Who Chooses Single Sex Schooling and Why? Evidence from Ireland

ABSTRACT

A common decision parents face is the choice of school for their children. In Ireland, somewhat uniquely in an international context, this choice includes a large number of state-funded single-sex schools, to the point that this can be considered a realistic option for many parents. Focusing on secondary-level education and using the PISA 2018 dataset, we examine whether different parental attitudes help explain the selection of single-sex versus coeducational schools in Ireland. Focusing on those households that have a degree of choice in secondary school selection, we find that parents who place a greater emphasis on factors such as religious ethos and academic achievement rather than subject choice or the climate of the school tend to have children in single-sex schools. The importance of a school’s academic achievement seems to be particularly relevant for those from higher socioeconomic backgrounds.

KEYWORDS:

• Ireland
• parental involvement
• PISA 2018
• school choice
• single-sex school

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Some studies have found a positive impact of single-sex schooling (Jackson, 2002; Lee, Niederle, & Kang, 2014; Park, Behrman, & Choi, 2013); others found average null effects (Jackson, 2012; Pahlke, Hyde, & Allison, 2014) and no studies have found that single-sex schools hinder students nor that mixed-sex schools have positive academic outcomes

2. Ireland does have a relatively small private school sector with 7% of all schools fee paying (Department of Education, 2022).

3. Cullinan, Denny, and Flannery (2021) provide some further details on the Irish education system.

4. For example, roughly 13% of single-sex schools are fee paying on a national basis (Department of Education and Skills, 2022).

5. All models in this article are estimated using sample weights. For more detail on the PISA data sampling process, see chapter 8 of OECD (2020).