The Alliance is pleased to announce that it has commissioned a new study by researchers from QUT and the University of Canberra to explore the impact of single-sex schooling on women’s life outcomes, including degrees and careers pursued by graduates of girls’ schools.
The Alliance 2019 Research Grant has been awarded to Dr Rebecca English, School of Teacher Education and Leadership, Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology, and Assoc Prof Raechel Johns, Canberra Business School, Faculty of Business, Government and Law, University of Canberra.
Research into the effects and impacts of girls’ schooling usually focuses on academic outcomes (cf. Shapiro, Grossman, Carter, Martin, Deyton & Hammer, 2015), career and professional aspirations (cf. Deyton & Hammer, 2015), and social and emotional development (cf. Hart, 2016). However, research does not generally focus on the overall experiences of the women who graduate from girls’ schools. Questions remain such as: How do women perceive the experience? What difference do they think the experience had on their lives? What benefits do they perceive from their experience in a girls’ school?
English and Johns’ study will draw on primary data from an online survey and secondary data from government and non-government sources. Findings will be reported at the Alliance’s Asia Pacific Summit on Girls’ Education, being held in Hobart in May 2020.
Alumnae of girls’ schools who graduated at least five years ago (2013 or earlier) are encouraged to take 15-20 minutes to complete the online survey to help paint a picture of life beyond the school gates for women who attended single-sex girls’ schools:
The survey closes on 16 August 2019.
This study has been approved by the QUT Human Research Ethics Committee (approval number 1900000024).