Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Secondary education

Connect with other parents whose children are starting secondary school on this forum.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Single sex classes in mixed comprehensive

29 replies

Rufustherednosedreindeer · 05/12/2013 22:48

I don't want to go into too many details but one of the classes in my year 10 child's senior school is all boys and the other is all girls

This doesn't sit well with me and I have never heard of it before, I am going to query this with the school directly, but before I do does any body else have experience of this?

What do you think? Good idea? And if so why?

Thanks

OP posts:

Seeline · 06/12/2013 09:34

I've never heard of it, but think it could be a really good idea. Girls and boys learn so differently, and it would give the benefits of single sex education, whilst having the benefits of co-ed too. Is it only in Y10 though - why not throughout the school?

crazymum53 · 06/12/2013 10:59

I do know a local independent school who offers this for some areas of the curriculum, but this throughout the senior school and the reasons for this are made clear to parents before they apply.
As Seeline says there is some evidence that girls do better in certain subjects such as Science and Maths if they are taught in single-sex groups.
It could be also be due to some problems with this particular year group though!

Unexpected · 06/12/2013 11:44

Did the school not explain why they were doing this? We had this once at DS1's secondary school for English. It was an experiment, I believe, and each class studied different texts, chosen to appeal more to that sex. Can't for the life of me remember what the boys studied but it only happened for about 8 weeks and hasn't happened since so I assume it was deemed not to be a success.

NigellasLeftNostril · 06/12/2013 11:47

i think its a great idea, my year 10 daughter hates being sexually harassed in the class

3FrenchHenD19s · 06/12/2013 11:49

I taught in an all girls school for 10 years and have previously taught in mixed schools. I think this is a great idea for their education and social development.

Original poster

Rufustherednosedreindeer · 06/12/2013 12:17

It happened last year as well, we were not told pre options that this would be the case.

The boys class seem to be completely out of hand and my son is struggling. Temperament wise he is very sensitive and virtually all his friends are girls.

I think that children learn differently and it's not so much the learning techniques as the behaviour that concerns me

I'm sorry to hear about your daughter nigella,

So, so far a lot of opinions that it's a good idea but not many schools have done it in practice

Thanks for that, obviously any other comments are very welcome

OP posts:

NigellasLeftNostril · 06/12/2013 12:19

oh no it was quite funny in the end, the boy got his comeuppance'''

NigellasLeftNostril · 06/12/2013 12:23

they were using drills in engineering right? (daughter the only girl in the class) and this boy reached out and pinched her nipple saying 'are they real?' and (I am so proud!!) daughter calmly switched off her drill and put it down and punched him in the face
the teacher saw it all and removed him from the class, and she did not get into any trouble at all. I suppose he was lucky not to get drilled really.
not that i am advocating punching boys in general before anyone starts!

Original poster

Rufustherednosedreindeer · 06/12/2013 12:35

Good on her!

OP posts:

homework · 06/12/2013 13:35

My friends daughter goes to a school that does this for maths , English and science , I think it's just those subjects the rest are mixed , she never really commented on this being a problem .
Her daughter does comment on them being very strict as a school in general .
The really problem isn't that it's an all boys class the problem is the teachers lack of ability to control the class , which could well be the same if it had girls in it too .
Some classes just have more kids in them that are harder to discipline , my son experiences this a lot , and it isn't always the boys who are the problem.
Maybe speak to teacher involved first to hear there take on things , as there always two side to every story. If remains a problem speak to head of department , head of year.
Please remember it must be really hard to keep every kid interested in a class , especially when some of them don't really want to be there. No I'm not a teacher but can see that they do have a difficult job at times , like we all do , no job is perfect all the time .

MillyMollyMama · 06/12/2013 14:58

In some subjects it is believed girls learn more effectively without boys present, especially science and maths. Berkhamsted Collegiate school teaches separately until 6th form. I would ask the school why they have separated the pupils into gender groups, but it could be for very sound educational reasons. Personally it would not worry me.

Original poster

Rufustherednosedreindeer · 06/12/2013 16:03

I am seeing the relevant people in the next few weeks, and want to see what they can do to help. I don't think it's an issue with the teacher as such. I should also point out that I'm sure that most of the children are happy with the situation.

I am concerned because my A pupil is now looking at C's in that subject

I don't think anything will change (and maybe it shouldn't) I am mainly unhappy that we were not warned pre options because that would have affected his choices.

I agree that it is probably because girls do better in single sex classes, however I don't think that's the case for all girls or for all boys. There are exceptions, and my child is apparently one of them

Thank you all for your comments, they have been very helpful so far

OP posts:

crazymum53 · 12/12/2013 15:38

There was some good info about this on the Good schools Guide website when we were looking at secondary schools that we found helpful.
Unfortunately although girls do better in single sex classes - I believe that in general boys perform better in a co-ed environment.
HTH

trinity0097 · 12/12/2013 16:47

I did this a a head of maths in a middle school, for years 5 and 6. Was to close the gap between high achieving boys and girls. It didn't close the gap, but instead improved results for both genders, so some kind of result! We found that the boys loved a competitive approach to teaching maths that was very regimented, but the girls did better in a more softly softly environment where it wasn't as regimented and no overtly competitive element.

friday16 · 12/12/2013 19:25

Unfortunately although girls do better in single sex classes - I believe that in general boys perform better in a co-ed environment.

