The Newington College dilemma: How co-ed learning affects the workplace

The Newington College debacle has been circulating in the media lately. Whether for or against co-ed schooling, the wider effects of sex segregation can be witnessed into adulthood and the workplace.

Cultural shift

Over the last week or so, parents and old boys alike have staged protests towards Newington College’s plans to shift to co-ed learning. The 160-year-old private school plans to invite girls into the program for the first time, with hopes of boosting diversity and life readiness but also to gain more pupils who will be paying $42,200 per year to attend the institution.

Looking over global history, single-sex schooling was once considered the societal norm, which tracks obviously with how confined and traditional societal expectations used to be. Nowadays, the need for single-sex institutions is falling out of demand as a growing number of parents and educators are questioning if they are still fit for purpose in a society where traditional gender roles, at work for example, are being challenged and adapted accordingly.

The NSW government consulted with parents at primary and secondary levels and found that three-quarters were supportive of sending their child to a co-educational institution, displaying the cultural shift away from single-sex institutions as the status quo.

Reforming masculinity

It’s well documented that boys-only schools have tendencies to ingrain forms of toxic masculinity, which are often perpetuated by the young, impressionable men who attend these institutions. High school is a significant period in terms of discovering one’s self and forming one’s identity. For most young people, it’s a time when many influences can have severe impacts on how people see and interact with the world in their everyday lives.

Martin Crotty, an associate professor in Australian history hailing from the University of Queensland, has thoroughly studied the impacts of attending all-boys schools and claims they often embody “creeds of hyper-masculinity”.

“The more hyper-masculine such schools are, the more hostility one sees towards anyone who fails to fit into that mould,” he said.

The problem that arises from this is that within these institutions, men are often not asked to consider or critically engage with ideas around gender and society, or more importantly, how women’s experiences are drastically different from those of their own. It is a necessity to have familiarity and an understanding of these ideas as workplace diversity becomes a focus for most companies across Australia. The earlier that the process of understanding gender socialisation occurs, the better.

Effects on the workplace

Gender socialisation as a process already starts very early and will continue throughout one’s life, from their schooling right through to their choice of work. Schools hold the power of playing a significant role in shaping perceptions and beliefs about gender and how this gender socialisation process is developed to their pupils.

Through a wide range of avenues, schools can either promote more traditional gender stereotypes or be a force for change by actively challenging those traditional settings and breaking down those old-fashioned constructions of gender, which no longer belong in workplaces across Australia.

Co-education settings provide more opportunities for boys and girls to work alongside each other as equals, just as they eventually will in the workplace, and are better placed to challenge those damaging stereotypes.

By being in regular company of a different gender from a young age, these groups are more likely to form positive perceptions and less negative connotations of one another as they continue to grow. Victoria Esses uses positive contact theory to reinforce this.

“The underlying reasoning of the contact hypothesis is that if people are exposed to members of other groups in a variety of ways, they will become more positive toward members of those groups and less likely to display prejudicial behaviour,” said Ms Esses.

Overall, early co-education settings can offer much better preparation for workplace diversity principles. Learning and gaining a better understanding of each other’s differences can propel the process of dismantling these traditional settings in terms of gender and hope to minimise acts of discrimination and neglect of equality that still occur in the workplace.

Kace O'Neill

Kace O'Neill is a Graduate Journalist for HR Leader. Kace studied Media Communications and Maori studies at the University of Otago, he has a passion for sports and storytelling.