Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Notes on Contributors
- List of Abbreviations (selected)
- Part I Introduction
- Part II The early school years
- Part III Career planning during adolescence
- Part IV Choosing a science career
- Part V Longer-term consequences of early experiences
- 16 The life course consequences of single-sex and co-educational schooling
- 17 Pathways to educational attainment in middle adulthood
- 18 How gender influences objective career success and subjective career satisfaction
- Part VI The role of context
- Index
- References
16 - The life course consequences of single-sex and co-educational schooling
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2014
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Notes on Contributors
- List of Abbreviations (selected)
- Part I Introduction
- Part II The early school years
- Part III Career planning during adolescence
- Part IV Choosing a science career
- Part V Longer-term consequences of early experiences
- 16 The life course consequences of single-sex and co-educational schooling
- 17 Pathways to educational attainment in middle adulthood
- 18 How gender influences objective career success and subjective career satisfaction
- Part VI The role of context
- Index
- References
Summary
Abstract
This chapter reports on a study examining whether attending single-sex rather than co-educational secondary school made a difference to the lives of a cohort of men and women born in Britain in 1958. The project aimed to assess the impact of single-sex secondary schooling, not just on short-term and narrowly academic outcomes, but also on longer-term social, psychological, and economic outcomes. In a generally gendered environment for adults, did it make any difference to have been to a gender segregated school, and in what way? This chapter provides an overview of our findings, and a discussion of the implications for policy and for future research.
Background
Controversies about co-education at secondary schools in Britain began at the end of the nineteenth century and continue to the present. However, the arguments for and against co-education have changed over time, with changing gender differences in educational aspirations and attainment, while the number of single-sex schools has declined steadily. The evidence regarding single-sex schools must therefore be placed in historical context.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Gender Differences in Aspirations and AttainmentA Life Course Perspective, pp. 365 - 388Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014