performance and reduce behavioral problems. In fact, the U.S. Department of

Education recently released guidelines to help districts set up single-sex

classes in coeducation schools. Single-sex classes  are believed to be

especially beneficial for boys.

But, in a recent article in

Educational Studies, researchers Colette Gray and Joanne Wilson report

that in a secondary school in Northern Ireland, where one cohort of pupils has

been taught in single-sex classrooms for four years, teachers are unimpressed

with the results and do not support continuing the initiative. Ironically, if

anything, the program seems to have had a neutral effect on girls and to have

been more detrimental to boys, the teachers report.

"At the medium-sized school of

600-700 students in a working-class area, single-sex classes did not raise

academic achievement nor improve behavior for these students, according to

surveys of teachers in the school. Only 16% of teachers believed single-sex

classes raised standards and a majority favored abandoning the experiment. Many

teachers found teaching boys' classes stressful and believed that a "macho

mind-set" increased disruptive behavior, bullying and discouraged academic

achievement.

To

raise performance in English and math, Grade 8 pupils in 2000 were taught these

subjects in single-sex classes. When the students progressed to grades 9, 10 and

11 all subjects were taught in single-sex classes.
Gray and Wilson analyzed

the results of a survey of 43 teachers (31 female and 12 male) and interviews

(one-to-one and small group) with a stratified sample of 15 teachers. The

researchers focused specifically on:
• Teacher's involvement in the

implementation process;
• The impact on teachers' enjoyment of

teaching;
• Teachers' perception of the impact of this approach on

classroom behavior and academic performance; and
• Teachers' views on

the sustainability of the approach.

Negative effect on boys
Most teachers--77%--disagreed

with the statement that single-sex classes have a positive effect on boys'

behavior, with many believing the classes created new behavior problems.

According to the researchers, the majority of teachers believed that "some boys

actively encourage and reinforce bad behavior, with some teachers noting that

"It now is seen as fine to defy teachers' and to show 'disaffection',

'disinterest' and 'aggression'."  While some teachers noted that girls

could be catty and unpleasant to each other in single-sex classrooms, nearly

two-thirds did not see a negative impact on girls' behavior.

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Only 23% of the teachers were convinced that the single-sex classes had a

positive impact on boys' academic performance, compared with 39% who felt that

girls' academic performance improved in single-sex classrooms.

A

disturbing trend noted in previous research is that boys in single-sex classes

used terms of abuse they had previously applied to girls to put down other boys.

According to one teacher, "{boys} compete with each other for attention in class

and those who do want to learn, particularly in the lower-band classes, are made

the butt of class jokes. It's not seen as trendy, it ruins their street cred."

Some male teachers observed that boys who are shy, smaller than their peers and

have feminine qualities may be more likely to be targeted for bullying.

Many teachers believe that peer

pressure not to stand out academically contributed to declining examination

results. They indicated that this class of students may be one of the

academically weaker cohorts. But, by implementing single-sex classes across all

subjects, the school basically eliminated its control group in the initiative,

so it is difficult to lay the blame for declining exam results with the

single-sex initiative, according to the researchers.

"Typically,

experiments with single-sex classes target specific subject areas, such as

mathematics and English, before implementing them across the curriculum," the

researchers write. "By monitoring behavior within and between classes, teachers

can test the hypothesis that single-sex classes have a detrimental effect on

pupils' behavior and academic performance."

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single-sex classes to another school. The researchers noted that while teachers

acknowledged that the initiative was a last-ditch effort to do something about

falling standards, they may have forgotten the scope of the problems before

implementation.

A recurring theme of teachers' responses is that they

were not adequately consulted about the plan or trained on how to implement it.

Few teachers felt prepared for the single-sex initiative, with 71% describing as

"inadequate" the training available to teachers prior to implementation.
Less

than a third of teachers remembered being consulted before the program was

instituted, perhaps helping to explain why nearly two-thirds said the initiative

was unpopular with staff, with many saying they felt "devalued," "distanced from

the process," and "excluded" from the decision-making system. The

researchers note that there is substantial research to indicate that "teachers'

attitudes to systems can either positively or negatively facilitate their

implementation."

Clearly, the results indicate the importance of the

consultation phase, the necessity of getting teachers to buy in or invest in the

program. Beyond that, however, the researchers suggest that it may be better to

use single-sex classes in specific areas of the curriculum. Using this approach,

pupils serve as their own control group to better gauge the effectiveness of the

approach.

"Teachers' experiences of a single-sex initiative in a co-education

school," by Colette Gray and Joanne Wilson, Educational Studies, September 2006,

Volume 32, Number 3, pps. 285-298.

Published in ERN November 2006 Volume 19, Number 8