A Comparative Analysis of Single-Sex Education in the United Kingdom and Australia

Abstract

Single-gender education or Single-Sex Education (SSE) has reemerged in the educational reform discussion as experts seek to establish clearer pathways to literacy in the 21st century. SSE discusses how students learn best in a convergent global model of emergent literacy practices. Views of single-gender education in the UK and Australia differ with respect to motivational underpinnings and perceptions of the efficacy of SSE. Central to the SSE debate in both countries is the widening achievement gap between boys and girls, particularly in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines. Both countries are moving toward a parallel model of SSE, offering gender-differentiated instruction in single-gender classrooms within co-educational schools. The chapter compares SSE in the two countries with respect to gender perspectives in curriculum and pedagogy; cultural, religious, and socio-economic motivations in school orientations; and the perceived returns on education for students schooled in a single-sex environment.