Boys get better grades at all-boys schools: study

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-24 17:25

Boys get better grades at single-sex schools than when they're in mixed-gender schools, where girls consistently outperform them, a recent New Zealand study shows.

The study, based on the long-term Christchurch Health and Development Study at the University of Otago, compared the educational achievements of over 900 boys and girls who attended single-sex and coeducational secondary schools in New Zealand.

For students attending single-sex secondary schools, there was a slight tendency for males to outperform females.

For students attending co-educational schools, however, there was a clear tendency for girls to outperform boys, a pattern that continued when students were followed up to the age of 25.

"These findings are consistent with the argument that attending single-sex schools reduces or mitigates the current gap between boys and girls in educational achievement," says principal researcher Sheree Gibb.

And the effects of single-sex schooling also influenced getting secondary school qualifications, attending university, and obtaining Bachelors degrees, Gibb said.

The study was published in the Australian Journal of Education.