4 minute read
Are All-Girls Schools Relevant?
In co-educational schools across the nation, girls are vying for the same opportunities that male students tend to dominate, such as sporting roles, leadership positions, STEM placements, student clubs and a heard voice in the classroom.
One of the most common criticisms expressed about all girls’ schools is they don’t reflect our current society. However, in those crucial developmental years between Prep and Year 12, the statistics show that this all-girls setting provides an advantage.
Research has confirmed that girls’ schools provide safe spaces where students feel willing to compete, take calculated risks and reject gender stereotypes. One such piece of research is the Mission Australia Youth Survey Report which found that females at single-sex schools obtain higher scores than the female average in critical areas of physical and mental health, overall life satisfaction, educational attainment and career aspirations.
Proof is in the numbers
When looking at the benefits of girls attending single-sex schools, the statistics paint a clear picture.
– Compared to girls at co-ed school girls attending single-sex schools are more likely to report feeling very or extremely confident in their ability to achieve their study or work goals after finishing school (48% vs 45%) and more likely to report feeling positive or very positive about their future (57% vs 53%).
– They are more likely to enter tertiary education after high school. A significantly higher proportion of girls’ school students intend to obtain a university degree (88%) compared with 70% of all females aged 15-19.
– Their mental health concerns are lower, with just over one-third of respondents from girls’ schools (37%) reporting that mental health was a personal concern compared to the female average of 43%.
– Only 9.6% of students at girls’ schools were concerned about bullying, compared with 15.1% of all females. These findings indicate that students from girls’ schools are less likely to experience negative wellbeing and mental health outcomes resulting from bullying and victimisation.
– Girls attending single-sex schools engage in more sport, with 74% playing sport in 2020 compared to 69% of all females.
– Their overall life satisfaction was higher, with 61% reporting feeling happy or very happy with their life compared with 54% of all female respondents.
So, where do girls’ schools sit in providing these opportunities?
All girls’ schools create a supportive environment for females to take the spotlight in the classroom and make the most of the opportunities on offer.
In Mission Australia’s 2021 Youth Survey Report, school students around the nation indicated gender was the leading reason for unfair treatment. Yet the misogyny that underpins this mistreatment does not prevail amongst all girls’ schools in the same way as in co-educational settings — females are not vying for opportunities that males tend to dominate, often through unconscious gender bias.
Principal of MLC, Diana Vernon, is a passionate advocate for opportunities for young people. “In all the schools that I have run, I have always emphasised that education enables young people to discover their strengths, talents and worth. There is no reason young women should be exposed to ingrained disadvantage during critical, foundational years, where we can avoid it.”
The benefits of this approach is evident across MLC, not just in high-achieving Year 12 results but in students’ enthusiastic participation in co-curricular activities and the career choices, they make as alumnae. As a large, diverse school, MLC has both the resources and the dedication to enable their students to try everything that interests them – and this pays dividends later in life.
Diana reinforces “Of course first and foremost, parents need to select a good school - there are good and bad co-ed and single-sex schools. Parents should choose a school that aligns with their own family values and a school where their daughters will have every opportunity available to her. However, it is clear the overriding benefit of girls’ schools is being environments in which girls can build their confidence in who they are and in what their interests are, without having to manage any additional challenges of gender stereotyping.”
Source: Mission Australia. (2020). Youth Survey Report 2020: Data breakdown for the Alliance of Girls’ Schools Australasia. Adelaide: Mission Australia.
