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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’ Academic Attainment (Jan 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’ Academic Attainment
January 2023
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 2021-2022 with 2018-2019 data (information being unavailable in the intervening COVID-19 pandemic years) 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.
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.
ICGS
The International Coalition of Girls’ Schools (ICGS) in the Unites States conducts, sponsors, and disseminates research on the issues of importance to girls’ schools, education, and development.
