Single-gender or mixed -gender? <i>All-boys and all-girls school students'attitude towards single-sex schooling</i>

Abstract

The main objectives of this study were to examine the attitudes of students attending all-boys and all-girls schools towards single-sex schooling and to look at if this school type can be used as an alternative strategy to enhance academic achievement among female students. The study was descriptive survey and primary data were collected from 562 randomly selected students attending all-boys or all-girls schools. Documents were reviewed and informal interviews were made. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics in the form of frequency counts and  percentage distributions. The findings revealed that, despite written evidences that all students in these schools join higher education institutions, the majority of boys and girls did not reflect positive attitude towards this school type in enhancing their academic achievement. Unlike girls, boys rejected the role of their single-sex school in improving their school behaviour. Both boys and girls disliked single-sex schools when schools were portrayed as ‘places for cross-gender socialization’. Unlike boys, girls supported the description of single-sex schools as ‘places that can result in gender-based  discrimination and stereotyping’. Both boys and girls preferred mixed-gender schools. Nevertheless, to enhance the academic achievement and the educational aspirations of female students by balancing student preferences, the academic benefits of single-gender schools, and its disadvantages arising from students’ fear of being exposed to gender-based discrimination and stereotyping, as well as inability to effectively
communicate with the opposite sex, the single-sex classroom within a mixed-gender school approach is  recommended as a fair alternative. Besides, schools and parents should work aggressively to mitigate the unintended consequences of single-gender schools on student behaviour and, in this regard, particular attention should be given to help boys in all-boys schools.

Keywords: single-sex, mixed-gender, teaching, achievement, learning, attitude