Mixed education is better for girls and boys, says head of Ofsted as he calls for total ban on mobile phones in schools

  • Sir Michael Wilshaw says children learn better when taught in mixed schools
  • He has been a headmaster at both a single-sex and mixed school
  • Says it would be a 'nightmare' to put working class boys in all boys school
  • Fiona Boulton, head of Guildford High, says single-sex education over hyped
  • Sir Michael also suggests pupils be banned from bringing phones to school

By Thomas Burrows for MailOnline

Published: 04:59 EST, 28 September 2014 | Updated: 08:55 EST, 28 September 2014

Children learn better when taught in mixed classrooms rather than single-sex schools, the head of Ofsted has said.

Sir Michael Wilshaw said a mixed school was more 'congenial' and that putting working-class boys in single-sex schools to try and improve their performance would be a 'nightmare'. 

This is despite the fact single-sex schools tend to perform better in academic league tables and exams. 

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Children learn better when taught in mixed classrooms, the head of Ofsted, Sir Michael Wilshaw, has said

Children learn better when taught in mixed classrooms, the head of Ofsted, Sir Michael Wilshaw, has said

Sir Michael was head of St Bonaventure's School, a single-sex comprehensive in Newham, east London, before moving to the mixed Mossbourne Community Academy in Hackney.

He told the Sunday Times: 'I was head of an all-boys school. We did all right, but I much preferred being head of a mixed school. Girls and boys mix socially in the workplace. They should be educated together, too.

'Boys and girls do better in a mixed-school setting, as long as it is a well-run school. A mixed-school setting is by far more congenial.' 

And his comments were supported by Fiona Boulton, the head of leading girls' school Guildford High, who said single-sex classes were 'hyped up a lot'.

Fiona Boulton, the head of girls' school Guildford High, said single-sex classes were 'hyped up a lot'

Fiona Boulton, the head of girls' school Guildford High, said single-sex classes were 'hyped up a lot'

She told the Sunday Telegraph: 'I think if you create a really great environment then pupils do well. I don’t sell a school on it being single-sex… I sell it on the fact that we set out to be excellent in all that we do and that’s why you should choose us – not because it is an all-girls school.'

Asked if the benefits of single-sex schooling were overblown, Mrs Boulton said: 'Personally, I do, yes.'

Mrs Boulton, who previously worked at the co-educational Marlborough College, said working in an single-sex school 'was a complete non-issue' when it came to improving the performance of pupils.

'The girls that I had in my house there did brilliantly," she said. "The girls I have here do brilliantly.'

She added: 'I think there are lots of divides in this country. We talk about independent v state, boys v girls – they are all children. We just need to work out how to teach children and how to get the best out of each child rather than which school they are in.'

Just 250 fee-paying schools were wholly catering for either boys or girls in the last academic year, down from 460 in the early 90s. Of those, around 150 are all-girl.

On a separate issue, Sir Michael also advised parents to stop their children having a mobile phone until they were 13 and removing televisions and computers from their bedrooms.

He suggested that pupils should also be banned from bringing their phones to school. 

He said: 'Mobile phone technology is part of the issue of low-level disruption in classrooms. Social media is part of the problem...it seems sensible to ban mobile phones from schools, then you don't get kids texting each other in class.'

His comments come after a report by Ofsted, the schools watchdog, last week which found children were losing up to an hour of lesson time each day because of disruption.  

He was also keen to play down his public spat with former Education Secretary Michael Gove, which led to the chief inspector hinting at a 'dirty tricks' campaign against him by officials at the Department for Education.

He said: 'That issue is well and truly over. The thing about Gove was that he was a reformer who believed passionately in what he was doing.

'He will go down as one of the great secretaries of state.'

 

 

 

 

  

 

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