Headmaster
Single gender boys’ education. Why?
Dr. Alec O’Connell Headmaster
Simplistically, it is very easy for many in the wider community to roll out the old argument that because the world and society is a mix of genders, then schools should reflect society and that offering single gender education is antiquated, nonsensical and unhealthy for a vibrant society. From a personal perspective, I attended co-educational state and Catholic primary schools in the UK and WA then spent my high school years in an all-boys school which suddenly became co-ed at Year 11. Later in life, my son and daughter attended our local Catholic co-ed college and both of my children loved their schooling. However, this article is not a comparative between schools, it is simply a reflection on why we should ensure that there is educational choice including single gender boys’ and girls’ schools, and co-education. As the Headmaster of a high-profile boys’ school, ‘why a boys’ single gender education’?
is rightly an ever-recurring question posed to me by colleagues, friends, family, and of more immediate importance, current and future parents. Of course, let’s not exclude the interest of the press in debating the value of a boys-only education whenever an incident occurs involving boys, thus making good reading and supporting rationale for any of the anti-single gender movement. In my view, never has it been more important to enunciate why a liberal, single gender education for boys still has a significant role to play for the educational and personal development of young boys who will hopefully become good young men. Celia Lashlie’s book title He’ll be OK – Growing gorgeous boys into good men encapsulates the why and the challenge, and what we can really achieve in an all-boys’ setting. Before proceeding further, let me make it clear that we can always do better in boys’ schools and that complacency is never an option when one considers such important matters as consent and respect. It applies not only to dealing with the opposite sex, but to all of humanity, whatever their views, orientation, or position in life. In January 2023 in London, at the Round Square consortium of schools from across the globe, I presented on the topic ‘Consent, Respect and Bystander Intervention’, focussing on how a boys’ school addresses this matter and why it is so important that we continue to work on educating our boys in this critical space.
At Scotch we are currently finalising our next strategic plan, and as part of our review, there was significant discussion about whether we should change some of the wording in our mission statement from ‘To develop young men’ … to ‘develop young people’. In the current climate it would have been easy to acquiesce and change this to avoid any mainstream negative feedback. However, after much deliberation we came to a simple position that we are a boys’ school and that in no way should we shy away from this. In fact, on the contrary, we should proudly promote that boys’ education is what we specialise in and that we are loud and proud of what we do for boys, and in turn what they achieve as they move through our academic and pastoral programmes. As recently as July 2023, I attended the International Boys School Coalition (IBSC) in Auckland NZ, which further reaffirmed my conviction towards our role in the development of young boys who will become good men. Lashlie (2007) suggested some questions that needed to be asked when educating boys, thus providing a focus to enunciate why a boys’ only school is worthwhile: What does manhood involve? How does a boy become a man? What role should men play themselves in a position of leadership within a male environment in bringing boys across the bridge of adolescence? With these questions in mind, we can then ask what can a boys’ only school do to address these questions? From a philosophical perspective, we are very committed at Scotch to delivering a world class boys’ education. However, we must consciously focus on how we can make a discernible and measurable impact, and what we should do to ensure a single gender education makes a difference in today’s world. As a College we should continue to:
Headmaster Dr. Alec O’Connell and Junior School athletes at the Inter-House Cross Country Carnival
• Focus on building a sense of pride in being male, while still working with those boys and their families who may feel challenged by this concept. As we know some may commence enrolled at a boys’ school, and then identify otherwise as they progress. It is imperative that we help these young men, and their families work through all issues. However, it does not mean that as a college we must feel pressure to move
