‘Has single-sex education had its day?’

Sir, – Jen Hogan describes single-sex education as “bizarre” (“Has single-sex education had its day?”, Opinion & Analysis, May 7th). There is nothing unreasonable or strange in parents wanting their daughters to be educated in an environment that celebrates and elevates their sex.

In her defence of single-sex education, Finn McRedmond explains that the Labour Party has proposed to turn all single-sex schools coeducational within 15 years. In 2013, during a Joint Oireachtas Committee hearing on the General Scheme of the Gender Recognition Bill, Labour TD Aodhán Ó Ríordáin, described a provision within the Bill to protect single-sex sport as “bizarre”. The provision was removed. Why does the Labour Party have such distaste for single-sex initiatives that afford females the opportunity to thrive in the absence of males?

Finn McRedmond is correct that it should not be a “radical act” to defend single-sex education for girls. Nor should it be radical to defend single-sex sports or spaces for females, regardless of age.

The truly “bizarre” situation is that anyone has to argue these points at all. – Yours, etc,

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SANDRA ADAMS,

Dublin 13.

Sir, – Last week we learned that two Dublin secondary schools (St Joseph of Cluny, a girls’ school and St David’s CBS, a boys’ school) are to welcome children of the opposite sex. Many schools are making this change organically without any push from Government.

So I am slightly baffled by the amount of space being given to the topic of single-sex education.

I am, however, alarmed that the Labour Party wants to get rid of single-sex schools altogether and introduced a Bill to that effect last year. It wants to take that choice away from parents while demanding choice in terms of ethos.

I suspect they probably also don’t believe that the children in their mixed-sex schools should have access to single-sex toilets either, only “gender-neutral” ones.

Surely parents are entitled to decide themselves whether they want their children educated in a single-sex or mixed-sex school in the same way as they should be able to choose their school based on ethos? Surely this is not an all-or-nothing issue. – Yours, etc,

E BOLGER,

Dublin 9.

Sir, – In the UK, access to single-sex schools is mostly limited to those whose families can pay high fees, or those who demonstrate commitment to a religious faith. The fact that many parents either pay the fees (often eye-watering) or perform a pretence of religious belief shows how highly single-sex education is valued there.

If the Irish State phased out single-sex schools from the publicly funded system, I would expect an “independent” (as they call it in the UK) school sector to emerge to serve families who desire this type of education, and can afford to pay for it. Such a policy would, therefore, remove an educational option that works extremely well for many young people, particularly girls (myself included, many years ago), while those from wealthier families would retain privilege of access, all in the name of equality. – Yours, etc,

NIAMH MULVEY,

Kilkenny.

Sir, – Finn McRedmond asserts that “A serious and credible education policy would prioritise first the will of the schools”.

Given that the majority of our schools are in the ownership of the Roman Catholic Church, with its view of the female of the species as second class, this seems designed to perpetuate the status quo and keep women and girls firmly in their place.

I can hardly think of a better argument for change. – Yours, etc,

BERNIE LINNANE,

Dromahair,

Co Leitrim.