The future of girls' schools -video interview with Dr Helen Wright- past President of the Girls Schools Association

In this insightful interview with tes, Dr. Helen Wright, past president of the Girls Schools Association in the UK, gives her views on the future of girls schools and rebuts some commonly espoused theories against single-sex schooling.

Dr. Wright suggests that ‘girls schools provide and amazing, valuable choice for parents and for those girls looking to find a space where they can learn to be them…’

She discusses the need for a ‘space for girls’ where they are free from societal gender intrusion, free to discover themselves and their own interests, essentially without the societal pressure from boys. ‘I think all children, all young people, need a space where they can learn to be them.’

In the interview, she also responds to the opinion that co-ed schools provide a ‘realistic world’ by addressing some flaws in the ‘realistic world’ being espoused, such as girls reporting frequent sexual harassment at school, or huge numbers of girls worldwide still not having access to education.

Importantly she notes that we need to focus on what we are really trying to achieve for students through education when she says, ‘schools aren’t actually about preparing students for the world today, they’re about enabling children to change the world so that it’s a better world tomorrow.’