Clayfield College is the latest Australian school to embrace parallel learning – and the first school in Brisbane.
Until recently, the historic former single-sex school had a proud 100-year history of delivering education exclusively to girls. So, what’s changed?
What is parallel learning?
Under the parallel learning model, Clayfield College will deliver what it says are “all the benefits of co-education” through primary years. Then, in years seven to nine, the parallel learning approach becomes apparent, with separate learning streams that offers single-sex classes. The transition to parallel learning resumes in year 10, with fully coeducational classes in years 11 and 12, as students prepare for the real world of men and women mixing together at university and the workplace.
Parallel learning vs traditional coeducation
Australian single-sex schools that have recently turned towards coeducation models have, most often, . In Melbourne, well-known boys’ schools that went coeducational years ago include Geelong Grammar, Wesley College, Haileybury (also embracing parallel learning components), Caulfield Grammar and Carey Baptist Grammar.
In Sydney, Marist College made the transition to invite girls into the school back in 2015. Sydney private school Cranbrook will become fully coeducational by 2026 after admitting boys-only for more than a century. Meanwhile, talk of a merger between Randwick Boys’ High School and Randwick Girls’ High School has been bubbling away for years, with various surveys revealing many parents of girls believe their girls will enjoy better educational outcomes when boys aren’t in the classroom with them, while many parents of boys believe that their sons will perform better with girls around.
Welcome to parallel learning. Advocates of the model, like the newly enthusiastic Clayfield College, call it the “best of both worlds”.
Others may refer to it (perhaps more cynically) as a kind of bet-hedging. The parallel learning model brings in additional enrolments, while still purporting to offer similar value as single-sex education across some year levels (something that helps convince parents of girls that merging is a positive).
It is far from a cheap option, as teaching additional single sex classes at certain year levels in what is essentially a coed environment requires additional teachers and resources. But, when it comes to restoring life to single-sex public high schools, the model is more affordable than building an entirely new school.
Clayfield College Principal says parallel learning removes gender stereotypes
According to Dr Andrew Cousins, Principal of Clayfield College, “parallel learning means we can tailor the pastoral and academic provisions more sensitively, in an environment that removes the gender stereotype”.
“This allows students to develop a strong sense that they’re known, belong, and be the best version of themselves”, he says in a statement on the school’s website.
