Missing Out?
The South London girls based their judgements on the fact that schools should be about learning and qualifications. They acknowledged that they did better academically and rarely thought about the absence of boys. The environment they were used to was ‘natural’ to them as is a co-ed existence to pupils being educated in that environment. However, girls admitted that their social skills around boys were sometimes embarrassingly poor, describing feelings of inexperience and immaturity. The same is true of boys in the single sex environment too.
From a parental perspective this is seen as not necessarily a bad thing. Many parents send their girls to faith based single sex schools specifically to keep interaction between the sexes to a minimum. They are often conscious that in spite of the improved social and economic position of women in society there are still huge pressures for women to conform to sexual type.
Pupils acknowledge this too but, although happy with their schooling, only around 50% of the South London girls would opt to go to a girls school second time around. So despite their own rationale there was a subliminal sense that overall they may be ‘missing out’ on something. Their suggested compromise was to have mixed schools overall with single sex classes and co-ed break times.
The Verdict
According to government guidelines, all schools are currently free to adopt single-sex teaching. Those co-educational schools that have been trying it out in certain subject areas have done so in recognition of what they feel are boys' and girls' differing learning styles and interaction with each other.
Opinions vary on its usefulness, some schools are positive that it has helped to improve results for both sexes, others report no noticeable difference. Teacher opinion remains divided, but most acknowledge greater levels of participation in lessons, and increased confidence amongst both sexes.
Research so far suggests that schools succeed where they have taken a holistic approach to tackling gender differences. That can include creating a positive ethos that counters macho anti-school attitudes among boys, literacy strategies targeting boys' preferred learning styles, the use of mentors and role models and of course single-sex teaching in some subjects.
There is little evidence that a one-size-fits-all approach would be effective in all schools. Education Authorities tend to encourage schools in whatever system works best for them.
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