Inquiry into Boys' Education

Inquiry into Boys’ Education

December 9, 2025

The federal opposition has called on the government to hold a parliamentary inquiry into boys’ education as the education gap between girls and boys continues to grow. Read article from Education Review below ~

Opposition spokesman calls for inquiry into boys’ education

The new opposition education spokesman said he was worried boys could be “left behind by our education system”

The federal opposition has called on the government to hold a parliamentary inquiry into boys’ education as the education gap between girls and boys continues to grow.

New Coalition education spokesman Julian Leeser addressed the Independent Tertiary Education Council Australia (ITECA) parliamentary forum on Thursday, clearly signalling the Coalition’s education agenda.

Mr Leeser said he was worried boys could be “left behind by our education system”.

“I am concerned about trends and outcomes we have been seeing in relation to education for boys,” he said.

“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.

“By Year 9, in writing, there is a 37-point gap between the performance of boys and girls – which roughly equates to one to two years of learning.”

Mr Leeser said the gap existed in higher education too.

“By last year, 37 per cent of women between the ages of 15 and 74 had a degree at bachelor’s level or higher, compared with 30 per cent of men in the same bracket.

“If you drill down into the 25-34 age bracket, 41 per cent of men, but 54 per cent 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.”

Mr Leeser said these discrepancies were cause for a parliamentary inquiry into boys’ education to “get to the bottom of the issue”.