What are the benefits?
- Better exam results. Single-sex schools dominate the top of the exam league tables.
- Girls and boys mature at different rates. Girls benefit from being in a school that recognises this difference in maturity and provides an education specifically geared to their needs.
- Women's path to future success lies in having a good grounding in their education. A single-sex environment produces girls who are confident leaders and independent thinkers, with the will to succeed.
What girls' schools do differently
- Counter mass-media influences by freeing girls from the pressure to conform to sexist patterns of behaviour, and providing them with a framework with which to judge the image of girls in today's media. Girls are free to grow up at their own pace.
- Support a ‘can-do' philosophy. Girls hold all the senior positions in the school: all the scientists are girls, all the mathematicians are girls. There is no subject area or activity at the school in which girls do not excel.This leads undoubtedly to a ‘can-do' philosophy in the school.
- Recognise the qualities of girls and how they learn. Girls' schools are expert in recognising the qualities of girls and understanding what makes them tick and how they learn. This knowledge is built up over years of experience of teaching girls.
- Celebrate learning without social distractions. Girls' schools offer an environment in which girls can concentrate on learning without the distraction of boys. Without the presence of boys, girls tend to display their intelligence and curiosity, regardless of powerful notions of popularity or negative peer pressure.
- Ensure that there is no sex stereotyping of subjects. Girls are more likely to take subjects that are less ‘traditionally popular' with girls, because subjects aren't seen as those for ‘boys' or those for ‘girls'.
- Provide leadership opportunities and models. Girls' schools are institutions where all the leadership positions in the school are held by girls and where girls can find strong role models amongst the staff and philosophy of the school.
- Celebrate the female perspective. Girls' schools celebrate the female perspective and way of doing things, are places where girls are accustomed to being heard and being valued for who they are. The girls' school environment affirms and encourages young women in their capacities as confident individuals, leaders and agents of social change.
But what about co-education?
- Research in both the UK and the USA over the last 20 years has indicated that, for many girls, a co-educational classroom does not help them to achieve equality, but indeed may depress self-confidence and limit aspirations. This means many girls are not helped to the best education in a co-ed classroom.
- Boys dominate teacher time. Classroom observations showed that boys answer and ask more questions, are more demanding of the teacher's attention and time, organise themselves more quickly and ruthlessly to their tasks, while girls hang back through shyness or a desire to be helpful and co-operative.
- Girls are less likely to take intellectual risks and are more passive. They prefer to solve problems by team-working.
- Subject choices are more likely to be polarised. In co-educational schools, both boys and girls are more likely to choose traditional ‘male' and ‘female' subjects. This limits choice and aspirations for both boys and girls.
- Girls tend to lose self-esteem and confidence as they progress through adolescence. This is made worse if they are constantly being placed under social pressure from boys. A co-ed environment does not always give them the space and security in which to build up their self-esteem and confidence in their own abilities as individuals.
- Fewer positive role models for girls. Co-ed schools do not always provide girls with the necessary positive role models through the teaching staff and the general ethos and philosophy of the school that is so essential for building girls' self-esteem and confidence. This is particularly the case for schools that have gone co-ed but where girls are in a minority. These are essentially still boys' schools with all the male traditions and trappings.
- Girls mature physically, mentally and emotionally earlier than boys. Girls are likely to lose out, as they tend to mature earlier and may well be held back by slower developing boys.
- Girls can have fewer opportunities for leadership roles in co-ed schools.
Text and facts about girls’ schools – Copyright 2008: The Girls’ Schools Association,
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