Single sex or co-educational? That question is back in the headlines - after a number of all-boys schools in New South Wales announced plans to make the switch to co-ed learning. We've heard plenty from angry parents, principals and politicians, but how do students feel about it?
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00:00 We spoke to high schools here in Adelaide. So we spoke to three boys from an all-boys
00:06 school, some girls from an all-girls school and some students from a co-ed school here
00:10 in Adelaide. And basically what they're saying is they really like their schools. They think
00:16 the learning is tailored to them. The girls at the all-girls school liked the tailored
00:22 learning, the boys liked it as well. When we look at the science on the debates, there's
00:26 really no evidence to point one way or the other. There's no difference in academic output
00:32 between single sex and co-ed. And that's because schools are just such diverse places and it's
00:39 really hard to boil it down to one factor being single sex or co-ed. There's so many
00:43 different things that go into a school that make it effective or good. But let's take
00:49 a listen and see what the students say about their learning.
00:52 We all know that boys and girls are very different in nature and they grow up at different rates
00:58 and going to an all-boys school accommodates for that.
01:01 Your learning is definitely enhanced as well because you've got the boys and the girls
01:05 and you think differently. So it's really nice to get everyone's opinions, you learn
01:09 differently.
01:10 Being in an all-girls school, we can realise that it's also not always about men and that
01:14 we can do the things that they can do.
01:16 The school provides the experiences and the school provides the tailoring. I don't think
01:20 necessarily it's better or worse.
01:22 It's very individual to the person I feel for boys and girls. But my brother goes to
01:28 a co-ed school and I think it's definitely more beneficial for him to be there than in
01:32 an all-boys school because that just suits his personality.
01:35 You get the social networking with both genders and that it's not socially awkward when you
01:41 go to talk with people of other genders.
01:44 Being able to socialise outside of school more so has probably helped me to be able
01:49 to focus on learning as best as I can.
01:52 I just feel like it adds competition because you never want to lose to a boy, I guess,
01:57 personally.
01:58 I think this debate has been one that's been happening for more than 100 years. Even in
02:03 the 1960s there was a big report that basically said, look, co-ed schools are going to be
02:08 dominating in 20 years. There's going to be no single-sex schools left so let's not worry
02:12 about them.
02:13 I think single-sex schools will still remain. I think they do provide value, particularly
02:18 girls' schools. I think it's a good environment for them to learn in. But I think it's just
02:23 about giving students and parents the option and finding out what sort of learning works
02:29 best for them so that they can pick the right school for them in the end.
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