Teachers, parents have easily
settled with co-education changes
A questionnaire survey carried out with over
3,000 students, parents and teachers has indicated that they have settled in
well with the co-education changeover, with a majority of students saying that
they are ‘more settled and ‘more happy and content’ than in previous years.
The questionnaire, which was carried out in
April this year, evaluated responses from 987 Form 1 students and 758
parents/guardians, 958 Form 2 students and 854 parents/guardians, 123 Form 3
& 4 students and 69 parents/guardians, and 577 teachers. The full report is
available here.
Students
About 83% of Form 1, 78% Form 2, and 71% of Form
3 & 4 students reported they are happy and content at school. Girls are
more so than boys in Form 1 (albeit slightly) and Form 2, while the converse is
true in Form 3 & 4.
About 81% of Form 1, 78% of Form 2, and 68% of
Form 3 & 4 students indicated that they are doing well/very well at school.
64% of Form 2 and Form 3 & 4 students
reported that they are now more settled at school than in previous years.
59% of Form 2 and 53% of Form 3 & 4 students
are more happy and content at school than in previous years.
58% of Form 1, 57% of Form 2, and 65% of Form 3
& 4 students indicated that they have too many curriculum subjects to study.
18% of Form 1, 12% of From 2, and 11% of Form 3
& 4 students indicated that they would have preferred they were not boys
and girls together.
Main issues raised: school uniform (they would
prefer something less formal and more practical); and bullying (being a victim
of bullying and there too much of it).
Teachers - 27% of teachers feel that students are generally
doing well in a co-education school; for 46% it made no difference to students;
24% feel that students are generally underachieving.
- 50% have settled down teaching in co-education
settings; for 41% it made no difference.
- 35% (mostly female teachers) need additional
support to maintain discipline in the classroom.
- 44% of teachers with one or more years’
experience in co-ed settings felt that this scholastic year they are more
settled teaching co-ed classes than in previous year/s.
- Of those teachers with one or more years’
experience, 60% felt that the challenges have increased compared to previous
year/s.
- Challenges include: teaching classes with too
many different abilities (68% of all teachers); and the need for more
discipline (49% of all teachers).
- Main issues raised: more discipline is needed;
more action on misbehaviour and bullying; and school & class size (smaller
schools and class size).
Parents/Guardians - 83% of Form 1, 81% of Form 2, and 90% of Form 3
& 4 parents/guardians are generally satisfied with their child’s
co-education experience; at most, 3% expressed dissatisfaction.
- 12% of Form 1, 22% of Form 2, and 26% of Form 3
& 4 parents/guardians are dissatisfied on account of teachers who
(according to them) do not teach properly.
- 90% of Form 1, 87% of Form 2, and 96% of Form 3
& 4 parentsw/guardians felt their child has settled down in co-ed settings;
72% of Form 2, and 86% of Form 3 & 4 parents/guardians feel that this
scholastic year their child is more settled than in previous years.
- 78% of Form 1 parents/guardians felt that their
child is doing well/very well at school; 63% of Form 2 and 64% of Form 3 &
4 parents/guardians felt that this scholastic year their child is doing better
at school than in previous years.
- 96% of Form 1 parents/guardians felt that their
child is happy and content; 67% of Form 2 and 80% of Form 3 & 4
parents/guardians felt that this cholastic year their child is more happy and
content than in previous years.
- Main issues raised: more discipline; the need to
tackle school bullying; more action on misbehaviour; heavy school bags, and
availability and suitability of lockers; and more supervision and monitoring of
students during breaks.