Is there an argument for some subjects to be taught in single sex classes?

[MillicentF]

Girls only maths, for example? Our school has a literacy scheme that is targetted at boys only which has been very successful. Good idea or too divisive?

This isn't new OP, there are lots of schools that separate girls and boys for some core subjects (maths and English, as you say in your OP) as well as sex ed.

I'm not against it, provided that it is managed in a fair and equitable way, so girls don't end up with a crap teacher in a crap classroom while the boys get the best teacher in the best classroom, for example.

What do you think? Let’s hear your words of wosdom, OP.

They tried this in science when ds1 was doing his gcse year 10

They didnt talk to the parents about it and it went dreadfully

The teacher had no control whats so ever over the boys class

I personally had an issue on basing my sons education around what is in his pants rather than personality and learning skills

I would not have an issue with my other son or daughter being in either mixed or single sex classes as they can more than hold their own

OR with ds1 being in a single sex class with a vaguely competent teacher

Read Dale Spender - "Invisible Women: The Schooling Scandal"
It will answer all your questions.

I think it's a good idea especially with stem subjects where girls in mixed schools do not take them up or do as well as in, as they do in all girls school.

I can well believe though that sadly it doesn't benefit the boys so much as the "buffer zone girls " used to split up problem combinations of children are not in the class which could be problematic depending on the competence of the teacher.

Acknowledging differences and problems and trying to solve them is important though.

giles

Absolutely

I have a girl I absolutely see that single sex lessons can be very beneficial for girls and boys depending on the subject

However that is tempered in my mind by the individual personalities of my children

All top set for science and maths

If i had known that ds1 was to be in a single sex class i would have persuaded him to change his GCSE options

Absolutely absolutely absolutely

Fucks sake rufus pick another word

It's obviously one of those things where someone is always going to suffer. It's sad that the only way girls get the education they deserve is to have be separated from the boys. But by removing the girls you screw up the boys chances.

Would be easier if they looked at and clamped down on the stereotypes and the behaviour and the messages in these mixed schools that would enable everyone to learn in a safe happy environment.

I do think it's shocking how clearly reliant on well behaved girls schools actually are.

Not always the case though. My son goes to an all boys school and they don't seem to have the behaviour or low achievement problem.

Perhaps it's because there's no choice but to have to learn to deal with it?

Sadly the single sex schools round here are grammars so the intake is completely different too. Which must make a big difference

We are all well aware there exceptions. But i do think that mixed schools are perhaos too reliant on the calming influences of other children

Statistically girls do better in same sex Stem classes. Boys do better in mixed classes.

Oh I understand that stats

And as i said I don't disagree with them per se

But ds1 did not do well...strike that, he did not do as well as he should have done

But then its hard to concentrate when someone is flicking burning paper at you

Ds2 would flick it back and not miss a beat

We did a big push on boys literacy recently- we got volunteers in to read with boys, persuaded male teachers (particularly the most popular ones) to be seen reading books around the school and things like that. It was very successful and made a measurable difference, but some people were very uneasy about the perceived discrimination.

millicent

English was the other subject i was thinking about

In a local infant school they did have separate lessons for boys who were struggling and sadly already being put off reading

It was quite successful and my understanding is that a fair bit of the English literature reading is aimed at boys as it seems that girls are 'happier' reading on any subject

Agree with giles

The other problem in a comprehensive intake would be those at either end of the ability range. If eg a school has 180 intake and six maths sets, then separating by sex too would mean 3 sets each, resulting in a wide ability range in sets 1 & 3. Even more so for intakes without a genuine ability spread to start with.

"But by removing the girls you screw up the boys chances".

There are plenty of high performing boys schools. So it's not the fact of all boys that is the issue.

The difference is biggest I think in physics if you look at the iop stats, they recently did a study, it's across the board that girls have much higher take up in single sex schools.

I am one of the parents who has a "good" girl who keeps getting paired with a boy in the class who is very badly behaved, clearly this is not done to advantage her! It's for him and the teachers. What message does this sort of thing send girls.

. It was very successful and made a measurable difference, but some people were very uneasy about the perceived discrimination

I wonder if they would still be uneasy about discrimination if schools allowed boys to fail by doing nothing.

There are times it doesn't matter of you are am alien from mars.

But there are times that you have to admit there are differences. Pretending there is no difference is often nore discriminatory
To fix a problem you have to make the problem

Name

I have no issue with extra support for boys with reading where needed.

I am one of the parents who has a "good" girl who keeps getting paired with a boy in the class who is very badly behaved, clearly this is not done to advantage her! It's for him and the teachers. What message does this sort of thing send girls

I didn't realise that was 'a thing'. Why do you accept it? I'd be in there shouting the odds at the effect this would have on my daughter. 😡

I went to an all-girl school, and have always been glad of that. My more academic DD went to an all-girl school, the less-academic went to a mixed.

Rufustheyawningreindeer
It was quite successful and my understanding is that a fair bit of the English literature reading is aimed at boys as it seems that girls are 'happier' reading on any subject
Is that because the girls are less used to seeing female protagonists etc

I didn't realise that was 'a thing'. Why do you accept it? I'd be in there shouting the odds at the effect this would have on my daughter

There have been many a thread on this and the consensus is that whilst people are sympathetic, there are apparently few options, as the seating plans are merticulous, there is no where ekse to pit the kid. The disruptive kid deserves an education too. It is good for kids to learn to set the example etc

I don't think the impact on what is usually the well behaved girls is truly acknowledged

But as girls often don't kick up a fuss it's deemed a success.

My dd has been the a victim.of this method too. To the point her work was regularly disrupted. She really didn't do as well as she should have done in yr 5 and it wasn't until months later I found out why

Im hoping Im secondary it's not so bad but.....

It was quite successful and my understanding is that a fair bit of the English literature reading is aimed at boys as it seems that girls are 'happier' reading on any subject
Every school I've worked in has had some English push aimed at boys, with some looking at designing a curriculum with lots of war and drugs texts because it will engage the boys. I hate it with a passion.

Plan a challenging curriculum for all & staff need to teach like it's for everyone. What's in someone's pants doesn't make you better at one subject over another.

Last year I did Romeo and Juliet. The boys loved it more than the girls. Someone asked me 'how i hooked the boys'. I didn't. I taught the play.
Nobody ever says 'how did you hook the girls with war poetry?'

I quite like teaching mixed sex classes and think a lot of issues would be ironed out with better teaching, but maybe that's controversial.

When I was at school we had sessions of single sex and mixed sex PSHE and PE. As a girl, single sex was always better because you could ask questions without the usual suspects (cough all happened to be boys) taking the mick, and PE was far, far, more enjoyable without the over competitive boys quite literally pushing past us.