VCE STEM subject enrolments in co-educational and single-sex schools

• Published in: Mathematics education research journal Vol. 32; no. 3; pp. 433 - 448
• Main Authors: Forgasz, Helen, Leder, Gilah
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.09.2020; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Coeducation; Data analysis; Declining Enrollment; Education; Educational Environment; Educational Research; Enrollment Trends; Enrolment rate; Females; Foreign Countries; Gender Differences; Girls; High Achievement; Influence of Technology; Literature Reviews; Males; Mathematical analysis; Mathematics Achievement; Mathematics Activities; Mathematics Education; Original Article; Outcomes of Education; Private Schools; School Culture; Sex; Sex Education; Single sex classes; Single sex education; Single Sex Schools; Socioeconomic Background; STEM Education; Student Evaluation; Student Participation; Upper secondary years; Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE); Australia; Victoria; Year 12 enrolments; Single-sex and co-educational schools; Gender; STEM
• ISSN: 1033-2170; 2211-050X
• DOI: 10.1007/s13394-019-00271-4

The debate on the relative merits of single-sex and co-educational schooling for girls and boys persists. There are also on-going concerns in Australia about declining enrolments in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) disciplines at both the tertiary and school levels. In this article, we summarise some core findings from the scholarly literature on single-sex and co-educational learning settings and then present official enrolment data from the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) for the period 2001-2017 on mathematics and other STEM subjects to determine whether or not attendance at a single-sex school appears to affect participation in these subjects. No consistent pattern was found for boys' and girls' enrolments across VCE STEM subjects by school type (single-sex or co-educational). [Author abstract]