Opposition calls for inquiry into boys' education
The Shadow Minister for Education and Early Learning, Julian Leeser MP, has called on the Federal Government to support a parliamentary inquiry into boys’ education.
If it goes ahead, it would be the first such inquiry since the Boys: getting it right report in 2002.
Boys’ educational attainment was one of the key planks of the Australian Men’s Health Forum’s Federal Election Platform 2025.
In the run-up to the May election, we called on politicians to support action on the social factors that shape men and boys’ health. One of the key social determinants of men’s health and well-being is their level of educational attainment. Put simply, better education for boys equals better health for men.
Australia's education system delivers poorer outcomes for boys and young men (compared with women and girls) at every stage. Improving boys' education today will improve men's health in the future. One of the starkest demonstrations of the link between poor education and poor health can be found in Government statistics on male and female suicide. Men aged 25-54 with no post-school qualifications have a rate of suicide that is:
- 2.6x higher than men with a university education
- 3.5x higher than women with no post-school qualifications
- Nearly 6x higher than women with a university education
AMHF was not alone in highlighting the issues. During the election campaign, Catholic Schools NSW’s research unit, the Kathleen Burrow Research Institute, published a new report calling for action on boys’ education.
Advocates for boys now have support from the Opposition via Julian Leeser MP, who recently told the annual Independent Tertiary Education Parliamentary Forum that “It is time for us to look at boys’ education”. The extract of Mr Leeser’s speech that focuses on boys’ education is provided in full below:
“Before discussing boys' education, we need to first celebrate the extraordinary success of women’s education.
In 1996, similar proportions of men and women had degrees, with slightly more men than women – around 10%.
By last year, 37% of women between the ages of 15 and 74 had a degree at bachelor’s level or higher, compared with 30% of men in the same bracket.
If you drill down into the 25-34 age bracket, 41% of men but 54% of women have a bachelor’s degree or higher.
It is fair to say now that not only are Australians better educated in general than they were 30 years ago, but that women are better educated than men. The successes we have had in women’s education are massive; it is a public policy achievement of which Australians should justly be proud.
But as I alluded to a moment ago, while the success in women’s education is rightly celebrated, I am concerned about trends and outcomes we have been seeing in relation to education for boys.
It is now time for us to look at boys’ education.
And in raising this issue, I want to give full credit to my colleague Zoe McKenzie, who has been relentless in prosecuting the issue of boys’ education for months and months.
And when we do so – we must have the maturity to have that discussion in a way that preserves and celebrates the achievements we have made in girls’ education, and which does not somehow frame boys’ education as being opposed to or against the education of girls.
It is not a zero-sum game.
It is not a gender issue – it is a societal issue.
Boys trail girls in every NAPLAN literacy assessment – reading, writing, spelling, grammar, and punctuation – in every age group.
Average achievement of boys falls short of girls in every NAPLAN domain except numeracy.
NAPLAN data reveals that boys are twice as likely to score in the lowest performance bands in literacy.
By year 9, in writing, there is a 37-point gap between the performance of boys and girls – which roughly equates to 1-2 years of learning.
There are significant disparities in school retention rates for boys and young men. The 2024 data shows that the school retention rate in years 10-12 sits at 83.5% of female students, but only 76.4% of males.
In 2015, 168,000 young men started their higher education journey. By 2024, that number had dropped to 158,000. Australia’s population increased by 3.4 million over the same period.
This is symptomatic of a broader problem.
Further vocational education is also important – and understanding how boys transition effectively in post-school training, especially apprenticeships.
We want young people to have all these options and to ultimately succeed. Boys are more likely than girls to be disengaged from school, to have poor academic achievement, and to leave school early.
We need to understand also the role of behaviour and classroom management – are our classrooms great places for boys and girls to learn?
I am calling on the government now to support a parliamentary inquiry into boys’ education.
I am calling on the government to join with me, in a bipartisan way, to examine the issue with respect, with dignity, based on evidence and in the interests of finding solutions for all Australian families.
Boys should not be left behind by our education system.
The inquiry should have the time and resources to go wherever it needs to go to get to the bottom of this issue.
On the Coalition side, it should be led by my colleagues Zoe McKenzie and Sam Birrell. This is an issue in which all of us – including everyone in this room – has an interest."