Boys’ Education Lighthouse Schools

In Stage One of BELS, a total of 230 schools involved in 110 projects were selected to document and showcase best practice in boys’ education.  Individual schools received grants of up to $5,000 each to support their projects. Clusters received grants of $10,000 - $20,000. The findings of Stage One were distributed nationwide in the report Meeting the Challenge final report: Guiding Principles for Success from the Boys’ Education Lighthouse Schools Program Stage One.

In Stage Two, a total of 51 Lighthouse school clusters received up to $100,000 over the 2004 and 2005 to deliver a set of interventions aimed to improve boys’ educational outcomes. Around 350 schools were involved in the 51 clusters.

In 2004, schools involved in BELS Stage Two focused on the trial of approaches to address boys’ education, and appropriate means of evaluation to monitor the impact of these interventions. In 2005, BELS clusters implemented these strategies and measured their impact on their target group. BELS schools’ projects concluded in December 2005. The Final Report of Boys' Education Lighthouse Schools (BELS) Stage Two provided a detailed analysis and key findings.

Stage Two schools were able to benefit from the success of Stage One and use the guiding principles that resulted from it.

Schools and clusters focussed on the following best practice areas in their projects:

• Adapting pedagogy, curriculum and assessment for different learning styles, including interactive and experiential styles, and use of ICT.
• Improving literacy and communications skills and performance across the curriculum.
• Developing effective and sustainable behaviour management programs.
• Improving student engagement with schooling and motivation to learn.
• Combining school and community resources to provide mentoring opportunities for students.