To be angry so many girls schools are going Co-Ed?

[FaeryRing]

Yet again it’s been proven girls do better in single sex schools (I have a son as well as a daughter so please don’t think I’m ’hating on boys’).

https://amp.theguardian.com/education/article/2024/may/12/girls-do-better-in-exams-at-all-girls-schools-than-mixed-research-finds

In my hometown growing up there were 4 girls schools. 1 grammar, 1 private, and 2 regular secondaries, meaning pretty much all parents regardless of background had access to single sex education for their daughters if they wanted it.

2 have announced their plans to go Co-Ed, with 1 already having done so, leaving just 1 (the grammar, so working class girls will be inherently disadvantaged). This seems to be a pattern across the country.

AIBU to be angry this is happening? Can’t girls have anything to themselves?

I’ve just read the original report and yes you’re right. However 1/10 of a grade could potentially be the difference in a grade if you’re on the cusp.

And secondly it’s interesting that the raw data, before controls for school type, selection, sixth form, SEN etc, finds that both boys and girls perform better in single sex schools in the state sector.

Some SEN girls do better in comps some leave because they can’t cope.

That will be down to SEN provision inadequacies. Any decent provision will enable all pupils to “cope”

It's not surprising that they both do better before controls as a lot of grammar schools are single sex.

Not necessarily it may just be down the environment. A very large school with a thousand of boisterous NT students is precisely what some SEN kids can’t cope with.

Quite. It’s interesting how much better they do.

Nothing to do with single sex and being boisterous isn’t down to gender or whether you’re NT or not.

I'm not sure it is interesting that students at selective grammar schools do better academically than students who go to non selective ones. It's very unsurprising.

Not really, most single selective schools are selective. The difference really is incredibly low considering the demographic is the brightest kids which form a very small percentage of the whole demographic anyway.

As I said it’s interesting how much better they do.

It isn’t.

It is to me.

Why is it? If they are selected because tests indicate they are more academic than the majority of their peers at age 11, it is hardly surprising that they then do better at exams when they are 16 or 18.

I've voted YABU because the argument that girls do better at single sex schools is pointless if they aren't prepared for the real world where they will be interacting with men both personally and professionally. So many women who are confident and achieving in single sex schools really struggle at uni or the workplace where they are competing with men or women who are more comfortable with men, and aren't exposed to different ways of thinking and perceiving problems/communication. Succeeding in an artificial environment isn't real success and an echo chamber of any sort isn't a good learning environment. Diversity is such a big topic in education and the workplace - it's redundant if someone spends their most formative years somewhat isolated from half the human population.. It's the same for boys who go to single sex schools and struggle to engage or interact with women comfortably because women have been put on a pedestal or sexualised as the 'other'.

Also there have been single sex schools for decades and none of that has contributed to increasing the number of women in technology, engineering or STEM professions. And I don't think single sex schools have contributed more to these professions than co-ed educations. Even so many of our female sportspeople (Laura Trott, Leah Williamson etc) went to co-ed schools. So I really don't see how success in a single sex school translates to adult life.

You are speaking a lot of prejudiced nonsense based on what you think will happen rather than reality. Most people who go to single sex schools still mix with the opposite sex outside of school and even if they didn't much they soon do once at university. A large proportion of private schools are single sex- do you think privately educated students struggle in the workplace more than people who went to mixed schools? I don't.

I agree.
They've mostly ended up there because they are more academic to start with, thus it stands to reason they might achieve good results anyway.

I work in one of the biggest global tech companies and asked for a quick show of hands how many in my team of 30 (14 women from 22 - 45, quite a global team) had been to single sex schools. Not a single one, not even the men/LGBTQI+. Tech is a huge contributor to the economy, one of the best paid and flexible professions for women and a future proofed job - so if women from co-ed schools are getting hired here in some cases as apprentices straight after A-Levels, I don't think single-sex schools offer any separate benefits.

There's already been lots of 'prejudiced nonsense' in favour of SS girls schools on this thread.

I went to an all girls school. Wouldn’t recommend it personally. Teenage girls can be horribly bitchy!

I think all kids generally do better with life skills in mixed schools. My son had choice of single sex or co-Ed grammar school, thank the lord he got into the co-Ed grammar.

True. I have argued against both.

No shit. You want me to explain why I find something interesting that you don’t? It’s up to you what you’re interested in.

I’m also interested in the fact that students in single sex schools are more likely to have EAL and also have higher than average attainment in reading as well as maths.

Sexism against men you mean 🙄 I’m amazed you’re still here tbh

That's like saying my best friends are ethnic minority so it doesn't matter if there are none in my school or workplace - I'm still diverse in my thinking. Or like saying I went on holiday to exotic location, I know how people from that location work/think. It absolutely isn't prejudiced nonsense because the world of work is changing drastically and many single sex schools aren't fit for purpose anymore. Why they're adapting to the times..Private school might get you into top unis and then what - the newest generation coming through the workplace aren't all from private schools like 20 years ago. Plenty of kids who excelled at school struggle at uni and throughout adult life because sexual politics aren't easy to navigate.

There is absolutely no way to argue that segregated education - be it based on sex or race is a good idea because good school performance, even good uni performance doesn't translate into adult life. Schools teach you academia/sports/extra currics - they can't teach you all the intangibles of working/collaborating/learning from others different to you like men or other races. And no one is learning these things at uni - they have enough on with finding their tribe, exploring their freedom and getting through exams/finding a job. School is the easiest and best way to learn and absorb how to get on in the modern world.

Agreed there. But it’s boys nonetheless.

Oh god. Worst of both worlds.