Single-sex settings: Pedagogies for girls and boys in Danish schools

Teachers in the Danish co-educational elementary school system (the 'folkeskole' with pupils from the age of 6 to 16) who are involved in innovative pedagogical projects have used segregation as an organizational method in introducing and developing equal opportunities and anti-sexist pedagogical initiatives. The idea of arranging single-sex settings started out as a means to provide space for girls and to enhance their competence professionally as well as to empower them personally. In setting up 'Project Girls' Class-Boys' Class' - a developmental project about gender equity - the teachers, a woman and a man, have mixed their two classes and segregated the girls and the boys for longer or shorter periods or for a whole term in certain subjects, thus giving them space and tutoring on their own terms. The involved girls developed self-confidence and prefer to be in their girls-only setting whereas it is the teachers (more than the involved boys themselves) that find that the boys' class can provide important learning experiences for boys in raising their awareness of values and attitudes - both among the boys themselves and in relation to the girls. From the point of view of educational theory and of how learning can become true learning affecting the cognitive, emotional as well as moral and behavioural attitudes, the chapter reflects on why the segregation projects have given such clear results, whereas much other excellent tutoring by committed teachers seems not to have had the same impact. The preliminary conclusion is that, in the hands of devoted teachers (people committed to the issues of gender equity and anti-sexism and who are close and caring to their pupils), the technique of polarizing can be very effective.