single sex vs mixed schools

am_zarathustra · 25-05-2024 4:27pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122162448#Comment_122162448

I'd agree with this, there are many factors that go into schooling, and many of them are significantly more important than single sex versus Co Ed.

One of the practical issues faced here though is, if a school is needed in a growing suburb, single sex schooling requires 2 schools and the Deptartment are barely able to get one school built for the first set of kids by the time they hit LC. It's a practical issue as well as an ideological one.

I can't see many single sex schools surviving in the long run for practical reasons really, maybe in large market towns with a girls religious, boys CBS and a co ed but there are so many other issues in schools I would love to see the media be even vaguely interested in. Your kids not having qualified teachers or substitutes and the rate at which the LC reforms will drive experienced teachers to early retirement would be of more concern to me than boys or girls in class.

On the previous thing about relationships, we actually do a good bit around this. Appropriate behaviour, what makes people uncomfortable, why we don't talk in particular ways.......the number of young people who think slagging and hitting is a sign of flirting is worrying.

Caquas · 27-05-2024 9:32pm

More nonsense research shows there is a correlation between ability to do maths problems and anxiety about doing maths problems.

You might think - Of course, if you struggle with Maths, you will feel more anxious about doing maths problems. But you don’t have a Ph.d. in social science. Otherwise you would see that it is the anxiety about maths that causes underperformance in maths tests. And, if you went for the Nobel Prize in bogus research, you would find that the anxiety of parents about maths rubs off on their kids (because it couldn’t possibly be that the kids inherited their parents’ brainpower)

Of course this is driven by concern that girls underperform boys in maths (boys underperform girls in every other subject but that is just natural and not an issue which merits research in Ireland.)

These researchers are particularly puzzled about girls in Co-Ed schools.

“It is striking that girls underperformed in some maths tasks despite having the same teachers and attending co-ed school,” said Arithmós Project lead, Dr Flavia H Santos of UCD.

It would never have entered Dr Santos’ mind that girls in single-sex schools outperform girls in Co-Ed schools, especially in maths.

Parents’ anxiety about maths may affect children’s performance, study finds

https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/education/2024/05/26/parents-anxiety-about-maths-may-affect-childrens-performance-study-finds/

Caquas · 04-07-2024 2:16pm

The Irish Times tells us that research has found that female students in Irish secondary school reported

significantly greater levels of participation in creative activities in school on average than their male counterparts. This contrasts with the wider pattern across the OECD, where male students report greater levels of participation.

Of course, the IT will not report that this reversal of the usual pattern is largely because

Students in girls’ secondary schools reported the highest level of participation in creative activities in school, significantly higher than those in all other school types.

There was plenty more in the report about higher levels of creativity and openness associated with girls' secondary schools.

Students in girls’ secondary schools were significantly more likely to have principals who held positive views towards their school’s engagement with creative pedagogies and indicate high levels of openness to intellect and art among their students than students in mixed secondary schools or community/comprehensive schools. Students attending girls’ secondary schools were also more likely to report higher levels of engagement with creative activities within school than students attending any other type of school. These findings are consistent with other studies in Irish context that have noted the how engagement with the arts is often gendered in Ireland. Of particular interest to this report is Smyth’s finding (2020), that arts education subjects were more likely to be offered in girls’ schools.

You might have expected the Irish Times to celebrate anything which supports creativity among young women in Ireland but the IT has a more complex agenda. Facts are no obstacle to those who are abolishing same-sex schooling in Ireland by stealth.

https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/education/2024/07/04/irish-students-significantly-less-likely-to-engage-with-complex-information/

Dickie10 · 07-07-2024 8:49pm

the doggies on the street would tell the IT girls in an all girls school are more comfortable to engage in artisitic and creative activities without boys present they all feel comfortable to engage. has anyone come across many schools that have a heavy female to male demographic in mixed schools? i know of plenty of male to female mixed schools where its 80-20 in male favour, a very unhealthy dynamic there, i know of schools that are like that.

whisky_galore · 07-07-2024 9:04pm

The sorts of liberal people that want "choice", usually want the only available choices to be the ones they agree with ideologically.

