The single-sex debate: should girls be allowed in a boys’ zone?

Lamenting his experience in an all-boys secondary school, the comedian David O’Doherty wonders, “What’s more important? Getting a C in geography, or being able to relate to 50 per cent of the population?”

Increasingly, parents are asking themselves similar questions when it comes to choosing a school for their children and more and more are favouring mixed schools.

On a practical level, it’s easier if you can send both your sons and your daughters to the same school, but many parents simply prefer the idea of not separating the sexes when it comes to schooling.

The research appears to be on their side. Ireland has a strong tradition of single-sex schools and years ago, the belief was that girls, in particular, did better when separated from boys. More recent studies, however, have largely discredited these findings. Separating boys and girls, they have found, has little or no effect on educational outcomes. Much more important are factors such as class size, mode and quality of teaching, as well as where students are starting from an academic standpoint.

480

Number of single-gender primary schools in the Republic. There are 2,679 co-ed primary schools

In Ireland, for decades now, it has been the policy of the Department of Education and Skills to aim for as many schools as possible to be co-educational at both primary and post-primary levels and it seems that even some well-known fee-paying schools are taking note.

Late last year Mark Hederman, the abbot of Glenstal Abbey, a boys’ boarding school in Co Limerick, said the school would favour a move towards co-education, although no date has been set for such a change. Another school is set to go even further. After more than 90 years of educating boys, Sandford Park School, a private school in Ranelagh, is opening its doors to girls in September.

Ireland still has a relatively large proportion of single-sex schools when compared with the rest of Europe. This is largely due to the legacy of school organisation dating back to the 1800s when most primary schools in urban areas were mixed in junior and senior infants and then became single-sex senior schools from first or second class. According to the Department of Education and Skills, this has changed over time and now most primary schools are co-educational.

Increasingly, researchers on the area of single-sex versus co-education are finding that the gender mix of classes has no impact on the educational achievement of girls and boys. A review commissioned by the department of education in the US found that large-scale reviews of single-sex versus co-educational in the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand found little difference in academic outcomes between the two.

There have been cases where outcomes from single-sex schools have looked promising, but when researchers looked closer, these tended to be attributable to other factors such as the socioeconomic status of the research participants.

These conclusions are mirrored in research around the world. A study by the ESRI conducted in the 1990s found that single-sex schools conferred no academic advantage, while another paper published by Emer Smyth of the ESRI in 2010, reviewed research from English-speaking countries and concluded that, “There appears to be very little consensus on whether single-sex education is advantageous to girls’ or boys’ academic achievement.”

However, Smyth continues, “There does appear to be at least tentative evidence that attitudes to subject areas may become more gender-stereotyped in a co-education setting.”

Then again, other studies have found that single-sex schools reinforce gender stereotypes. The findings in this regard are inconclusive, to say the least. In an article published in 2011, entitled The Pseudoscience of Single-Sex Schooling, US-based social scientists concluded that there was no evidence ever to support the segregation of students on the basis of sex.

Still, in Ireland, more than one-third of post-primary schools remain single-sex. The evolution of the community and comprehensive schools sector since the early 1970s has seen the amalgamation of many former single-gender voluntary secondary schools to become co-educational schools around the country. These amalgamations may also have involved vocational schools that traditionally were co-educational while the increase in the number of community colleges has been another factor in the rise in the number of co-educational places available.

Now as Sandford Park School prepares for September and Glenstal Abbey considers its options, it seems as though co-education is firmly on the agenda.

Whether other schools, particularly the fee-paying schools which, by definition, are more market driven, will follow suit, remains to be seen.

Co-ed versus single-sex schools – true or false?

Girls get better results in single-sex schools:False. In the past, research showed girls in single-sex schools doing better, but the research didn't account for factors such as class size and the fact that in many countries, single-sex schools tend to draw students from more affluent and academically motivated parts of society.

Boys and girls learn differently:False. In fact, neuroscientists have found few sex differences in children's brains beyond the larger volume of boys' brains and the earlier completion of girls' brain growth, neither of which is known to relate to learning. There are some differences in the way adults process information but none substantial enough to warrant segregation.

Girls can be intimidated by the dominant nature of boys in a school:True and false. Research on this is mixed. Some studies have found that co-ed schooling reduces gender stereotyping , while others have found that it reinforces stereotyping where girls are concerned. There are concerns that girls in a mixed environment may be less likely to choose traditionally "male" subjects and may be reluctant to participate fully in sport.

Boys benefit from co-ed schooling:True. Irish research in 2002 found that boys benefited from co-ed schooling particularly in terms of self-concept and stress levels.

Single-sex schooling may have a negative influence on boys:True. Research found that boys in single-sex schools were more likely to hold more gender stereotyped views, to express higher levels of prejudice towards Travellers and gay males and to bully or be bullied because of height, body size or sporting prowess.

Sandford Park School: Breaking a tradition

There is no difference between educational outcomes in single-sex and co-ed schools:True. Recent research that controls for outside influences has found that there is no educational benefit to single-sex schooling for boys or girls.

For Sandford Park School, the idea of co-education has always been on the agenda, according to the principal, Edith Byrne. “This always has been a progressive school,” she says. “We are based on the French model, of which one feature is nondenominational education. Religion is not on the curriculum here. The second feature of that model is co-education. I suppose when the school was founded, the nondenominational element was the focus.”

According to Byrne, the school was dealing with an increasing number of enquiries from parents who liked the idea and the ethos of the school, but had a problem with the single-sex aspect of it. The issue was also raised by some of the principals of Sandford Park’s primary feeder schools.

“Parents were happy with the education their sons were getting and they wanted their daughters to avail of a similar education,” Byrne says.

“There’s an honourable tradition of single-sex schools in Irish society but the idea belongs to an era where boys and girls had different rights and expectations. That’s no longer the case. Society has moved on and we wanted to be a part of that.”

Of course, like everything else, the state of the economy has taken its toll on the school. Fees are on the higher end, at almost €7,000 a year. Current enrolment stands at 216, down from 254 in the 2007-2008 school year. That said, demand for places rose during the boom and the current numbers are similar to what they were in 2003 and before.

School authorities managed to keep fees level for three years before raising them slightly last year. In spite of the difficulties, the school has managed to keep its teachers and maintain its programmes so far, but budget cuts for fee-paying schools, a hard-pressed middle class, as well as the fact that Sandford Park doesn’t have the safety net of the trust funds that act as a buffer for many other private schools, have all taken their toll.

Widening its applicant base to girls as well as boys is a smart move in the present circumstances. It’s early days but, so far, parents are interested.

“Reaction has been very positive, very supportive,” Byrne says. “We have actually experienced an increase in interest from parents of boys as well as girls. The reaction of past pupils has been very positive as well, which is very encouraging.”

There is no other small, co-educational school in the immediate hinterland, and locals speculate that the school will probably benefit from some troubles that have arisen at another private mixed secondary school in south Dublin.

34%

The number of post-primary schools that are are single-sex

That said, co-education is quite a natural move for Sandford Park, given its liberal ethos and reputation.

It certainly looks as though the admission of girls will not be as big a leap for Sandford Park as it might be for some other schools.

“There are practicalities to deal with of course,” says Byrne.

“We’ll have to provide things such as changing facilities for girls and we’ll need to extend our sports offering, but our pastoral care is strong. In terms of our curriculum, we offer a broad liberal education and there isn’t a laddish culture in the school. I think it will be a very positive thing.”