Having separate schools for boys and girls has no benefits compared to co-education schools, a new research has found.
Single-sex education does not educate girls and boys any better than coed schools, according to research analysing 184 studies of more than 1.6 million students from around the world.
"Proponents of single-sex schools argue that separating boys and girls increases students' achievement and academic interest," said researcher Janet Shibley Hyde, of University of Wisconsin-Madison.
"Our comprehensive analysis of the data shows that these advantages are trivial and, in many cases, nonexistent," said Hyde.
Researchers also looked at studies that examined coed schools that offered single-sex instruction in certain subjects and found no significant benefits for boys or girls in these cases.
Some studies showed modest benefits for both boys and girls in math performance in single-sex schools, but not for science performance. However, these advantages in math were not evident in studies with more rigorous research methods.
The total sample included 1,663,662 participants in 21 countries. The studies examined students' performance and attitudes in math and science; verbal skills; and attitudes about school, gender stereotyping, aggression, victimisation and body image.
They did not find sufficient evidence to show any difference in these attitudes between boys and girls in single-sex or coed classrooms.
Theories that single-sex education may be better for students have included the idea that without boys in the classroom, girls would be able to thrive in traditionally male-dominated subjects, such as math and science.
"The theoretical approach termed 'girl power' argues that girls lag behind boys in some subjects in coed classrooms," said co-author Erin Pahlke, of Whitman College in Washington.
"This is not supported by our analysis and, moreover, girls' educational aspirations were not higher in single-sex schools," said Pahlke.
The study was published in the American Psychological Association (APA) journal Psychological Bulletin.
