NAPLAN results: Single-sex versus co-ed school students’ average scores revealed
Analysis of literacy and numeracy test results has revealed whether students at co-ed or single-sex schools perform better. Search where your school ranks.
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Students at single sex schools are outscoring their peers at mixed gender campuses in literacy and numeracy testing, new figures show.
The Advertiser has analysed the average scores of Year 9 students at every South Australian school that ran the NAPLAN tests last year.
Among 195 co-ed secondary schools the average score was 549.5.
There were only 17 single-sex schools with Year 9 students who took the test in 2023, recording an average score of 585.6.
However, in the upper echelons co-ed schools bucked the trend.
The five top-performing co-ed schools all recorded higher average scores than the top five boys or girls only schools.
Glenunga International High School was the only public school to rank in the top 10, achieving the highest average score of any school (638).
St Peter’s Collegiate Girls’ School ranked top of the single-sex schools with an average score of 614.4, just ahead of all-boys St Peter’s College (610.2).
St John’s Grammar School in Belair is bucking the trend with principal Richard Anderson said the coeducation school’s “culture of giving it your best” as the key to their success.
“It doesn’t matter about gender, it’s about the individual you’re teaching,” Mr Anderson said.
“Part of it is also really understanding the individual student, where their strengths and needs are, and then we can target that.
“We’ve done so many audits and reviews, and now I think we’re really proud of what we do in terms of inclusivity and but that’s not really related to NAPLAN.
“That’s more just bringing up high quality human beings.”
The school, which recently completed a $15m upgrade, ranked second in the state for its 2023 Year 9 NAPLAN scores.
Current Year 10 students, Lachie Fisher and Liv Tijdhof completed the test last year and said they valued St John’s coeducation model and its culture of it being “cool” to “score good marks” encourages them to work hard.
“I feel like it’s just a lot better because you learn to work with people the opposite gender,” Liv said.
“Teachers just really support us when we’re going through our everyday just maths, English, science, and it’s just helpful, overall beneficial and then it shows in the NAPLAN results,” Lachie said.
“They treat everyone with respect, doesn’t matter the gender.”
RANKED: HOW EVERY SA SCHOOL PERFORMED IN 2023
Flinders University education analyst Andrew Bills said it was unsurprising that single-sex schools recorded higher average scores, given they were almost all private schools.
“Those schools draw in a, by and large, privileged cohort of young people from families that are well educated and well to do financially and the results reflect that socio-economic advantage,” he said.
There is only one single-sex public school in SA – Mitcham Girls High School in Kingswood. Its Year 9 students recorded an average score of 588.2.
Opposition education spokesman, and former education minister, John Gardner said demand for places in single-sex girls’ education had been “growing strongly in the public system in recent years”.
“Single sex education might not be for everyone, however we can also see that some students thrive in a single sex environment,” Mr Gardner said.
“There are many factors that parents look at when choosing a great school and the gender of their students is just one aspect of what any school has to offer.”
HOW SA STUDENTS COMPARED TO THE REST OF AUSTRALIA IN THE 2024 NAPLAN
Association of Independent Schools of SA chief executive Anne Dunstan said NAPLAN data “provides a high-level indicator of student achievement in specific areas” but cautioned against “making superficial judgements” on one characteristic or cohort.
Catholic Education SA executive director Neil McGoran said schools “use a range of data sets to inform teaching” including SACE completion, school-based assessments, wellbeing surveys, and NAPLAN, to focus on “the development of the whole child”.
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Originally published as NAPLAN results: Single-sex versus co-ed school students’ average scores revealed
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