Increase in All-Boy Private Primary Schools

The current state of affairs represents a significant trend reversal; for the past

5 years it has been common for parents to prefer a co-educational set-up based on the theory that girls exert "a civilising influence" on their male counterparts.

This long-standing theory seems to hold less water amongst today's crop of English parents. The poll showed that approximately 62% of the all-boys schools had increased their intake of pupils this year, while only 39% and 42% of all-girls and co-educational schools respectively indicated an increase.

In recent years, the growing predominance of co-educational schooling became a threat to the continued existence of single-sex schools in their current format, with many resigning themselves to the inevitability of accepting both genders. The recent turnaround has however, deflected the threat from the preference of co-educational institutions, and have began a spell of reasonable prosperity.

The chief executive of IAPS (The Independent Association of Prep Schools), David Hanson, commented that the change in preference may be in some part due to the fear of many parents that a state primary education may restrict their children to a seat behind a desk.

"We have a lot of parents who say to us that they are worried that in a state school, their child will never be out of a chair," he said.

Another reason behind the changing trend is the attraction of a higher percentage of male teachers within prep schools in comparison with state primaries. Figures published by the General Teaching Council revealed that 28% of state primary schools in England have no male teachers. Furthermore, an Independent Schools Council study discovered that 29% of lessons were male taught in prep primaries, whilst the figure in state primaries is less than half that, at 12%.

The final reason cited by David Hanson of the IAPS for the growing popularity of private primary schools is the dilution of gender pressure which may occur in co-educational schools. With the absence of girls comes the absence of a need to act in a certain way in order to impress or be perceived by the opposite sex.

Increase in All-Boy Private Primary Schools

By: Harvey McEwan

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