Boys and Learning Motivation in Danish Primary school

Abstract: In the Danish primary school, many boys perform poorly and are perceived by theteachers as difficult to teach. They have what has been called a 'problematic' learning behavior.Recent research suggests that in many cases there is a connection between the gender identity ofthese boys (their gender constructions) and their way of addressing the learning agenda of theschool. Thus, 'popular masculinity' is often associated with distance to academic skills, which aredefined as 'girlish’. Instead, bodily and sporting skills are highly valued, as well as autonomy, humorand recognition through risky behavior. These 'masculine' ideals might result in a learning behaviorthat is characterized by sloppiness in school work, alternative agendas in learning situations anddifferent levels of oppositional behavior in relation to teachers (Frederiksen, 2015). Such learningbehavior are mostly seen at boys with parents who have a poor educational background. Resistanceto the school's learning agenda at boys who construct and draw on strong versions of masculineidentity can be progressively developed and reinforced during school years.For some of these boys the oppositional learning behavior seem to cover low academic skills andthus has a 'compensatory' function: 'If I can not meet the demands of school, I can distance them'.Thus, their 'oppositional' learning behavior becomes an alternative entry to maintain a strong socialposition.This paper presents new findings that indicate that the way these boys are met at school by theteachers is important for their motivation of learning and for the development of learning resistance.The findings are based on four qualitative case studies in 3. and 4. grades at four primary schools inNorthern Denmark. The case studies were conducted in spring 2018 and the research interest was toinvestigate which factors in the learning environment, that seem to affect the learning motivation ofboys in early classes of primary school. The study draws on recent gender theory, where gender isunderstood as culturally changeable and on recent understandings of learning motivation.The findings point out that keeping an eye on and strengthening these boys' feeling of coping inrelation to school work seems to be one of the keys to counteracting patterns of negative learningbehavior. Likewise, they point out that negative narratives of these boys, inflexible class leadershipand the lack of didactic skills of the teachers that meet these boys in school seem to adversely affecttheir learning motivation.The study is relevant to Nordic education research as the problem with the low-performing boysin school in many ways seems to be similar in the Nordic countries.Keywords: boys, learning behavior, learning environment, feeling of cooping.