Visit some schools in Tasmania who are trying to figure out the best way to help boys succeed in the classroom.


FIONA BLACKWOOD: This classroom set-up is something of a novelty.

Like all State primary schools Ravenswood Heights is coeducational.

But within this Grade 3/4 class the girls and the boys have been separated.

ROBIN WILLS, FACULTY OF EDUCATION, UTAS: Up until the 1950s, at least, there were single-sex schools for primary school children virtually in every State in Australia.

And the transition to coeducational primary schools seems to me to have been very under-theorised in its conception.

FIONA BLACKWOOD: There are now four schools around the State which are testing the tradition of coeducational primary schools.

For most schools the trials of single-sex classes have been in response to concerns about boys' learning.

A national comparison of boys' and girls' reading ability showed that Tasmanian Grade 5 boys had reading outcomes that were nearly 8 per cent lower than their female peers.

FIONA BLACKWOOD: So are single-sex classes the answer?

Robin Wills has studied two State coeducational schools which have run single-sex class trials.

What Robin Wills found changed his long-held views about coeducation.

ROBIN WILLS: I have to admit to having moved from being a very staunch supporter of coeducation now to seeing that there is a place for single-sex education within a coeducation environment.

FIONA BLACKWOOD: Robin Wills discovered that because teachers were spending much less time in behaviour management they were able to spend considerably more time teaching.

ROBIN WILLS: As a consequence of that the children became much more engaged with what was happening in the classrooms and the teachers had a much higher level of professional satisfaction from what was actually happening.

FIONA BLACKWOOD: But according to the Education Minister the results have been mixed.

PAULA WRIEDT: In some cases --

I know of at least one school where they did trial single-sex classes and it didn't work, it wasn't successful.

It actually had the opposite effect on that particular cohort of boys.

When they were all placed together their behaviour actually became even more challenging.

RICHARD PICKUP, PARENTS AND FRIENDS ASSOCIATION: I think they're probably a good idea, but parents must be wary that they're not the answer to a lot of things.

Some kids do better in single-sex schools apparently, single-sex classes apparently, but others don't and if yours doesn't, then you suffer a little bit.

PAULA WRIEDT: That's really up to the individual school communities and one of the wonderful facets of schools and the way that we manage schools these days is we have a high level of parent input.