Girls and boys attending State schools will sit side by side in all Form 1 classrooms from the next scholastic year.

Co-education was introduced as a pilot project at St Claire’s secondary school in Pembroke last September, making it the first secondary State school to receive both genders.

However, after a consultation process yielded positive feedback the system will be rolled out across all colleges, the government said yesterday.

“The wide consultation process showed that colleges were in favour of the co-ed system and willing to introduce it together with the middle school concept,” the government said.

The middle school concept that separates Form 1 and 2 students from older peers was also introduced in Pembroke along with the co-ed system.

State schools have long had co-education at primary level but girls and boys embarked on separate paths when reaching secondary school stage.

The concept of mixed schooling at all stages has long been adopted by private schools but is generally shunned by Church schools, even at a primary level.

The Pembroke experiment was meant to guide the introduction of co-education in other State schools but the Education Ministry had at the time said mixed-gender schooling will not be imposed and would depend on the college heads.

The wide consultation process showed that colleges were in favour of the co-ed system

Mixed-gender schooling has received different reviews in the academic world. While many acknowledge the positive impact it can have to remove gender stereotypes, others caution on the need for greater awareness among educators to avoid girls and boys adopting passive or dominating attitudes in different classes, depending on how the subject is perceived.

On a separate note the government also removed the uncertainty that was brewing after it considered shifting some schools from one college to another to balance student populations.

The set-up of the colleges will not change, the Education Ministry said, adding it decided to leave things as they are after feedback from parents, educators and students.

However, to cater for the imbalance in college populations, the government said middle-school set-ups will not be the same in all colleges.

Some colleges will have the middle school within the same secondary school set-up while others will have distinct premises. Those secondary schools with the middle-school forming part of the same building are: the Mosta secondary schools, the Żejtun girls’ secondary school, the Santa Lucia girls’ secondary school and the Pembroke secondary school.

The National Sports School will be located at the St Andrew’s girls secondary school.

The full list of college secondary schools can be accessed online at timesofmalta.com.

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