A new programme on gender was introduced to students in 30 single-sex boys' schools in September. It is the first gender programme to be funded by the Department of Education and Science for use specifically in single-sex boys' schools.

Programmes on gender and equality issues have been used in girls' schools since the early Eighties, but the new programme, Exploring Masculinity, is a first. Developed as a Transition Year programme, it was introduced on a pilot basis to seven schools two years ago. It aims to examine the changing role of men in society and will be available to all schools from next September.

Maureen Bohan, senior psychologist at the Department, points out that there was "a lot of focus" on girls from the early Eighties. "It became evident that we were tackling only half of the problem."

Finding single-sex schools willing to take part in a pilot programme which looked at masculinity and the changing role of men in society was "the hardest battle of my life," she says. However, the challenge was taken up by seven schools in 1995. "The principals from those schools were willing to get involved," she says.

"Generally, boys' schools did not want anything to do with it. They felt they had equality. Principals did not see that the social construction of masculinity was an issue. They didn't see that we needed to deal with violence or power, to focus exclusively on them. Although awareness is building slowly, some are not as aware of it as others."

Evaluation to date has found that the students themselves "like it and see the need for it. That's coming across." The programme also aims to address the changing roles of men and women in society. At first, says Bohan, it was hoped to do the programme with first-year students - "but this just wasn't possible. However, there are aspects of it they can slot in to other areas as teachers see fit."

The Department hopes that the resource will also be used with other senior cycle students - for example, Leaving Cert Applied students. By next September, a resource pack along with a video, will be available to all schools for use with Transition Year students or with other classes.

The programme has attracted interest from abroad. Just before Christmas, a group of 14 teachers from nine European countries visited St Mary's Academy, Carlow, one of the 30 schools involved, in order to investigate the project.

A separate initiative undertaken by Dr Kathleen Lynch, co-ordinator of UCD's Equality Studies Centre, set out to discover if the general school environment sustains inequality. A report of this study, Equality and the Social Climate of Schools, will be published shortly.

Dr Anne Lodge, researcher on the project, says that one of its findings was that boys in single-sex schools were teased or bullied for not conforming to stereotypical masculinity. It also found that students in single-sex boys' schools were the least aware of issues of gender equality. It seems that boys, particularly those in single-sex schools, were more likely to express sexist attitudes.

In another development, the ASTI has organised a week in second-level schools starting on Monday, March 8th, to encourage gender awareness. The aim will be to promote self-identity and to examine aspects of gender.

One of the writers of the new programme for boys' schools, Paul Fields, principal of St Mary's Academy, compares it to a pastoral care programme. "It's a holistic programme where boys look at their whole lifestyle.

In general, men don't talk about how they feel." The programme is aimed at changing this.

"Girls talk more openly about their feelings, their concerns, their families, whereas in general boys are more reluctant to do that. It's largely because of peer pressure, where the comments that are made are stronger. That discourages any boy from talking."

Fields says that these problems are not exclusive to single-sex schools. They are found in co-ed classrooms as well.

The programme is already having an effect, he says. "Boys in the programme are opening up, there's no doubt about it. It's seen to be OK to talk about those issues." Generally, he explains, boys distance themselves from personal issues by talking in the third person - "but they're now using `I'."

The programme was developed for a number of reasons, among them the fact that boys are more likely than girls to be violent, to be in prison, to be in psychiatric care, to commit suicide and to be alcoholics.

Over 80 per cent of all suicides in Ireland in 1997 were men. Of these 25 per cent were in the 15 to 24 age group. Most of those who die under the age of 16 are males and virtually all die by hanging, according to the National Suicide Research Foundation.

The late Dr Micheal Kelleher, in an article on suicide in schools published in the latest ASTI Issues in Education, wrote that "our education system may have become more favourable to our girls than to young boys." Males occupied 60 per cent of third-level places in the mid-Seventies, but by 1995 females began to outnumber males, Kelleher noted.

"Perceived gender roles and maturity at an earlier age may also benefit the overall development of females at an individual level," he wrote. "Indeed, extra responsibility and training given within the home may result in females being more broadly educated in comparison to males who may be given a more narrow focus, based solely on formal schooling and competitive sports.

"Boys may lose out due to this social conditioning and the `macho' image and notions such as `boys don't cry' it promotes. This could have serious implications for young males' ability to recognise their own distress and to seek help."

Girls, he wrote, seem to be more in communication with their feelings and can recognise distressing thoughts within themselves and express them to their girlfriends and others. Boys appear less able to do this.

"When boys become anxious, the only outlet our society may be permitting them is to become aggressive. On occasion, the frustration and aggression are turned inward upon the self and, when associated with bleak thoughts, may result in self-destruction. This may be more difficult to notice in time because it is less likely to be expressed or, perhaps, the young man may not even understand himself the depth of his own distress."

Dr Kelleher recommended that the curriculum be changed to include more "education for life - a revision of our criteria for success will be necessary to redress this problem."

Noel Merrick, principal of CBS Naas, Co Kildare, says a stereotype exists about boys at schools that they are macho and tough. "However," he warns, "there are as many differences between boys as there are between boys and girls. There are boys who are very sensitive and capable of great kindness and capable of expressing their feelings."

He says disruptive students "can be very sensitive but they believe that they have to express this macho image in front of their peers. The peer pressure tends to dominate. And yet, those very peers, will not support their friend in private. They will say it's stupid. There's very little regard for those who act the hard man."

Sexual identity is a recurring problem for young men, says Merrick. "That troubles them a lot. Going through puberty can be a difficult time. Their developing sexuality and a sense of themselves - that's something that a lot of young males find difficulties with and have to cope with."