Figure 1.-- Most British prep schools were originally established as single gender schools, most commonly boys schools. Today there are many boys, girls, and coed schools.
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Figure 1.-- Most British prep schools were originally established as single gender schools, most commonly boys schools. Today there are many boys, girls, and coed schools. |
Most British prep schools were originally established as single gender schools, most commonly boys schools. The earliest prep schools were boys' school which began to appear in the mid-19th century. British parents were more concerned about the education of their sons than that of their daughters. In addition many parents were more reluctant to send their children to boarding schools. These trends mirrored attitudes toward public schools. The first girls' prep school was not established until about 1900. Almost all of the preparatory schools founded before World War II were single gender schools. An increasing number of schools have now become coeducational. Here the primary empetus appears to have been financial rather than educational philosphy, although such decessions varied from school to school. Schools wanted to maintain their rolls and many parents did not want the complications of multiple schools. Interestingly, while many traditionally boys' schools have shifted to coeducation, few traditionally girls' schools appear to be making a similar transition. Thus in Britain today there are boys schools, girls schools and coed prep schools. Here there are some minor variations such a single gender schools that have coed pre-prep sctions. The single gender and coed separation is somewhat more complicated than it might seem at first glance.
There are three basic alternatives for preparatory schools in term of gender. Two are single gender schools, boys and gir;ls separate. Then there are coeducational schools. The popularity of these different approaches have varied over time.Before World War II most schools were single gender schools. After the War coeducation became increasingly accepted. This occurred first in the state sector, but in the 1970s quite a number of prep schools changed to coeducation. Most British prep schools were originally established as single gender schools, most commonly boys schools. The earliest prep schools were boys' school which began to appear in the mid-19th century. Boarding education was largely for boys at first. The public schools in the 19th century were primarily institutions for boys and thus early prep schools were for boys as well. British parents were more concerned about the education of their sons than that of their daughters. The general idea was that the adult life of girls would be taken care of by her husband and that a rigorous education was less necessary. Almost all of the preparatory schools founded before World War II were single gender schools. An increasing number of schools have now become coeducational. Here the primary empetus appears to have been financial rather than educational philosphy or the desires of the children, although such decessions varied from school to school.
The single gender and coed separation is somewhat more complicated than it might seem at first glance. Earlier the fact that parents gave more attention to boys' education than that of girls was a factor. This convention has since virtually disappeared. Several single gender schools accept both genders in the pre-prep. We note a few boys' schools accepted girls who were the children of staff members. Some schools also accepted a few girls from neighboring farm families. I'm not sure if the same also occurred at girls' schools. Here a factor is the gender ratio. Some boys' schools have a relatively small number of girls, especially when they first converted to coeducation. Another factor is that girls often leave for their senior school at age 11, or 2 years before the boys. Thus some schools have relatively balancecd forms until the last 2 years when there are far fewer girls. This greatly complicated the operation of coed prep schools. This creates problems for the school because it means that it is difficult to fully utilize facilities. And it complicates class manafement in the upper forms. It often means that the class sizes are smaller for the older than younger children.
