Mission Australia 2021 Survey affirms the benefits of girls’ schools.
Mrs Janet Stewart | stewartj@mbc.qld.edu.au
Early in February, Mission Australia shared the results of its annual survey of young people aged 15-19. Now in its 19th year, the survey provides a platform for young people to express their views, concerns and hopes for the future. At MBC, we welcome the report each year as it is one of many pieces of data which help inform our pastoral curriculum. After such a challenging 12 months, I was very keen to review this year’s results and was encouraged to learn that girls – especially those educated at all girls’ schools – fared so well during the pandemic year of 2020. In particular, an analysis conducted for the Alliance of Girls’ Schools Australasia, revealed that students at girls’ schools obtained higher scores than the female average in the key areas of physical and mental health, overall life satisfaction, and educational and career aspirations.
While the 2020 Youth Survey revealed that many of the 25,800 young people who participated were happy with their current circumstances and felt optimistic about their futures, this was especially true for the 2,760 students attending 18 girls’ schools. Survey results showed that girls from single-sex schools were less concerned than other young females about mental health issues and coping with stress. Equally positive was the finding that the same girls had managed to remain focussed on their studies and plans to attend university, and were confident in their ability to achieve their goals after leaving school.
Like many other girls’ schools across the nation, MBC worked tirelessly throughout the tumult of 2020 to deliver compassionate and responsive pastoral care and support, and creative online and hybrid models of teaching and learning. Above all, we intentionally set out to nurture the deep sense of social connection and belonging our students feel for their school, to ensure our girls were anchored to their teachers, friends and school community. It seems that despite reimagined school events, cancelled musical and dance performances, new look formals and some concern about the exams results, young women have shown remarkable resilience, resourcefulness, care and good humour — attributes and attitudes that will prepare them for tomorrow’s world, whatever it may hold.
Included in the survey were some very specific questions to measure the physical health of young people. The results in this field indicate that students attending girls’ schools are living healthier lives than the average of all females. In particular, girls attending single-sex schools engage in more sport, and despite the barriers COVID presented, 74% indicated they played sport in 2020 compared to 69% of all females surveyed. This result powerfully reflects the extraordinary lengths that Mrs Pavish, our HPE teachers and coaches went to last year to keep the girls involved in school training (sometimes via Zoom) and sporting competitions, not to mention the creative online and skilfully managed HPE classes and other wellbeing activities, during lockdown.
Similarly, the survey examines mental health concerns in its questionnaire. Here again, the results are better for girls in single sex schools. Just over one-third of respondents from girls’ schools (37%) reported that mental health was a personal concern compared to the female average of 43%. Similarly, 52% of girls from single-sex schools said they were very or extremely concerned about coping with stress compared with 56% of all females. Nonetheless, it is clear that mental health and wellbeing remains an area of considerable concern for all our young people. Thankfully at MBC we encourage open and honest mental health discussions – the video presentation (posted on our Facebook page) from the MBC and MBBC Captains last year was a case in point - and our ongoing focus on mental wellbeing in Primary classes and Secondary PMP ensures we prioritise this among our students.
Interestingly, the Alliance of Girls’ Schools Australasia attributes these lower rates of concern about mental health among girls from single-sex schools as a product of the lower rates of bullying and victimisation that researchers have reported in all-girl schooling environments. The 2020 Youth Survey found that 9.6% of students at girls’ schools were concerned about bullying compared with 15.1% of all females. These findings indicate that students from girls’ schools are less likely to experience the negative wellbeing and mental health outcomes that can result from bullying and victimisation. At MBC, our Anti Bullying Strategy (link to the website strategy please) states clearly that we have a zero tolerance to bullying and we investigate vigorously all matters brought to our attention by girls, staff and parents.
Excitingly, there were positive results from the survey relating to the future hopes and dreams of young women. Girls attending single-sex schools are more likely to enter tertiary education after high school compared with the female average. A significantly higher proportion of girls’ school students taking part in the 2020 Youth Survey reported intending to obtain a university degree (88%) compared with 70% of all females aged 15-19.
In addition, girls from single-sex schools were more likely to report feeling very or extremely confident in their ability to achieve their study or work goals after finishing school (48% vs 45%) and more likely to report feeling positive or very positive about their future (57% vs 53%). Indeed, the overall life satisfaction of girls attending single sex schools was 61%, compared with 54% of all female respondents.
It is reasonable then to conclude that the findings of the 2020 Youth Survey reveal that, even amid the disruptions experienced during last year, girls’ schools are continuing to create an environment where young women can flourish. Indeed, our own experience of 2020 affirmed that girls are active, confident, creative, resilient and adaptable - the future is in excellent hands.
Reference:
Alliance of Girls’ Schools Australasia, Youth Survey 2020: Girls’ school students remain positive and future-focused, Issue 1/20