Realistically with teacher shortages, funding etc, schools are going to be forced to amalgamate, for good or ill.

Hotblack Desiato · 08-07-2024 12:59am

Great, we can finally do away with religious prudery in education.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122352451#Comment_122352451

any evidence for the above??

Dickie10 · 08-07-2024 9:56am

yes from seeing it in all girls schools compared to SOME mixed schools I worked in. Definitely it’s a disaster having mixed schools with a majority of boys this is happening quite a bit, when an all boys school changed to mixed, especially of that all boys school had discipline problems before it became mixed. One school I know of put a quota on boys coming in and pushed numbers on girls to get numbers eventually 50:50 , excellent school though as a boys and now mixed.

Caquas · 09-07-2024 9:00am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122352499#Comment_122352499

Any evidence for your claim that liberals “usually want the only available choice to be the one they agree with ideology?(sic)” Or were you just looking in the mirror?

Because while there may well be a case for amalgamation in some circumstances, it is clear (though never admitted) that the only available type of amalgamation is the one the Department wants ideologically - mixed gender.

I remember a time when the Labour Party was liberal on social issues. And I’m so old I remember that rural Labour TDs were the most conservative on social issues - no contraception! No divorce!

Treppen · 09-07-2024 9:18am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122357438#Comment_122357438

I remember the time the a Labour minister for education sent his kids to fee charging school and then went on the board of the most expensive private school in the country.

Caquas · 09-07-2024 11:01am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122357500#Comment_122357500

When did Labour start to oppose fee-paying schools? It certainly didn’t when “free” secondary education was introduced by Fianna Fáil. Dick Spring was a boarding school boy.

The Left today has no ambition for our children except equality. So they are in an undeclared war with parents who want the best for their children. Most parents have no real choice of schools. That’s by design.

Treppen · 10-07-2024 1:39am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122357891#Comment_122357891

Not exactly opposed them , but definitely put the squeeze on...

The Labour Party in Ireland has taken several stances related to fee-paying schools:

Removing Elitism in School Admissions:
- The Labour Party introduced the Education (Admission to Schools Bill) 2020 to amend the existing School Admissions Bill.
- Their goal is to eliminate the provision that reserves 25% of school places for children and grandchildren of past pupils.
- This change aims to address elitism and ensure fair access to schools regardless of family history 1.
Taxing Private School Fees:
- In their manifesto, the Labour Party proposed adding tax to private school fees.
- The funds generated from this tax would be used to recruit teachers for state schools 2.
Ending State Subsidies for Private Schools:
- Labour Party member Aodhán Ó Ríordáin called for an end to the practice of subsidizing private schools.
- He believes that private schools should not receive any state funding for building works 4.
Motion to Cut Subsidies:
- The Labour Party previously proposed a motion to terminate the €90 million state subsidy for private secondary schools.

Caquas · 10-07-2024 10:51am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122361280#Comment_122361280

Like all the parties of the Left, the Labour Party today wants to undermine the fee-paying schools in every way possible but, of course, Labour won't say that openly to the middle-class, middle-aged voters on whom Labour depends.

Remarkably, a Labour Party private members Bill was passed in 2018 which sets out a long list of criteria that cannot be used for schools admissions e.g. academic performance, first-come-first-served. But their Bill was amended to allow up to 25% of "legacy" admissions (children or grandchildren of past pupils). Labour wants to remove that exemption.

Labour has not proposed to eliminate the exception for same-sex schools which are still allowed to discriminate in admissions on the grounds of gender. That would be a step too far even for Labour because it would create chaos on Day 1 which would arouse those middle-class voters.

single sex vs mixed schools

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