Share:
As educators of girls it is important that GSA is a credible authoritative voice on the benefits of girls’ education, underpinned by evidence-based insights.
In the UK there are nearly 300,000 girls educated in girls’ schools and robust research ensures their voices are heard.
GSA’s latest research and insights are below and include:
- Girls’ Schools and Positive Post-16 Destinations (December 2025)
- The Academic Attainment and Representation of Girls in STEM & Economics (June 2025)
- Sport Participation in Girls’ Schools (Nov 2024)
- Investigating the Role of Girls-Only Schools in Preparing Students for Their Future Endeavours (Nov 2024)
- Girls’ Academic Attainment (Feb 2024)
- Investigating Pupils’ Perception of Equality for Women and Girls at Single-Sex Schools (Nov 2023)
- Understanding the Experience of Girls from Disadvantaged Backgrounds and Girls with SEND in Single-Sex Schools (Jan 2023)
- Girls’ schools buck the trend in terms of girls’ participation in male dominated sports (Nov 2022)
- Soft Skills Development and Gender – An analysis of mental toughness at UK schools (Jun 2021)
Girls’ Schools and Positive Post-16 Destinations
December 2025
GSA’s analysis of the latest DfE KS5 and Level 4+ datasets shows that girls, and especially those attending girls’ schools, achieve consistently stronger post-16 and post-18 outcomes than their peers. Girls are significantly more likely than boys to sustain destinations, continue in education, and progress to higher education. Within this, girls in girls’ schools outperform girls in co-educational settings on every major measure, with higher continuation rates, higher university progression and lower NEET levels. The pattern is mirrored for boys, with those in boys’ schools also achieving markedly stronger outcomes than boys in co-ed schools.
Across all datasets examined, the evidence is clear: single-sex environments, and girls’ schools in particular, cultivate academic confidence, sustained engagement and long-term educational success.
The Academic Attainment and Representation of Girls in STEM & Economics
June 2025
GSA’s report, which analyses multiple public data sources, including those from the Department for Education and UCAS, alongside findings from a bespoke survey of girls’ school alumnae conducted by the GSA, continues to show that girls in girls’ schools consistently outperform their peers academically.
This report reveals compelling evidence that girls attending single-sex schools are significantly more likely to engage in STEM & Economics education and pursue STEM careers compared to their peers in co-educational settings. The findings show that girls in all-girls’ sixth forms are substantially more likely to study advanced mathematics and sciences at A-level, and they are far more likely to pursue related degrees at university.
The influence of single-sex education extends beyond academia, with graduates from girls’ schools being significantly more likely to enter STEM careers, including high-demand fields such as finance, medicine, and computing. These findings underscore the powerful impact of girls’ schools in not only encouraging STEM participation but also equipping young women to thrive in traditionally male-dominated industries.
Sport Participation in Girls’ Schools
November 2024
The Girls’ Schools Association (GSA) has unveiled new research into sport participation in Girls’ Schools.
The report offers valuable insights into the uptake of sports throughout girls’ schools lives, and offers comparisons with co-educational schools, as well as looking at key barriers to sport participation for girls. benefits and areas for future development in single-sex education for girls.
Investigating the Role of Girls-Only Schools in Preparing Students for Their Future Endeavours
November 2024
The Girls’ Schools Association (GSA) has unveiled a comprehensive report examining the impact of girls-only schools on young women’s personal and professional development.
The report, created in partnership with ImpactEd, titled: “Investigating the Role of Girls-Only Schools in Preparing Students for Their Future Endeavours,” offers valuable insights into the benefits and areas for future development in single-sex education for girls. This collaborative study into all girls’ schools is the most comprehensive survey into women and girls’ experiences of girls’ education to-date, and spans several generations of girls’ schools’ pupils and graduates to provide important data through the intergenerational perspective.
As the Girls’ Schools Association (GSA) celebrates its 150th year, it surveyed all those involved with girls’ schools: pupils, teachers, alumnae, and parents through tailored surveys to share their experiences of girls’ schools to more deeply understand their views and to shine a light on the benefits that same-sex education offers to young women.
Girls’ Academic Attainment
February 2024
GSA’s report, which analyses the most recent data available from the Department of Education (DfE), continues to show that girls in girls’ schools consistently outperform their peers academically.
Comparing 2022-2023 with 2021-2022 data reveals girls in girls’ schools maintain a first position academically, and hearteningly act as agents of positive change for every girl, with girls in all types of schools showing an uplift across the board for maths and sciences.
Proven repeatedly, it is clear that a girls-only education empowers young women to unleash their full potential and ambition to be the stateswomen of their own lives. Girls’ schools create nourishing learning environments made for girls, and the girls’ impressive achievements and high-level of engagement are arresting.
Investigating Pupils’ Perception of Equality for Women and Girls at Single-Sex Schools
November 2023
The Girls’ Schools Association established the UK’s biggest cross-sector research partnership in single-sex girls’ schools in 2023, representing a unified collaboration between the independent and state sectors.
In this report, developed in partnership with ImpactEd, GSA surveyed over 9,000 girls and over 500 teachers to investigate their experiences and perspectives in a wide-ranging study that examined power and status in politics, in business, and in the home, and their experience in schools through the female lens.
Understanding the Experience of Girls from Disadvantaged Backgrounds and Girls with SEND in Single-Sex Schools
January 2023
The Girls’ Schools Association established the UK’s biggest cross-sector research partnership in single-sex girls’ schools in 2022, representing a unified collaboration between the independent and state sectors.
In this first report, developed in partnership with ImpactEd, GSA provides a welcome focus to the experience and outcomes of disadvantaged students and students with Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) from single-sex girls’ schools.
Over the past few years, and particularly in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, several research projects revealed that teenage girls can often have worse non-cognitive outcomes than their male peers. In light of these findings, GSA sought to understand outcomes for girls and investigate how different educational environments can impact upon their experiences.
Girls’ schools buck the trend in terms of girls’ participation in male dominated sports
November 2022
New research – released at the GSA’s Annual Conference for Heads on 22 November – indicates that girls who attend GSA girls’ schools are nearly 5 times more likely to play cricket than at another type of school. In addition, a girl at a GSA school is 30% more likely to play football.
Following reports by the Youth Sports Trust (YST, 2022) and Childwise which highlighted concerning findings about girls participation in sport, GSA conducted two short polls of members at the start of the 2022/23 academic year.
Soft Skills Development and Gender – An analysis of mental toughness at UK schools
June 2021
New research – released at the GSA’s annual Summer Briefing for headteachers on June 14 – indicates that girls who attend single-sex girls’ schools are generally more confident and more emotionally in control than girls in coeducational schools.
The ‘mental toughness’ research also indicates that the pandemic may have exacerbated any gaps and differences that already existed, with girls who are more mentally tough potentially having an advantage in dealing with the pandemic compared with less mentally tough girls.
Further reading
GSA Members can access the GSA Research Library in the MemberZone (login required) to keep abreast of the latest evidence-based insights. Each week this library is updated with newly released relevant research.
Other sources of useful information:
ISC
The Independent Schools Council (ISC) provides a picture of where independent schools sit within the UK’s education landscape, conducting regular research such as the Annual Census as well as bespoke research to inform the work of schools in the sector.
