Do pupils learn better in single sex schools?

[Loosehead]

http://www.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30000-13 530326,00.html

I suppose this should be in J&E but as it's a news Item I thought I'd put it here. I have my own views but I thought I'd let you lot have a go first, I'll add my tuppence worth later.

[rockyracoon]

I suppose the facts would speak for themselves, but it seems to be an American study where their education system is different from ours. I went to an all girls school in London (left in 1985) and feel it did me no harm, I used to be told I'd become a lesbian, which I am not and that I'd be frigid, also am not. And that I wouldn't know how to talk to boys, if only. I don't know if I'd have done better academically with half the class being boys, who knows, although I do know I would have been very uncomfortable, especially in sex ed lessons. One thing for sure, no need for mini skirts or make up- we were never allowed or felt it necessary.

[willspal]

Well speaking as a parent of a 14 year old boy who fought hard to get him into a single sex school I would say 'Yes' and not just that but there is no girls to knock them all off their stride so this alone is good enough for me.

I listen to my friends whose children are in mixed sex schools and I know I did the right thing in sending him to that school.

I am happy with the school and all it offers without having to give girls a thought.

I hope to send my other son to the same school and my daughter to the all Girls School over the road when their time comes.

WP

[jump79]

Yes, I think so.

I studied in a single sex school for about 5 years, and look how well I've turned out.

[rockyracoon]

I should have added, that if I had the opportunity to send my children to single sex schools I most definitely would.

[mimififi]

I have taught in both co-ed and single sex schools and if I were to put my children into school (they are currently home educated) I would look for a single sex school.

It was very irritating teaching in a co-ed school when you tried to do group work and girls didn't want to be with boys and Vice Versa in the lower years then in year 9+ they wanted to be with specific boys. I even had a couple snogging in one lesson ( for which they were sent home by the head).

Girls sometimes intimidate boys; boys feel as though they will never do as good a job as the girls work when they see it all beautiful and complete. Even girls can make boys lazy. In a mixed group, boys are happy to leave everything to the girls, esp if it is a bossy girl (are they any other variety?)

At the same time, boys look down on girls to a large extent, esp in 'male' subjects and can hold girls back. Girls feel the need to appear 'feminine' when surrounded by boys and so perhaps do not problem solve as they might if they were by themselves.

Gossipping, chatting, flirting, fighting, and the social pressures with dress code and physique are hieghtened in co-ed schools.
cont.

[mimififi]

Similarly, I think there are lots of boys who learn better when being taught by a man. same for girls. To teach boys effectively, you need a really good knowledge of how boys think and their learning skills. At present, I feel as though the NC is largely tailored for girls' learning styles and so in a co-ed environement boys are shot down before they get started.

I taught in a boys school ( a very tough boys school actually) and experienced one main problem. The problem I had was: I was 25, young looking (often confused with a 6th former) and female, teaching Enlgish and drama and was 'watched' by particularly year 9 and 10 boys for the whole of the first term. I eventually got them to view me as a regular human by being short, curt and frankly 'hard'. I stuck it out as I am very interested in teaching boys as it is generally more fun (less b1tching) once they accept you as a superior

I also taught in a girls school and there was much less b1thcing amoung them too than in the co-ed schools, interestingly

The biggest thing I think Boys gain from a co-ed school is the sense of competition. When lumped together with girls, there is no real sense of competition. Boys can't compete very easily with girls. They do try but typically girls do not compete back and so it is like running against someone who is sitting down. boys find this strange . In a boys' school, competition and sport is often a key component of the curriculum and I think this is utterly crucial to boys' learning. Boys need physical activity, regular and competitive and they need motivation to do better in the next test next time. Boys don't do anything much without any motivation, whereas girls do things because they have been asked.

[mimififi]

I understand that this is a very simplistic view, and utterly generalised, but it is how I have observed both schools to function.

If co-ed was so good; ask yourselves, why is that if you go to a party, girls hang out with girls, and lads with lads. In the office, girls go to lunch with girls, and so on and so on.
There are exceptions to everyrule, but as a general one, this is certainly true.

In my opinion, pupils do not only learn better in single sex schools, they mature better and become much more well rounded people as well.

FYI, I attended a co-ed school as a child and wished I had gone to a girls school.

[Loosehead]

Well I was going to add my view but Mimififi has summed it up perfectly!

I'm amazed really that there are any mixed schools when you consider that what you've got is a load of teenagers in varying states of puberty with their hormones on overdrive, It's a miracle they learn anything at all. I went to an all boys school, by the way.

[libertie]

I attended an all girls single sex school and my brother went to a single sex boys school.....we both went to the same mixed sex primary school. We both did well at school, although my brother was much brighter than me!! Neither of us have had any problems mixing with the opposite sex, but I suppose we were used to having each others friends around the house! Interestingly though my boss went to an all boy's school and because he had 2 brothers and a mother who was rarely home he says he found it difficult to feel at ease in female company...even now!!

[nect4r]

Single sex schools, IMO are unnatural. Do you have single sex offices? No. Single sex nightclubs? No. Single sex banks? No.. you get the picture.

School is so much more than academic education, it's learning about the world too - which includes the opposite sex.

I went to an all girls school, and nearly all the girls in my year either turned into ***** or withdrew into themselves when they were put in a co-ed environment (college or university). Simply because they didn't KNOW how to interact with boys of their age on a day to day basis.

Most single sex schools are private, and the types of people who put their kids in private schools have money and ambition. Therefore they (rightfully) push their kids to do better.

The teachers I had at my school were no better than most co-ed comprehensives, in fact we had some really cr*p ones!

It's also worth mentioning that the school which tops the league tables for GCSEs at the moment is a mixed comprehensive.

I actually did my A Level Sociology project on this subject, and uncovered a lot of evidence which supports the recent findings that single sex does not make a difference.