Schoolgirls and boys in Trinidad and Tobago to be separated in single-sex push [TT]

[Commonwealth, 27 April 2010]


‘Largest’ conversion programme in the Commonwealth to get underway from September 2010

Trinidad and Tobago is to convert more than a fifth of its state schools to single-sex education in one of the most radical shake-ups of its schooling system in recent years.

The single-sex conversion programme, which will see 20 of the country's 90 secondary schools transformed, comes in response to international research showing that boys and girls perform better when kept apart.

“In many ways it is a test case for the Commonwealth,” says Dr Casmir Chanda, a teaching consultant from the Commonwealth Secretariat who has been advising the country’s government on the initiative, adding that “it is the largest of its kind being pursued by a Commonwealth country today”.

“Countries will be looking at Trinidad and Tobago to see what the results are. If they get improved performance as a result then it will be a tremendous achievement – there will be many countries that will want to try it.”

Underperformance in the classroom

Yvonne Lewis, Chief Education Officer in the country’s Ministry of Education, says the initiative is intended to improve education standards for both girls and boys. “It will address the underperformance of students... and ensure that learning takes centre stage,” she explains.

“In a single-sex educational setting, curriculum and teaching styles are more easily shaped to fit the needs of its students, thus resulting in higher student performance. Also, in this type of setting, children are more comfortable being themselves, without the co-educational peer pressure that can sometimes occur.”

Around three-quarters of Trinidad and Tobago’s schools are currently mixed-sex – or ‘co-educational’. According to the Ministry’s plans, from September 2010 the 20 selected schools will be phased to single-sex over a period of five years. All new first-year intakes will be entirely male or female.

Dr Chanda, who is the author of 'Teaching and Learning English in Secondary Schools', a study published by the Secretariat, says the programme is designed to address disparities between the performance of girls and boys in the classroom. While grades for girls have drastically improved in many Commonwealth developed countries in recent decades, including Trinidad and Tobago, boys have fallen behind.

“When boys are in their own classrooms they perform better. They write better essays and have an interest in literature and arts subjects. In single-sex schools boys come out of their shells – they express themselves more confidently,” she continues. “When boys are 11 or 12 some of them are quite shy and timid ... The girls run the show.”

Gender education policy

But, provided support is forthcoming from parents, teachers, school and the local community, girls too will benefit, adds Dr Chanda, who briefed ministry officials and university, school and parent-teacher representatives earlier this month (April 2010) on single-sex education, gender policy and how to monitor and evaluate progress during the programme. “[When they are separated from boys], girls develop their interest in science, a ‘boyish’ subject which they are sometimes laughed at for studying,” she adds.

Caroline Narine, a teacher at one of the affected schools – Barataria North Secondary School, in the town of Barataria, east of the capital Port of Spain – says she is broadly supportive of the initiative. “I back the single sex pilot, but it should be done on a whole school basis, not gradually. At some time with the system being used there will be a problem of too few of one gender.

“I back this project because something must be done for underachievement of the boys, and to some extent girls who are easily distracted. I’ve been in classes where girls read aloud all the time and the boys refuse, rebel or even skip classes so that they can escape the experience of standing in front of a class and being asked to read... It is time to move away and transform the schools to alleviate this problem or we will lose our boys.”

'Equity in the system'

Gregory Francis, principal at Barataria North Secondary School, adds that the single-sex programme should improve the delivery of the teaching curriculum. In his experience, he says that teachers “find it difficult” to deliver lessons that cater to both boys and girls. “There is no middle of the road strategy,” he says. “My hope for the future is that there is equity in the system so that every child – whether male or female – will be able to realise his or her true potential.”

In order to ensure that girls and boys are not completely isolated from one another, converted schools will be situated in close proximity. Joint academic, sports, and cultural activities will continue to be organised to ensure that the two groups are still able to socialise with one another.

Since the government announced its plans, the single-sex school conversion programme has provoked huge interest across Trinidad and Tobago.

The initiative forms one strand of the government’s wider strategy to improve the performance levels of students, including the setting up of a monitoring unit to deal with literacy and numeracy and the establishment of a centre for excellence for teacher training and a new school review process.