Confident, capable and creative: supporting boys' achievements

I listened with alarm this morning to the BBC's report: Toy weapons 'help boys to learn' and so immediately went to read the report: Confident, capable and creative: supporting boys' achievements the comments came from.

Searching for the term 'weapons' in the 26 page document came up with one hit on page 16.The BBC seem to have managed to put their own spin on the report ( only they will be able to tell us why). The report itself is, in its way, sensible though does, probably because of its title and focus, appear to be making a large issue of something I feel sure that most early years practitioners are very well aware.

In reading it though, other worries spring forward. Why 'Confident, capable and creative: supporting boys' achievements ? What about the parallel document ( yet to be written ?) Confident, capable and creative: supporting girls' achievements ? And where is the world evidence for the ideas in the text? Not that I am in any way an expert but many of the references appear to be very 'home grown' - with the notable Massachusetts Department of Education exception - and a interesting inclusion of Paley's work of twenty years ago as 'further reading' rather than her more modern (2004) 'A Child's Work: The Importance of Fantasy Play'

My biggest fear from all of this is that there will be some people who will read the headline and not the report.