Would a move back to single sex education help our girls?

[BalletBunting]

I've been meditating on this recently - particularly seeing reports of the shocking levels of sexual harassment girls experience at school, as well as seeing the levels of gender stereotyping both my DC (one of each) have experienced since they were born. It made me wonder whether a move back to more single sex schools (for secondary at least) could actually have a positive effect on children of both sexes (and girls in particular)

Less sexual harassment, less stereotyping and as I understand the research shows that children do better in single sex environments, where they don't feel they need to 'perform' for the opposite sex. It also means that difficulties of puberty including hormones, menstruation etc can be dealt with in what might feel like a more safe environment.
Thoughts?

There are plenty of single sex education options in the UK. If you feel this strong about it, go for one of those options. Are you suggesting this should be done by law with everybody forced into single sex education?

Single- sex education may have advantages but it is not the norm in societies with particularly good indicators in terms of equality between men and women.

we will be aiming to send DD to a girls' secondary school - always had this in mind for her and now feel very strongly about this indeed.

There certainly aren't 'plenty of options' - we are not the the catchment for any girls' school, so we will move or go private.

I come from a country with a great deal of sex segregated education and I'm a "no thanks".

Taken to its logical conclusion girls should stay at home in splendid isolation and are thus be fully protected fro sexism. Single sex schools do not protect girls from the world at large. They still have to deal with the harassment and stereotyping. IME there's less stereotyping in schools than there is outside. So no protection is offered through segregation. Nor does segregation prepare them for the inevitability of joining the real world and having to deal with a world filled with men. I'd rather my kids learned to work with classmates of both sexes as preparation for the world, than view the opposite sex as "other" and possibly just as social playthings.

My understanding is that the research on single sex schools that suggests that girls perform better academically in single sex schools has been debunked. In fact girls outperform boys academically across the board.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-35419284
And there aren't 'plenty of options' unless you can go private.

There are more options than in other countries around us. My kids (a boy & a girl) refused to sit any grammar school exams because the ones around us are all single-sex. They didn't want to separate from each other and they didn't want single-sex education. They are both very bright academically and I believe (have not tested it) they could have made it, but the 'co-ed' option was not there.

They still spend a lot of time together inside and outside the school because they share hobbies (football and music mainly). Countries that strongly limit single-sex education are not doing so bad (think Norway or Finland)

I know these studies about 'performing better' academically. It depends on how much importance you place on these results. I am totally against imposing by law a single-sex education framework.

I send my child to a no-uniform school that discourages social media / TV etc until mid teens. The teen girls there seem to feel less need to adopt the fake lashes/fake tan/fake nails/porn star look that is so popular amongst teen girls at the moment - individuality seems to be encouraged. Hopefully the culture there will not change over the coming years.

There is also zero tolerance of mobile phones amongst all pupils during school hours, again this seems to be helping in some way to fight the tide of hypersexualisation that our young people are exposed to.

I think media-free schools may be a better option than single sex?

It's not the mixing of sexes that is the problem, it's how both the sexes are being groomed by the media into feeling they have to act in a certain way.

Absolutely not.

Segregation, whether by sex or by religion or by ethnicity should not be encouraged. We need less of it, not more. Rosa Parks taught us that where segregation exists it should be challenged. We need a society which is more integrated, more homogeneous, less divided, less siloed, less suspicious and distrustful of difference.

camaleon I don't necessarily mean imposing by law, I mean increasing provisions. Your likely your DC had the option to choose - many don't

I asked my daughter what one thing would improve her school and she said get rid of the boys! But not for most of the reasons you suggest. She just finds them irritating, loud, disruptive and not serious about schoolwork (which fairly accurately describes my son). Some of these are stereotypical masculine traits true enough. But she doesn’t feel that she is treated differently by the teachers, but does wonder why they boys aren’t disciplined more. She feels though that she is punished by the teachers separating boys and putting them on her table as she is well behaved. She certainly doesn’t feel she has to ‘perform’ for the boys, she just wishes they weren’t there.
I don’t think there’s an argument for single sex schools because of their monthly cycle - that’s just not realistic and it would make it seems that girls need special treatment.
My daughter will go to an all girls school for sixth form at a more academically aggressive school. It will require us to move as there are no single sex schools near us.

Just read you know 3timeslucky. Totally agree. Life is not single-sex. You spend a large part of your childhood/teenage years socialising within a school that does not represent the society you are theoretically preparing to enter.

Oh FFS Rosa Parks has no place in this discussion. Comparing Jim Crow to sex segregated schools is simply nonsense

I went to a girls school and I feel that I benefited from it as a whole. I feel this even more so after teaching in mixed secondary schools. Girls are all too often sidelined in class when there are boys, STEM subjects are seen as not being “feminine” and the curriculum in all subjects is tailored to suit boys. I will endeavour to send my daughters to our local non-denominational girls school, but I appreciate that we are very lucky to have such a thing.

And I should add that going to a mixed school was best for my son. The girls and boys have always got in well with each other in his year.

3timeslucky disagree. DD in an all girl's state school. They are shit hot on sexism. This coupled with an environment where my DD doesn't have to learn to tolerate casual sexist behaviour, together with our reinforcement as a family that such crap is unacceptable is serving her well for 'the big wide world'. She doesn't live in a bubble, school is a welcome respite.

I went to an all girls school and it would be a NO from me

So no protection is offered through segregation.

I don’t agree. Protection from sexual assaults, which happen very frequently in both primary and secondary, is one benefit of single sex education for girls.

My DD went to mixed for primary and is in final years at a single sex secondary. We are very happy we chose single sex education for her, she likes it a lot herself too. They do mix with their brother school, our DD does drama so loads of plays and other things are mixed, so they’re not entirely locked away from boys!

Segregation, whether by sex or by religion or by ethnicity should not be encouraged. We need less of it, not more Could not agree more, but there a significant part of the population who wants single-sex education/religious education. It is not disappearing. I just don't think a system of beliefs should be imposed on everybody.

I went to a mixed school then a single sex school in secondary I didn't mind either, but there was so much more bullying in the girls school and spitefulness than in the mixed however I think I'll still send mine when they are older to single sex ones.

But camaleon surely lack of single sex options is just as much an 'imposed system of beliefs'?

Segregation, whether by sex or by religion or by ethnicity should not be encouraged.

Oh really? So you’d have mixed sex changing rooms too would you? Mixed sex hospital wards? The comparison of sex to race is very TRA-ish.

Eldest DD went to all girls secondary and we are hoping youngest gets in. (We are borderline for catchment).

I have a vague memory that there was a study done years ago suggesting that on balance, girls tended to better in single sex and boys in mixed.

But camaleon surely lack of single sex options is just as much an 'imposed system of beliefs'?
Perhaps, but society is not single sex. But you can always find 'evidence' demonstrating the benefits of one or the other option. I look into gender parity in countries that limit single sex education and I like it more. It does not really mean anything (the reasons could be others).

I am in favour of single sex education for the secondary phase, certainly. Girls tend to thrive in such an environment. The single sex school I went to had some astonishingly bright girls who were engaged with what is now called STEM subjects without any hindrance.

We also had "brother" schools with whom we interacted for a variety of activities. And, of course, outside of school, many of the girls had brothers at home and went to mixed sex youth clubs etc.

No, I would not mix changing rooms. Co-ed schools don't mix changing rooms. What are you talking about JessicaWakefieldSV?

When unnecessary I will always prefer to have non-segregated spaces. I also prefer mix-ability classes rather than 'sets'. However, there are times when segregation is needed (privacy/extra lessons for SENs or whatever/language support, etc.)