Study backs single-sex classes

Children should be taught some subjects in single-sex classes within mixed schools to help overcome the "laddish" culture that stops boys learning, a UK Government research project has concluded.

Teaching boys and girls separately for some subjects can help both girls and boys concentrate better in class and achieve higher exam results because they no longer need to show off in front of the opposite sex, the study by Cambridge University academics found.

But the research found that single sex classes were unlikely to narrow the gender gap and stop boys falling behind girls - arguing that successful projects would also boost results in all-girls' classes just as much as in all-boys' classes.

The study was commissioned by the UK Department for Education in 2000 amid fears that a "laddish anti-learning culture" was seeing boys fall further and further being girls.

Every year girls out-perform boys in national tests and in secondary school exams called 'GCSEs' and 'A-levels', with few signs that the gender gap is narrowing.

Last year, 58.5 per cent of girls achieved five good GCSE passes compared with just 48.4 per cent of boys.

However, badly planned single sex initiatives can actually make boys' macho behaviour worse, the study also warned.

- INDEPENDENT