A lesson in growing up together

Why is it that girls are keener on studying in a boy's school than boys are of studying in a girl's school? At a time when so many independent boys' schools are starting to take girls, why is it that so few girls' schools in the private sector are even contemplating the possibility of taking boys? It's a question that is increasingly asked in education circles, and the answer, it seems, is both twofold and simple. Firstly, girls' schools are philosophically and educationally against the idea of adulterating their all-female formula. Secondly, boys think going to a girls' school would be cissy. "For most boys, the prospect of going to an all-girls school would, to put it bluntly, be rather emasculating," says Andrew Halls, head of King's College School, Wimbledon, which started taking girls into its sixth form in 2010. "Girls, however, see it very differently. A certain sort of girl is very ready for a change, around sixth-form time. They are conscious of having been in the same kindly nest for a long time, sometimes since they were very small. Quite often, the more they've loved being there, the more they want to get out." A small (and admittedly very unscientific) sample of recent school-leavers in south-west London confirms this view. "I'd been at the same girls' high school since I was 11," says Susan, who chose to do her A-levels at Westminster (mainly Boys') School. "It had been great when I was little, and I felt very secure and had lots of friends, but when I got to 16, I really felt like I needed a change, and a new challenge. Going to a school with boys felt, I don't know, more grown-up, I suppose." Conversely, when I asked if they would like to go to a girls' school, the adjective most commonly employed by a group of 16-year-old boys was "weird". "Apart from anything else, it feels like you would get less opportunities, rather than more," said one boy. "Apart from anything else, the sports facilities aren't great at most girls' schools, and because there would be fewer boys, the teams would be really weak." Mind you, even boys more interested in reading than rugby are not exactly pushing against an open door, when it comes to gaining entry to a girls' school. While most all-female establishments are happy to engage in joint activities with nearby boys' schools (talks, clubs, plays), allowing them in full-time is not on the agenda. "It's our firm belief that girls are more likely to achieve their potential within single-sex environments," maintains Kevin Stannard, director of innovation and learning at the Girls' Day School Trust (24 schools, 20,000 pupils). "In a mixed classroom, boys tend to take the driving seat, monopolising discussion, assuming leadership roles, and always jumping in and answering questions. "That said, we don't see a single-sex environment so much as protecting girls from the real world, as giving them a more supportive environment in which to learn to face challenges and take risks." And those challenges don't just stop in the classroom, says Louise Robinson, head teacher of Merchant Taylors' Girls' School, in Crosby, Merseyside, and president of the Girls' Schools Association (179 schools, 9,500 pupils). "Glass ceilings do still exist for women, and there are still battles to be fought," she insists. "It begins at an early age, too, when girls are deciding what subjects they are going to do. In a co-ed school, some subjects can be seen as very male-orientated, and girls shy away from them. At our schools, though, girls can make choices free of stereotypes, and, as a result, large numbers opt to do maths and physics." In fact, the number of GSA girls taking physics or chemistry A-level is 90 per cent higher than the national average. And the number of GDST girls going on to take degrees in medicine is five times higher than the norm. Of course, all-boys education has its champions, too. "Boys learn in a different way from girls – it's more competitive, at a different pace," says John Moule, head of Bedford Boys School. "What's more, there is definitely a 'boy' way of teaching, when it comes to issues of motivation, concentration, pace and maturity of response." This argument is frequently put forward. Yet rather than being formally trained in the teaching of different gender "styles", most teachers are required to use their "classroom antennae" to pick it up. Meanwhile, some schools get round the problem with policies of partial segregation. "We operate what's called a 'diamond structure', whereby boys and girls are taught together from three to 11, then have separate lessons from 11 to 16, and come back together in the sixth form", says Mark Steed, head of Berkhamsted School, in Hertfordshire. "So while our boys and girls get the academic advantages of single-sex education, they also get the social advantages of being in a mixed-sex environment. They're getting the best of both worlds." Even the most convinced co-ed schools set aside a certain amount of segregated time, even if it's not in lessons. "A 13-year-old boy is very different from a 13-year-old girl, and we take that difference very seriously," says Sarah Thomas head teacher at Bryanston, a formerly all-male boarding school, in Dorset, which went fully co-ed as long ago as 1976. "It's not just a matter of having all-boy and all-girl houses, either, it's about the size of those houses. Our junior boys' boarding houses have 40 boys to a house, but we would never have a girls' house that big; boys are happy with large numbers, and make their hierarchies public, but girls are more careful and cautious in that respect. "We are always very mindful of the fact that we are a family school, and that our boys and girls should feel part of a loving community." Which all sounds very different to the way in which Mr Quelch and colleagues would have described Greyfriars Schools to Mr and Mrs Bunter. There is, of course, still an appetite for the traditional single-sex school. Of the 1,234 educational establishments belonging to the Independent Schools Council, 21 per cent are still single-sex, a little over half of those all-girls. That said, more and more consumers – sorry, parents – are thinking along co-ed lines. "Most parents contacting our advice service are looking for co-educational schools," says Janette Wallis, of The Good Schools Guide. "Firstly, it's going to make their life easier to have a son and daughter at the same school; secondly, in a lot of cases, their daughters are looking to move to a mixed school for the sixth form." And come 16, says Andrew Halls, boys and girls should be able to work alongside each other to each other's benefit, rather than detriment. "I agree that there's a certain pleasure in a single-sex environment in terms of un-self-consciousness," he concedes. "That ability to be just a boy or a girl is something that can protect you in your middle-school years. "Nevertheless, by the time you get to the sixth form, I think that if a school continues not to reflect the gender make-up of the wider world outside, it should be required to make an active case as to why it's pursuing that policy."