Background

Programme Outline

The programme introduces four boys. All lack confidence, find personal relationships difficult and are underachieving at school. They travel to an isolated mansion in rural Norfolk to spend four weeks with life coach Kate Marlow.

The boys meet for the first time. They sign up to the ground rules, discover the behaviour patterns that hold them back and do a survival exercise that tests their teamwork skills. Group tensions begin to emerge.

The boys complete three tough challenges - Taekwondo, a role play and a glider flight. Stretched physically and mentally, their confidence and self-esteem improve.

Cheating and lying cause problems for Kate and the boys. The boys discover that dancing enhances self-image and boosts self-confidence.

The boys practise their chat-up techniques, have a makeover and host a garden party. Kate summarises their progress.

When term starts, everyone notices that the boys have changed for the better.

Background Information

How and what adolescent boys learn about being a man affects their achievements, self-image and relationships with others. Most want to learn and do well but some get sidetracked as they explore and define their masculinity. Like the boys in the programme, they:

• engage in ‘laddish’ behaviour that attracts negative attention and brings them into conflict with authority figures and others
• conform to peer group pressure that regards doing well at school as undesirable and unimportant
• seek alternative ways to demonstrate personal success (such as being uncooperative, hostile, aggressive and offensive) that sabotage learning, exacerbate poor performance and erode self-esteem.

Many adolescents have concerns about their image and appearance, relationships, bullying and peer group pressure. Boys, however, face some particular challenges in learning how to be at ease with themselves and get on with others.

They are less likely than girls to:

• start, or maintain, a conversation with parents and other adults about their feelings, relationships and problems
• ask for help with their problems.

They are more likely than girls to:

• give in to peer group pressure
• see asking for help as embarrassing and a sign of weakness
• engage in risk-taking behaviour, including substance abuse
• respond violently and aggressively to difficult situations
• take things to the extreme when they feel that they have lost control - boys and young men are four more times likely than girls to commit suicide.

Targeted interventions can help underachieving boys to:

• include academic success in their understanding and definition of what it means to be a man
• challenge unhelpful beliefs
• identify and tackle specific barriers and problems
• develop their interpersonal and other skills
• develop their sense of self-worth and emotional resourcefulness.

The support featured in the programme links with many school activities designed to raise achievement and help young people to fulfil their potential. These include mentoring, coaching, counselling, target-setting, skills development, enrichment programmes and partnership work (eg with parents, community agencies and other education and training providers).

Recent years have seen a big increase in the demand for, and use of, life coaches. Life coaches act as mirrors. They help people to work out what they want, what they are good and bad at, and where and how they can change and improve.