A new international report says single sex schooling offers no benefits and may be socially harmful.
The article, published in Science magazine by researchers from the American Council for CoEducational Schooling, says biological differences between the sexes have no significant effect on learning.
It says there is no scientific support for single-sex education, and that separating boys and girls in school may increase gender stereotyping and sexism. Co-author psychologist Diane Halpern said in a Science podcast that the evidence for single-sex education was mere “pseudoscience”. “A lot of the rationale for single-sex education is presented as though it’s based on sound science, and it really isn’t.
However Education Ministry figures show pupils at New Zealand single-sex schools achieve better NCEA results than those at co-ed schools.
The article’s claims also contrast with findings in a New Zealand study published in 2009, which studied the difference between co-ed and single-sex education over a 25-year period.
“The New Zealand data very clearly shows boys do worse in co-ed schools, and there is no gender gap in single-sex schools,” said the New Zealand study’s supervisor, University of Otago professor David Fergusson.
Palmerston North Boys’ High School Rector Tim O’Connor questioned the `objectivity’ of the report. “I think it has a bias given that the research was conducted by an American Council for CoEducation.
“The relevance of that research to New Zealand is questionable in terms of the results we see in boys schools.”
Mr O’Connor said single sex schools tend to be the domain of the independent sector in America, rather than the state sector.
“That differs greatly to the New Zealand style of education and it tends to be quite unique in that there are so many single-sex secondary state schools.”
“The concern I have out of articles like the one that was printed is they are trying to paint a picture of boys’ education and single-sex education that is almost archaic and prison-like and that what we do is no longer relevant to society, no longer relevant to the generation that is before us.”
Source
Related Posts:
- Children from single-sex schools more likely to be sexist
- Single-sex schools may do more harm than good
News category: New Zealand.
