Industry News
Girls' schools 'outperform' competition
Posted on 15th October 2007
Girls studying at single-sex independent schools can outperform those elsewhere thanks to teachers tailoring classes to the female brain, it has been reported.
This year's exam results revealed GCSE pupils at all-girls schools achieved 68.6 per cent A or A* grades, compared to 53.7 per cent of students at private co-educational schools, the Observer reports.
President of the Girls' School Association (GSA) and head at Wakefield Girls' High School told the newspaper this showed the results were not just because they were able to be selective and that girls-only schools had a "unique atmosphere".
"You adapt learning styles to what they prefer - to discuss, to argue, to tackle extended essays. When you walk in you know it is a girls' school," she said.
The GSA says girls and boys mature at different rates and that single-sex education provides learning which is tailored to children's needs.
It claims that in a co-ed classroom, boys can "dominate" the teacher's time both behaviourally and academically.
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