Anthony Albanese praises ‘healthy’ co-ed schools

Anthony Albanese has endorsed co-educational schools as ‘healthy’ for teenagers, confessing to ‘a bit of craziness’ at school dances in his Catholic schoolboy days.

Anthony Albanese at his former high school, St Mary’s Cathedral College Sydney, on Wednesday to celebrate the official launch of the first student parliament.

Anthony Albanese has endorsed co-educational schools as “healthy’’ for teenagers, confessing to “a bit of craziness’’ at school dances in his Catholic schoolboy days.

The Prime Minister on Wednesday praised his old boys’ high school, St Mary’s Cathedral College in Sydney, for its decision to admit girls in primary school and year 7, from 2025.

“It’s a good thing they’ve made that decision,’’ he said. “I think there’s something healthy about boys and girls not being separated until they hit uni.

“I remember that there would be a bit of craziness when we’d have school dances with St Brigid’s at Marrickville or Holy Cross at Woollahra, and that probably wasn’t the ideal.’’

Mr Albanese sent his son, Nathan, now 23, to the co-­educational Dulwich Hill Public School and Sydney Secondary College, an amalgamation of Leichhardt and Glebe high schools in Sydney’s inner west.

“My son has friends, both young men and young women now, now that he’s in his early 20s, who he went through school with, and that’s fantastic,’’ he said.

The Prime Minister visited his alma mater on Wednesday, where he spoke to students about their “bright future’’.

“Education is a precious thing and it’s right to take it seriously and to work hard in pursuit of your goals,’’ he told them. “But what I also remember from my time at school is the fun you have along the way and the friends you make.

“That matters too, and it stays with you. This is a special time in your life and I want to encourage you to enjoy it and to look forward with optimism, because there is a bright future ahead for you and for our country.’’

College principal Kerrie Mc­Diarmid said Mr Albanese’s former school would begin admitting girls next year based on demand from families for co-ed learning.

“We live in a co-ed world,’’ she said. “A co-ed education affords boys and girls an opportunity to engage in respectful dialogue between both sexes.

“It allows students to gain insight from multiple perspectives.’’

Mr Albanese’s comments came after two elite private schools began a battle of the sexes, over plans for a $42,000 a year boys’ school, Newington College, to admit female students.

The Australian revealed on Wednesday that the principal of Presbyterian Ladies College Sydney, Paul Burgis, had told parents “girls learn better in single-sex schools’’ and “pubescent girls benefit from being able to practise and play hard and freely without an awareness of watching eyes’’.

Flinders University associate professor David Curtis on Wednesday said academic data showed students learned just as well in co-ed schools as in single-sex schools.

His analysis of results from 14,000 Australian 15-year-olds sitting the triennial PISA tests – the Program for International Student Assessment – across 700 schools found little difference between single-sex and co-­educational schools, once socio-economic factors were taken into account.

“Once you account for SES, there is no advantage for boys or girls in a single-sex school versus co-ed for literacy,’’ he said.

“There’s a very small effect in favour of single-sex boys’ schools but it’s very small.

“If you compare girls in co-ed schools versus single-sex schools for results in maths and science, there’s no benefit.’’

Associate Professor Curtis said the trend for boys’ schools to switch to a co-educational model was “business driven’’.

“The schools have got to grow to compete, and the best way to grow is to double your potential market,’’ he said.