A new survey has revealed that most students in Ireland favour co-educational schools over single-sex schools.
Research carried out by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) delved into diversity in the Irish education system.
The ESRI conducted the study on 21 secondary schools in Ireland and surveyed 2,243 students, as well as staff and parents.
While studying the gender differences between students and their social and academic achievements, the survey discovered that regardless if a student is currently in a co-ed or single-sex school, they would still favour a co-educational school setting.
It was found that girls “tend to be more positive about coeducational schools’ influence on their social development”.
86% of girls believe coeducational schools are better compared to 77% of boys.
In terms of academic development, a significant proportion of girls, particularly those in single-sex girls’ schools, consider single-sex education to be better. The results found 44% of girls vs 26% of boys favoured single-sex school for the academic aspect.
The survey also found that less than 20% of survey respondents in single-sex schools actively preferred their current school gender mix. This is a stark contrast to the almost 90% of students in coeducational schools who prefer their current education setting.
In the survey responses from one school, 72% of students stated that they would prefer to be co-educational.
17% of students were neutral to the co-ed idea and just 11% stated a preference for single-sex schools.
Overall, it was revealed that, “Students, regardless of attending single-sex or coeducational schools, favoured coeducational settings, while preferences varied among staff and parents”.
Eamonn Carroll, one of the authors of the report, commented on the results to say, “The proportion of Irish second-level students attending single-sex schools stands out from other European countries, with roughly one third of students in all-boys or all-girls schools”.
“While research participants outlined positives and negatives to all three types of gender mix, the strength of the preference expressed by students for coeducation in this study was eye-opening. This research underlines the need for schools to engage with students and the wider school community on this question”.
