Single-sex teaching in a co-educational comprehensive school in England: an evaluation based upon students' performance and classroom interactions

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What did the observations of classroom interaction show?

Quantitative analysis showed that:

in all single-sex classes, teachers asked more questions in boys' classes than girls' classes;
in mixed sex classes girls were asked twice as many questions than boys;
most of this questioning was instructional and content-related "aiming to sustain and develop the students' understanding";
in single-sex classes the level of students' requests for help from the teacher showed little variation according to gender;
in the mixed-sex geography classes, girls made almost twice as many requests as boys;
girls made significantly more public and spontaneous comments in lessons and participated "more in active learning and work-related discussion"; and
there was more teacher interaction to support boys' learning in mathematics than girls', in contrast to geography where girls were supported more than boys.

Qualitative analysis showed that although there were often marked similarities in lessons taught to girls and those taught to boys:

all-boys' lessons were often more structured with more variations of activity and more teacher-imposed momentum;
all-girls' lessons were often more open, less teacher-driven, with more scope for independent learning and more need for sustained attention;
classroom management issues were more high profile in boys' lessons;
classroom atmosphere and ethos was markedly different between the girls' and boys' lessons. The girls had a "co-operative, collaborative ethos which was less frequently replicated in the corresponding boys' lessons";
there was more positive participation in girl's classes;
girls took a much more active role in classroom interactions in mixed-sex classes than boys. This pattern of "interaction was so dominant that it cannot be over-emphasised";
teachers' expectations in mixed sex classes seemed frequently to be "determined by and focused on a number of very articulate and confident girls"; and
in mixed sex classes "boys were often not only on the physical periphery of the classes but on the academic periphery too".

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Research Home Themes \| Find digests \| About the digests resources glossary researchers contact TRIPS Introduction Does it matter whether children are grouped by sex for schooling? The aims of the study The study design What did the GCSE performance profiles show? What did the observations of classroom interaction show? What did the attitude to single-sex teaching within the school show? Conclusions drawn from the research Implications Where can I find out more? Send us your feedback Collated digests To view/remove/add notes and save your collated digests click here Get Word Reader Single-sex teaching in a co-educational comprehensive school in England: an evaluation based upon students' performance and classroom interactions This digest found in Gender Send to a friend Word doc 50KB Printer friendly Collate for later What did the observations of classroom interaction show? Quantitative analysis showed that: in all single-sex classes, teachers asked more questions in boys' classes than girls' classes; in mixed sex classes girls were asked twice as many questions than boys; most of this questioning was instructional and content-related "aiming to sustain and develop the students' understanding"; in single-sex classes the level of students' requests for help from the teacher showed little variation according to gender; in the mixed-sex geography classes, girls made almost twice as many requests as boys; girls made significantly more public and spontaneous comments in lessons and participated "more in active learning and work-related discussion"; and there was more teacher interaction to support boys' learning in mathematics than girls', in contrast to geography where girls were supported more than boys. Qualitative analysis showed that although there were often marked similarities in lessons taught to girls and those taught to boys: all-boys' lessons were often more structured with more variations of activity and more teacher-imposed momentum; all-girls' lessons were often more open, less teacher-driven, with more scope for independent learning and more need for sustained attention; classroom management issues were more high profile in boys' lessons; classroom atmosphere and ethos was markedly different between the girls' and boys' lessons. The girls had a "co-operative, collaborative ethos which was less frequently replicated in the corresponding boys' lessons"; there was more positive participation in girl's classes; girls took a much more active role in classroom interactions in mixed-sex classes than boys. This pattern of "interaction was so dominant that it cannot be over-emphasised"; teachers' expectations in mixed sex classes seemed frequently to be "determined by and focused on a number of very articulate and confident girls"; and in mixed sex classes "boys were often not only on the physical periphery of the classes but on the academic periphery too".