Do kids benefit more from single sex or co-ed schools?
Date: 03/03/2011 / Category: School holidays and working parents
One decision that many mums and dads battle with is whether their child would be better off in single sex education. While girls-only schools traditionally perform better than mixed institutions in exams, by sending their daughters to one, are they leaving them unprepared for the real world?
Kimble Earl, editor of the Independent Schools Magazine, said that one theory that many single-sex schools are picking up on is to teach the youngest and the oldest co-educationally but separate the boys and girls during those all-important teenage years.
There is no doubt that between the ages of 13 and 16, experiencing a mixed education could be distracting for some pupils, and divert their concentration away from their all-important work.
In addition, says Mr Earl, while around these ages, boys and girls learn in different ways, so it makes sense to separate them for a number of years at least.
Of the approach that combines co-education with single sex, he says: "This theory is gaining ground as it combines the best of co-ed with the best of single-sex, so its advocates say."
He added that many advocates of single sex education believe it reflects the life of society much more accurately than what some would think of as the "artificial" segregation of the boys and girls.
"Of course, the advocates of single-sex education would say that research proves academic performance is better in a single-sex environment than mixed," he added.
Writer Kate Niines, of helium.com, writes on the site that she feels conflicted about her own single sex education.
"I feel that my academic studies and results were superior for attending a single sex school; however I also felt that I missed out on a lot of life education by not having boys around much in my formative teenage years," she explains.
Posted by Michael Paige
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