Single-sex education: discrimination or freedom of education?

Country:España
Year:2022

Single-sex education maintains its presence in the school scene in Spain, in an environment of generalized co-education. Although there is some research on the reasons for maintaining or promoting this school model in Anglo-Saxon countries, there are no studies for Spain. The proposed objective is to delve into the reasons and motivations -pedagogical or others- of the creation or maintenance of the separation of the sexes in single-sex schools in Spain, and -in the perception of the directors- to know the results and good practices that out in their schools. It has been based on the qualitative analysis of twelve in-depth interviews with directors of these schools, which were recorded, transcribed and processed with the Atlas.ti program. The analysis of the results allowed us to reach various conclusions: separation is perceived as a practice that enhances the objectives of personalized education; differentiated schooling, within adequate educational planning, brings advantages for aspects such as gender equality or school excellence; it allows to respond to a demand of the families; the inclusion of training plans for equality in these schools is a general practice. Consideration of the educational significance of teachers as a gender model to achieve greater equality of opportunities is also highlighted.

Online consultation from the University of Navarra (UNIKA). In Spain there has been a very important doctrinal and jurisprudential debate on two issues related to single-sex education. It has been raised whether or not this educational model is discriminatory and, if not, whether or not its public financing is appropriate. These considerations are analyzed in this article once the Spanish Constitutional Court has established doctrine through the judgment of April 10, 2018, a doctrine contradicted by the current Education Law of 2020.

Share!