About Boys’ Impact

Boys’ Impact brings together educational practitioners from across the UK. Established in 2023, the network takes an evidence-based approach to addressing the gap in GCSE outcomes for young men who are eligible for Free School Meals.

We undertake strategic activity in research, pedagogy, policy and practice to support the outcomes of young men in their local educational, social, and geographic contexts.

Through our research we…

  • Foreground the voices of young men who experience the sharp edges of inequality. We provide a mechanism for their experiences to be seen, heard, and responded to through innovation in educational policy and practice.

  • Create an evidence-based understanding of what constitutes effective practice with young men who experience marginalisation in education.

  • Build a deeper, richer understanding of the relationship of young men to educational and social systems and structures which perpetuate gender-based inequality and harm.

Through our practice we…

  • Convene, bringing together those engaged in educational research, policy and practice to engage with the issues.

  • Equip educators with greater knowledge and understanding surrounding the experiences of young men in education, and what can be done to better support their educational outcomes and progression.

  • Champion the experiences of young men, contesting deficit-driven discourses.

  • Establish an infrastructure which connects local action to a UK-wide movement for change.

Meet the founder

Boys’ Impact was founded by Dr Alex Blower in 2023. Alex is a Research Fellow at Arts University Bournemouth, where his primary focus is creating the conditions for equitable access to education.

Having faced his own challenges related to mental ill health and school exclusion as a young man, tackling inequality of educational opportunity is of great importance to Alex both personally and professionally. Alongside his work for the University, he writes regularly for national and international publications, contributing to the national conversation on how to make progression to Higher Education more equitable for groups who may experience structural inequality.

Since completing his doctoral research which focused inequality and access to university for white working-class boys in the West Midlands in 2020, he has been a regular speaker at national conferences, delivering talks, workshops and training with practitioners across the education sector.

Meet the Steering Group

  • Mike Nicholson

    FOUNDER, PROGRESSIVE MASCULINITY

  • Susan Morgan

    PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR, TAKING BOYS SERIOUSLY

  • Sophie Blyth-Bristow

    SEXUAL VIOLENCE RESPONSE AND PREVENTION MANAGER, UNIVERSITY OF YORK

  • Dr Craig Johnston

    SENIOR LECTURER (CRIMINOLOGY), THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST OF ENGLAND

  • Deneen Kenchington

    DEPUTY HEADTEACHER, FERNDOWN UPPER SCHOOL

  • Rae Tooth

    FOUNDER, INCLUSION REVOLUTION

  • Tian Barratt

    WIDENING PARTICIPATION OUTREACH MANAGER, UNIVERSITY OF PORTSMOUTH

  • Dr Andrew Hamilton

    RESEARCH ASSOCIATE, TAKING BOYS SERIOUSLY