support for pupils.
The Guardian
30-06-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Health inequality is linked to gross disparities in wealth
Your article on health inequality (Britain's 'medieval' health inequality is devastating NHS, experts say, 29 June) describes the laudable efforts of NHS agencies to tackle some of the acute health problems in poorer areas. However, the real problem is that the reason we have such disparities in health is that they are directly related to the gross disparities in wealth and income in this country. As Prof Michael Marmot and many others have demonstrated, some of the most important factors in determining health are social and economic. It is all very well for the NHS to make efforts to actively address the effects of social and economic deprivation in poor areas, but this is managing symptoms rather than the cause. It is no coincidence that the UK has some of the worst health outcomes of developed countries and also among the worst levels of inequality. As the greatest advances in health in the past were not attributable to improvements in healthcare, but to improvements in the conditions in which people lived, so now it is reducing levels of poverty and inequality by economic and social change that are required to meaningfully address the problems identified in the article. While politicians pretend to want to address the problem, there is a consensus of inaction on the radical changes necessary because the consensus of our politics has drifted so far to the SmithGlasgow Re Britain's 'medieval' health inequality in what has been termed 'broken Britain', surely the only way in which the 'break' can be mended is tax increases. Why does this obvious solution not get the traction it requires? Those on reasonable incomes could pay more. Those with a lot of wealth should pay more. If there was ever a need it is now. Labour should bite the bullet, and MiskinSheffield Have an opinion on anything you've read in the Guardian today? Please email us your letter and it will be considered for publication in our letters section.
South Wales Argus
16-06-2025
- Health
- South Wales Argus
Wales to be a Marmot Nation to tackle health inequalities
The announcement was made by the Welsh Government as part of its ongoing commitment to tackling health inequalities. The move follows the earlier adoption of the Marmot principles in Torfaen, which became a Marmot region when the wider Gwent area took up the approach. Sarah Murphy, the minister for mental health and wellbeing, said: "Becoming a Marmot Nation is about acknowledging that health inequalities are mostly shaped by the social determinants of health – the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age. "In Torfaen, we can see positive change at community level due to organisations working together innovatively. "By adopting these eight Marmot principles nationally, we will be taking action across government to support better health and wellbeing for all." The Welsh Government will now work with the Institute of Health Equity, led by Professor Sir Michael Marmot, to embed health equity into all areas of policy and decision-making. Sir Michael's eight Marmot principles address the root causes of health inequalities by focusing on factors such as education, employment, living standards and community wellbeing. The decision builds on Wales' Well-being of Future Generations Act, which places a legal duty on public bodies to consider the long-term impact of their decisions on social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing. Sir Michael Marmot said: "A society that meets the needs of its members will have good health and relatively small inequalities in health. "Healthcare is, of course, important for health. "More important are social circumstances, as summarised in the eight Marmot Principles. "The policy implications are clear. "Health policy is for the whole of government, not just for the health department or the NHS." The Canada-UK Council's UK co-chair, Professor Nicolas Maclean, also welcomed the announcement. Professor Maclean said: "The Canada-UK Council warmly welcomes this important new initiative by the Welsh Government, which follows our annual colloquium hosted last December in Cardiff by leaders such as Jeremy Miles and Mark Drakeford. "The theme of our colloquium, chaired by Sir Michael Marmot, was 'overcoming unequal health outcomes in the UK and Canada.' "Today's announcement will set an example around the world."
The Guardian
18-04-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
The truth about stress: from the benefits of the ‘good kind' to the exercise that only makes it worse
True (up to a point)The way stress manifests is very much bodily, centred around hormones such as cortisol and their effect on us. But this process is triggered by the brain (notably the amygdala and the hypothalamus) and the way our brains react to stress is often set in early childhood, even in the womb. Pregnant women who experience extreme stress can give birth to infants who react more strongly to stress hormones – with increasing evidence suggesting that this causes modifications to the baby's DNA. Self-actualising your way out of stress is difficult – not least because the causes might be serious and inescapable – but not always impossible. Some studies have shown that if you tell people they are the sort of person who doesn't feel stress, they experience fewer symptoms. One US study found that teenagers growing up with worries about violent crime in a deprived part of Chicago tended to fare better if they simply tried to not think about it. FalseStress is central to the human existence, and its most obvious and visceral manifestation – our fight-or-flight response to immediate threat – has evolved to protect us from danger. There is also evidence that it can help us concentrate. A study of video game players taking part in a tournament found that those who showed barely any rise in cortisol levels fared the worst, and those with the highest increase performed moderately. Winners tended to have some extra cortisol, but not too much. This hormonal and psychological balancing act is different for everyone, so gauging the 'right' amount of stress is difficult. But as a broad guide, stress is less likely to be harmful if it is predictable, and particularly if it is voluntary. Studies have shown that conducting an orchestra makes the body show multiple signs of apparent stress. But this is the stress of exhilaration, which is less likely to cause ill effects. FalseFor decades the study of stress was based entirely around men, and often centred on the better-off. The breakthrough came with a pioneering Swedish study which found that people who had high demands on their time but little control over their lives tended to be the most stressed. Subsequent research has shown how unavoidable demands, whether through caring responsibilities or having multiple jobs, are especially stressful. These findings are central to much of the understanding about modern stress, particularly that connected to work. Sir Michael Marmot, the pioneering researcher into health inequalities, has argued that jobs like those in an Amazon-type warehouse, where