The Benefits of Co-Educational Education

Stratford College was ranked the highest co-educational fee paying school in the country over three years and 28th overall in the Sunday Times 'Top 400 schools survey' published on 31st August 2015.

Stratford College has always been sceptical of the narrow ranking of children’s academic results and publishes its own report annually for the Board of Management and Parents Association. However this result does validate the highest academic standards which are promoted within the school.

We are also looking at ways of tracking our students improvement over their time in school and have noted a 40% increase between their predicted results in TY and those actually achieved in their Leaving Certificate results. We attribute this to the small class size, teacher engagement and quality of our teaching and learning.

This has been validated in our recent Whole School Evaluation - Management of Teaching and Learning (WSE – MLL) report from the Department of Education & Skills Inspectorate which will be published in full later this Autumn. The key findings of this report can be read here.

Postscript

In an interesting article in the Irish Times, on Tuesday, 9th January 2015, Peter Maguire wrote about the benefits of co-educational education in Ireland. 'While there are mixed findings on the relative academic merits of single-sex versus co-educational schools, there is more reliable evidence that co-education better prepares young people socially' he writes.

Teachers in mixed and girls' schools, the research showed, used better teaching methods, with a greater emphasis on active learning, challenging and higher-order teaching, and positive learning climates.

While there are mixed findings on the relative academic merits of single-sex versus co-educational schools, there is more reliable evidence that co-education better prepares young people socially.

One line of thought on why males aren't doing as well at school puts it down to boys being taught predominantly by female teachers, especially in primary schools. Others suggest that learning styles differ by gender, but this is disputed. Some research points to a laddish culture where boys don't take school as seriously as girls.

In a recent study she co-authored, Prof Dympna Devine, head of the school of education at University College Dublin, found the gender of the students being taught – rather than the gender of the teachers – may be particularly important in shaping teaching practices in the classroom. "This was most evident in the significant differences observed between all-boys schools and co-education and all-girls schools," she says.

Teachers in mixed and girls' schools, the research showed, used better teaching methods, with a greater emphasis on active learning, challenging and higher-order teaching, and positive learning climates. With this in mind, is it any wonder that boys don't do as well?

Devine urges caution, stressing that social class and ethnicity also influence teaching styles. That said, the study identified clear stereotyping among teachers in how they spoke about boys and girls.

"Girls were invariably categorised as calm, pliable, timid, mature, focused, 'tale tellers' and easier to discipline," says Devine. "Boys, by contrast, were spoken of as lively, boisterous, energetic, competitive, show-offs, spontaneous and potentially disruptive." Peter Maguire, The Irish Times Tues Jan 20 2015 (click here to read more)