Sally-Anne Huang, High Master of St Paul's School, on why we must push back on the catastrophised picture of educating young men
“Most young men want to do well. They want to make a difference. They will be kind if you give them the opportunity to be kind. But we’d started to look at young men through this really narrow lens. ”
Sally-Anne Huang is High Master of St Paul's School, the first woman to lead the celebrated London day school in its 510-year history. A self-described Hermione Granger as a pupil, she grew up in Bolton, read English at Oxford and went into teaching to keep hold of the subject she loved, only to stay for the community and the pupils. Her career took her through Sevenoaks, Roedean, a first headship at Kent College Pembury and five years leading James Allen's Girls' School, before she arrived at St Paul's in 2020. Having spent 20 years advocating for girls, she found herself asking a question that had become almost socially unacceptable: what about the boys? This September she opens the St Paul's School Research Centre for the Education of Boys, the culmination of that thinking. In this conversation, Sally-Anne reflects on the resurgence of the case for single-sex education, why the cultural conversation around young men has become dangerously catastrophised, and what boys genuinely need to thrive.
Episode highlights
Sally-Anne reflects on spending 20 years given permission to advocate for girls, then arriving at St Paul's and realising, as a mother of two sons, that boys were quietly falling behind academically, socially and in the workplace.
She explains why she believes most boys learn differently from girls in early adolescence, and why throwing them into a mixed group at 11 can convince them they're "not academic" for the rest of their lives.
She pushes back on the catastrophised picture of young men in shows like Adolescence, arguing that most boys' real worries are the normal ones: friendship, self-esteem and who they want to be.
She describes the culture shift created by the school's house and vertical tutoring system, giving boys the "tribe" they need, with older boys becoming role models far more powerful than any adult.
On advice for parents navigating difficult conversations, her golden rule is simple: keep the door open, because when the people a child trusts shut them out, that's when they fall into the wrong hands.
Her genuinely controversial opinion: she hates Dead Poets Society, because she doesn't believe teachers should walk in as problem-solvers with all the answers. Education is there for the pupils, not the teacher.