So girls are expected to sacrifice their results in order to drag ill-behaved boys along? What's in that for the girls?

lljkk · 12/12/2013 19:31

Single sex education really is Foreign to me. I don't like it. I don't even like the fact that DC (one ultra competitive Dd & one can't be asked DS) have single gender for PE lessons. I don't see that it does them any good whatsoever, I only see bads.

BikeRunSki · 12/12/2013 19:35

DH's school did this for maths and English; it is written up on "Raiding Boys". It was The Cotswold School. I think DH had left but BIL was there.

BikeRunSki · 12/12/2013 19:35

Raising Boys!

crazymum53 · 12/12/2013 20:20

Friday 16 the OP has a boy who seems to be doing worse now that he is being taught in an all-boys group than when it was a co-ed class. That is consistent with the research findings. The articles are however several pages long and trying to sum them up in one line is hard.
I am not sure if it's as simple as that though. All girls schools do tend to be in more affluent parts of the country and the ones that remain are mostly grammar schools so perhaps there's more to it than that.
The link to the article is below: www.goodschoolsguide.co.uk/help-and-advice/choosing-a-school/find-the-right-school/356/do-girls-do-better-in-girls-schools.
the OP may also be interested in the following recent article www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-188146/Boys-learn-better-girls.html.
HTH

friday16 · 12/12/2013 23:10

Friday 16 the OP has a boy who seems to be doing worse now that he is being taught in an all-boys group than when it was a co-ed class.

And how are the girls doing in their all-girls class?

VworpVworp · 12/12/2013 23:13

I would hope that they are! For PE

prettybird · 13/12/2013 16:31

When I was at school (over 30 years ago ), we were separated boys/girls for, of all subjects, English in 1st year (=Y7). Not sure what the reasoning was - think it was something to do with keeping the boys enthused about English.

School was strong in academic subjects with no apparent sexism - many of us went on to do half Arts and half Sciences for Highers and never considered that we shouldn't do Physics or Chemistry (iirc, Maths and English were both still compulsory in 5th year/for Highers)

MrsAMerrick · 26/12/2013 08:18

My dc's school separates them for PE classes, but also for English from Year 08 to Year 11. They've done that for years, I think I remember it being explained that the boys tend not to discuss emotional issues about the texts if girls are in the class. Don't know how true that is but clearly school feels it is right thing to do as they are continuing to do it.
If the school has reason to believe it works then I don't have a problem with it. I wouldn't want all their classes taught in split genders though, otherwise you might as well send them to a single sex school.

CecilyP · 26/12/2013 10:56

This situation came about by accident rather than design at the FE college where I worked when an NC intake was divided according to where the students were sitting in the hall on induction day. One class was nearly all girls; the other nearly all boys. I taught both groups the same subjects and the girls group was an absolute dream to teach, whereas the boys group was extremely hard work. They were nice enough lads but trying to get any class discussion going was like pulling teeth. Anyway, staff more senior than I must have complained and we had two pretty reasonable mixed groups from the second term onwards.

So girls are expected to sacrifice their results in order to drag ill-behaved boys along? What's in that for the girls?

Probably nothing, and our girls complained before the change was made. But it was probably better for the boys and most definitely better for the staff.

In my son's small down-market comprehensive, by far the worst class he attended behaviour-wise was a standard grade physics class of higher abilility boys. (Lower ability children did general science and all but one of the higher ability girls had opted for chemistry and/or biology). All classes were mixed abillity lower down the school but none of them experienced this level of disruption.

In OP's position I would try to find out why the school is doing this, if she hasn't already done so. It may be a tried and tested method that the school has used for years or it could just be experimental to see how it goes. Either way, I think it is important that OP make the school aware of the difficulties it has presented for her son.

PointyChristmasFairyWand · 26/12/2013 17:29

So girls are expected to sacrifice their results in order to drag ill-behaved boys along?

I think that's very harsh, friday. Not all boys are badly behaved, and the OP's DS is clearly one of those who is not - and one who does better in a mixed environment. This is the problem with a one-size-fits all approach, even in single sex education - it does not fit all. I put this to you: Why should the OP's DS's education suffer because he is forced to be part of a group of badly behaved boys?

DD1's school has some groups which are all girl or all boy, alongside some which are mixed. I think this is the model that should be followed so that everyone can be accommodated - although it would take a larger school to do this.

Flip

1 2

Swipe left for the next trending thread