New research from the Australian Council for Educational Research reveals that children at co-ed schools learn at the same speed as,and sometimes even faster than,their peers at boys'and girls'schools.
Single-sex schools are becoming less popular.Erin Jonasson
It comes amid a warning from the council that if current trends continue"there will be no single-sex independent schools in Australia by the year 2035".
Researchers analysed the year 3,5 and 7 NAPLAN results of girls',boys'and co-ed schools and found that students picked up numeracy skills at a similar rate.
But in reading,students at co-ed schools improved at a faster rate than those in single-sex schools.
"In terms of the compounding influence of being in a single-sex school over time,there appears to be no value-add in numeracy achievement and even a decline in reading achievement over time in single-sex schools compared to coeducational schools,"the research said.
Single-sex schools are also becoming less popular,according to the researchers.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data show that the proportion of independent school students at single-sex schools fell from 31 to 24 per cent between 1985 to 1995.
This has continued to fall,with just 12 per cent of children now in a single-sex environment,according to an analysis of My School data.
While the study suggests that single-sex schools have no advantage when it comes to students'academic growth,they continue to outperform co-ed schools in overall achievement.
This might seem contradictory. But while achievement looks at a student's success at one point in time,growth looks at the value added by a school over time.
Growth is increasingly seen as a critical measure of a school's success.
Once adjusted to take into account students'socio-economic backgrounds,boys'schools were one year ahead in numeracy than co-ed schools and one term ahead of girls'schools.
But when it came to reading,girls'schools outperformed boys'and co-ed schools.
Co-ed schools lagged two terms behind boys'schools in year 3 reading and more than a year behind girls-only schools.
This achievement gap shrank as co-ed students progressed through school.
Alliance of Girls'Schools Australasia executive officer Loren Bridge said the research reaffirmed that single-sex schools outperformed co-ed schools. She said this advantage was maintained as they moved through school.
"It's also well evidenced that girls'schools provide a better learning environment for girls. Free from gender stereotypes girls are more likely to study STEM[science,technology,engineering and mathematics] subjects and participate in sport,are more confident and assertive and have significantly higher self-esteem,"she said.
The research was based on My School data from 55 Australian girls'schools,33 boys'schools and 2909 co-ed schools.
Most single-sex schools are private schools,while co-ed schools are mostly in the public system.