the pace is relentless and every movement is tracked, are 'as if we took everything we knew about psychosocial work hazards, put it in a syringe and injected people with it'. FalseMuch of our modern understanding of stress is based on experiments with laboratory rats carried out in the 1930s by Hans Selye, an Austrian–Hungarian doctor and researcher who discovered that repeated and chronic triggering of the body's hormonal alarm system can harm health. But even the Victorians worried that innovations like rail travel and the telegraph were too much for humans to deal with. George Miller Beard, the highly creative populariser of the disorder he called neurasthenia, used his evocatively titled 1881 book, American Nervousness, to blame stress on everything from science to civil liberties and 'the phenomenal beauty of the American girl of the highest type'. Is modern stress any worse? It is certainly different. Compared to a Victorian, a 21st-century Briton has a state-provided safety net, decades' more life expectancy and a child mortality rate about 60 times lower. There is, however, much focus on whether information overload from things like phones is a new type of stress. It is a reasonable concern, particularly for children – but it's far from new. The term 'information overload' was coined by Alvin Toffler, a US author whose bestselling book Future Shock argued that the pace of change in society caused by things like modern technology was simply too much for people's brains – in 1970. Mainly falseIn his 1972 poem The Shoelace, Charles Bukowski noted that while humans can generally cope with major upheavals, what eventually proves too much is the 'continuing series of small tragedies' – everything from the 'shoelace that snaps with no time left' to an unexpected bill. He was right; repeated studies have shown that stress tends to affect people most when it is chronic. But it's also important to note that the scale of a worry is relative. What qualifies as a 'minor' stress is entirely personal and subjective, and dependent on everything from personal circumstances and background to income – a single larger-than-expected bill can be catastrophic if you're poor. There are some ways that stress, or at least its effects, can be mitigated. But don't let anyone tell you that a particular cause of stress is minor. That is entirely a matter for you and your body. FalseThere are endless studies showing that physical activity can alleviate stress symptoms. But other research has shown that very high-intensity exercise can worsen matters. One study put volunteers through either a gruelling mock job interview process or a physical test using a stationary bike. While post-test questionnaires showed those in the latter group perceived themselves to be less stressed, their cortisol levels were higher, and stayed so for hours after. Cortisol itself is not a problem for the body. It plays a central role in maintaining things like blood glucose levels, and also acts as a hormonal alarm clock, rising gradually during the night to a morning peak to help get us out of bed. The problem comes with the chronic triggering of the body's stress response. So, how to avoid this with exercise? One tip is to make sure it doesn't feel like a chore – research has shown this can be particularly stressful. Another is to see if less intensive exercise, perhaps even something like yoga, helps. But as ever, there are no firm rules. Everyone is different. True and falseSome people lose weight under chronic stress. But around two-thirds of people are more likely to put it on. There are two different factors at work, and one is hormonal. Studies have linked consistently high levels of hormones like cortisol with a propensity to store fat around the stomach. Also, research has consistently shown that stress tends to push people towards less healthy eating choices. There is an entire sub-genre of studies in which volunteers are placed under artificial stress, presented with a table of various foods, and told to snack as they please. Each time, those exposed to stress gravitate towards fatty, sweet or salty choices, and eat more overall than the control group who were not stressed. True The same fight-or-flight hormonal alarm system exists in mammals, birds, fish, amphibians and reptiles. And this is not just about existential threats. Studies of baboons have shown that lower‑ranked animals in a troop display higher levels of stress hormones. But what is unique about humans is the idea of chronic anticipatory stress. As Robert Sapolsky, a US biologist who spent two decades studying Kenyan baboons, once joked: 'It is startling to realise that a vast length of time ago, while evading a predator or pursuing a prey, a dinosaur secreted glucocorticoids … [But] no dinosaur ever worried itself sick from perseverating on the absurd idea that an asteroid might strike Earth.' For humans, anticipatory stress serves a purpose. For example, if you were blithely unworried about taking an exam, your study regime might be a bit relaxed. Simply telling people not to worry about future events is pointless, and you should never feel guilty about worrying. Very, very falseThere are two immediate and very obvious reasons why this is wrong. Stress is often imposed by inescapable external factors, and people's bodily response to it can often be exacerbated by their backgrounds, notably their childhood and infancy. But there is more to it: stress acts in such a way as to make it even harder to escape the circumstances which cause it, like poverty. One US study found that when poorer people were asked to think about an entirely hypothetical car repair bill, they performed less well in a subsequent cognitive test. Other studies have quantified this effect variously as being about the same as losing an entire night of sleep or shedding close to 15 IQ points. This is not a minor impact. True (and yet not)This is correct in the sense that stress can often be imposed by your life circumstances and the preset way your body reacts. But the physical manifestations of stress are more possible to address. For example, while chronic stress can make you more likely to develop metabolic ailments such as type 2 diabetes, being more physically active can reduce this risk again. Some diets can have a similar effect, with studies showing that ones including a lot of green vegetables and foods rich in polyphenols, known for their anti-inflammatory properties, can reduce cortisol levels. Psychotherapy can also help with our in-built responses to stress. And research has shown the stress-reducing benefits of everything from more sleep and better-quality social relations to certain music, aromas and, at least in the short term, simple human touch. What works for one person might not for another, but one of the curiosities of stress is that its very slipperiness, the way it presents such a broad front in its impact on humans, also gives lots of ingress points when fighting back. Stress Tested: How the New Science of Stress Hormones Can Transform Your Health by Dr Richard Mackenzie and Peter Walker is published on 24 April (Bluebird, £22). To support the Guardian and Observer, order your copy at Delivery charges may apply.
