A single-sex school going co-ed: Is it really a 'woke', crying shame?

Elite Sydney private school Newington College is set to go co-ed — a move some feel strongly about. But is it really that radical?

There's resistance to Newington College's plans to switch to a fully co-educational school. Source: AAP / Bianca de Marchi

It's drawn tears, sparked claims of "wokeness" and "virtue signalling", and provoked some parents and students to wield placards in protest.

Newington College — an up to $42,000-a-year, 160-year-old private school in Sydney's inner-west — announced in November last year that it would no longer exclusively educate boys.

It will embark on a staggered co-educational shift, starting in 2026 and finishing in 2033 — a decision the school council said was made to boost diversity and "life-readiness" at the college.

But the move has drawn a heated reaction from some in the school's community, including parents, students, and 'old boys' (former students), who say the move represents an unacceptable change to the school's culture. They've even threatened legal action.

Emotions were again running high on Wednesday when a small group demonstrated outside the school as term one kicked off.

Tony Retsos is a Newington College old boy and was among those protesting on Wednesday. He said he wanted to send his grandson to the school, but wouldn't if it was co-ed. Source: AAP / Bianca de Marchi

Among them was Tony Retsos, 63, who graduated from the school in 1977. He teared up as told Nine News his son was also an old boy, and he'd hoped to one day see a future grandson attend Newington.

"But I won't bring him to a co-ed school," Ratsos said.

Fellow alumni Robert Orr agreed, saying the decision would mean there was one fewer boys-only school for Sydney parents to choose from.

"I suspect it's for virtue-signalling, woke-type principles, which I'm dead against," Orr told the Australian Associated Press.

Newington College is set to become fully co-ed by 2033. Source: AAP / Bianca de Marchi

Newington isn't the only private school to have announced it will shift to co-ed.

Among those in Sydney are Cranbrook, Barker College, and Champagnat Catholic College.

One of Melbourne’s oldest girls schools, St Aloysius College, last year began its co-ed transition, with its principal telling The Age newspaper the shift would bring students into "an environment that more closely resembles the real world".

Single-sex schools make up just 3 per cent of the more than 9,610 schools across Australia.

As some shift to co-ed, is the anger among some communities justified?

Single-sex v co-ed: Is there a difference?

From an academic performance perspective, some researchers have argued its inconclusive whether one educational setting has an advantage over the other.

An analysis by Catholic Schools NSW of NAPLAN test data from 2019 to 2022 found, after controlling for socio-educational background and gender, that single-sex schools tended "to have slightly higher NAPLAN scores than co-ed schools", though there was wide variation between individual schools.

David Curtis is an associate professor at Flinders University's College of Education, Psychology and Social Work.

He was part of a project that analysed literacy data from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) — a test that a nationally representative sample of 15-year-old Australian students take every three years.

Curtis said the study was controlled for socioeconomic status and home language background, among other variables, and found that whether a student was at a co-ed or single-sex school had "zero effect" on their results.

Newington College has been an all-boys school for 160 years. Source: AAP / Bianca de Marchi

Then there is the social and cultural aspect.

Some research suggests boys are more disruptive and require more discipline and attention, while other research suggests girls can have a positive impact on boys' behaviour, but to the detriment of their own learning, according to Deakin University professor of education Amanda Keddie.

"This, of course, reproduces inaccurate and tired gender stereotypes of girls as passive and diligent and boys as boisterous and unruly," Keddie wrote in an article for The Conversation.

Meanwhile, sexual consent advocate Chanel Contos, who holds a master’s degree in gender education and international development, has argued single-sex schools uphold "gender stereotypes and expectations".

Another professor of education from Deakin University, Chris Hickey, said single-sex schools can have "quite pervasive and quite toxic" cultures, but that can be the case at co-ed schools too.

"I reject the fundamental premise that single-sex schools are inherently toxic," Hickey said.

He believed reactions from some in the Newington College community were "reflexes to something that they've known and hold quite dearly".

But "it may be that the new (co-ed) version of the school matures and becomes quite a successful education environment," he said.

SBS News contacted Newington College and the group campaigning against the school's co-ed move, Save Newington College, for comment.

A Newington College spokesperson said the school was focused on its students and directed SBS News to details about the change on its website.

Save Newington College said that, after 48 hours of coverage on the issue, it was "media'd out".