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Single-sex teaching
The DfES has commissioned a team of educational specialists at Homerton College Cambridge to pilot a three year project. Working with schools around the country, it will examine various strategies with a view to recommending models of good practice and guidance for teachers in order to raise boys' achievement. In terms of single-sex teaching in English comprehensive schools their interim findings report that:
- Single-sex teaching is used most often in a single subject (most usually English), in year 9 or years 10-11.
- Its effectiveness can be difficult to evaluate because it is often undertaken on a short-term basis, for just one year or one cohort of students. The initiative for its introduction is usually from the Department concerned, and it is mainly introduced either for pragmatic reasons (gender imbalance in year group or sets) or as a strategy for raising (boys') achievement.
- In undertaking single-sex teaching, around two-thirds of schools use different teaching strategies, particularly focusing on strategies to motivate boys. There is also some targeting of teachers to groups, and in some cases modifications are made to the curriculum to suit single-sex groups.
- There is conflicting evidence over whether examination results are better for pupils taught in single-sex groups.
- Pupils are almost always in favour of single-sex groupings, especially girls.
- Teacher opinion is often divided, but most acknowledge greater levels of participation in lessons, and increased confidence amongst both sexes.
- All-boy sets can be difficult to manage, although teachers often feel that behaviour is better in single-sex groups.
- A lack of staff commitment is the main reason for discontinuing single-sex teaching.
- Single-sex teaching appears most likely to be successful where staff are fully committed to it, where there is extensive preparation of staff and students before these groupings are put in place, where gender-specific teaching strategies are used and evolve, and where there is an ethos of achievement and discipline within the school.
OFSTEDs last review of research in this area [ISBN 0-11-350102-1] concluded that the apparently superior performance of single-sex (and especially girls only) institutions in terms of overall measures of examinations results has been largely due to the superior performance of the pupils entering those schools. When the different nature of the intakes to the schools has been taken into account the differences usually disappear
A small number of studies in other countries seem to suggest that girls-only institutions retain a very modest edge in performance, even when some major differences in the nature of their intakes have been taken into account. It is difficult to tell whether this advantage results form unmeasured aspects of their intakes, which researchers have failed to take into account, or from particular ways in which they are organised and teach.
All schools are free to adopt single-sex teaching and those co-educational schools that have been trying it out in certain subject areas have done so in recognition of what they feel are boys' and girls' differing learning styles and their interaction with each other. Opinions vary on its usefulness, some schools are positive that it has helped to improve results for both sexes, others report no noticeable difference.
Research so far suggests that schools succeed where they have taken a holistic approach to tackling gender differences. That could include creating a positive ethos that counters macho anti-school attitudes among boys; literacy strategies targeted at boys' preferred learning styles; performance data analysis and pupil monitoring; the use of mentors and role models and pupil grouping including single-sex teaching for some subjects.
There is little evidence that a one-size-fits-all approach would be effective in all schools and we are, of course, pleased to support schools in whatever system works best for them.
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