This is no surprise

The Herald reports:

Boys at single-sex schools tend to leave school with higher qualifications than their counterparts at co-educational schools, a new study has found.

The findings contradict the traditionally-held belief that boys do better in co-educational schools while girls fare better in single-sex settings.

I’ve never heard of this so called traditionally-held belief. I’ve been aware for a long time boys do better in single-sex schools.

I blogged in 2021 the 2019 UE data which showed the following UE rates for school leavers:

• Girls single sex 55% vs co-ed 39%
• Boys single sex 43% vs co-ed 25%

I also noted:

Boys at a single sex school are 68% more likely to get UE than those at a co-ed school while girls are 40% more likely.

For schools in the top quintile (deciles 9 and 10) the male UE rate is 43% for co-ed and 69% for single sex. For those in the bottom quintile the male UE rate is 9% for co-ed and 37% for single sex. So almost as many boys get UE in bottom quintile single sex schools as in top quintile co-ed schools.

If we want to improve the dismal education stats for boys in New Zealand, I would do two things:

1. Amend our zoning regulations so that all children are zoned for both a same sex school and a co-ed school – so they can choose which type of school is best for them
2. Require a proportion of new schools built, to be single sex (there have been no new ones since 2004)

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