by Richard Smith

Created on: July 12, 2008

In the field of education in the UK single sex education has a longer history than mixed sex education however in the present day it is the mixed education system mainly in the form of the state run comprehensive education that is the format that educates the majority of students.

Many people have quite strong views on whether single sex education is better than mixed education even if for the majority there is little option but to send their children to mixed sex schools. Even in a mixed sex school it is still possible to find children in single sex classes for some subjects, in my last school Public, Social and Health Education (PSHE) was taught in single sex groups as well as some Science, Maths and English groups.

I must admit I do not have strong views on either side of the debate. I know that as a parent I would be inclined to have my children educated in single sex schools if I could afford it however this is more to do with the fact that a lot, but not all, of the top private schools are single sex and I would be paying for the level of education rather than a belief that single sex education is better. In my own local authority there is still a Grammar School system for which an entrance exam must be taken and both of these schools are single sex as well and in the case of the girls school regularly finishes in the top 25 state performance tables based upon exam results.

In fact in a paper by Professor Alan Smithers entitled "The Paradox of Single-Sex and Co-Educational Schooling" (available to download from the University of Buckingham website) makes this argument. He argues that single-sex schools being better is a myth produced by league-tables, which neglect to highlight that most single sex schools are are generally independent, grammar or former grammar schools and so do well because of the pupil intake. The ability and social background of the pupils is more representative of why such schools rather than gender i.e. single sex schools are often filled with high-ability pupils from good social-economic backgrounds. With this in mind their success should not be used to argue it is better to separate girls and boys in other settings as the gender issue has little to do with pupils performance in contrast to social background, ethnicity and prior performance.

One of the main arguments against single sex schools is that by not having a gender mix the child social development will be impacted upon as they do not encounter peers of the opposite sex and

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