Paula Burgess, head of Bramley School & Nursery, presents the benefits of a single-sex education for younger girls
Is it outdated to educate girls separately?
Will it hinder their ability to communicate with the opposite sex as they mature?
Paula Burgess, Head of Bramley School
As the Headmistress of Bramley School, an Early Years and preparatory school for girls, I firmly believe that current societal pressures probably heighten the need for single sex education, especially for girls. Girls develop their resilience and maturity at a relatively young age, so this is a particularly important issue during their primary years, before senior school.
I strongly urge parents to consider every aspect of schooling for their children – not just the academic. A school should be able to provide the environment for building self-worth and self-esteem. It is, therefore, important to think about the societal pressures that young people face and choose a school that will help nurture and develop the child’s personality without unnecessary distractions.
With that in mind, it’s worth considering a few proven points about how girls and boys develop. Of course, the choice of school must always be about the individual, and not everyone fits a mould, but I believe that these general insights illustrate why separating the genders, particularly in the early stages of education, is seriously worth considering.
Concentration
Boys work in an active way. They make more noise, and have shorter concentration spans – which are generally fairly fast and furious. Girls, by contrast, generally work in a calmer and quieter way. They are organised, considered, and methodical. As a result of their longer concentration spans, girls will also spend longer on learning activities; they are drawn more into role play.
When you put boys into a class with girls they continue in their busy and active way. As a result, the girls can become marginalised – they move to the periphery, taking up less space and less teacher time.
Reasoning
Generally, girls like to reason things out. They are more likely to need to know why something happens, and give issues more consideration. In a class of girls there is more need to discuss friendships and how to behave around friends, such as sharing. They are also more inclined to take things personally, with distinctive friendships. Boys' reasoning is more simplistic, often concludes with a direct 'yes or no' response, and they generally do not need to evaluate friendships in the same way as girls.
Of course, this does beg the question about whether a girls’ only environment creates a hot-house for relationship issues – but the truth is that girls will have friendship issues regardless of whether they’re in a single sex or co-ed environment. However, a girls’ only school will have the ability to very clearly manage the issues that develop between girls. This is something that a mixed school may find difficult to address.
Confidence
Research conducted amongst teachers of English in comprehensive schools (Raising Boys’ Achievement, Dept for Education & Skills, 2002) found that most teachers acknowledged greater levels of participation in lessons, and increased confidence amongst both sexes, when they were taught separately. With only their fellow girls in the classroom and on the sports field, girls in single sex schools have the space in which their intellectual and physical confidence can blossom. There is a tremendous freedom to be – and become – themselves and to fully explore all the education opportunities available to them.
Plus there’s no hiding place in a girls’ school – someone has to be Head of House, team leader and so on, and that someone has to be a girl. So there can be no gender stereotyping. The girls of today could be the leaders of tomorrow, and girls’ schools are wonderful environments for girls to learn not just how to shoulder responsibility, but also how to take risks and inspire and lead others. Indeed research by Ofsted (Girls’ Career Aspirations, Ofsted, 2011) has revealed that girls at single-sex schools are more likely to avoid preparing for “stereotypically female” careers than their contemporaries in co-educational schools.
The argument for single sex education
Girls have different brains than boys, and a different approach to their learning. They mature at a different rate (more advanced in some things, less advanced in others), and are more receptive to education; eager to learn and eager to please. In contrast, boys sometimes need to be tricked into learning. Single sex schools for girls dominate the top of the exam results league tables, achieving well above national averages when it comes to public exam results.
At Bramley, we focus on providing the right setting for our young girls to develop both their academic and social skills.
And with a track record of every girl going on to the Senior School of their choice for the last 13 years, we believe we are proving that a single-sex education environment is certainly not a disadvantage.
Paula Burgess is Headmistress at Bramley School in Walton-on-the-Hill
