Why are all Educate Together schools co-educational?
It would be hard for us to call ourselves “Educate Together” if we had separate schools for girls and boys! Although most primary schools in Ireland are now co-educational, that was not the case when we started in the 1970s. In today’s terms, our commitment to co-educationalism means that Educate Together is committed to encouraging children to explore their full range of opportunities irrespective of gender. We have learnt that this means much more than simply putting girls and boys in the same classroom and teaching them the same programme. We have to develop programmes to counter gender stereotyping and inequity in all aspects of school life. We think that encouraging an ability amongst children to have respectful relationships between girls and boys is a vital part of preparing them for their a future in a society where hopefully there will be increasing equality between genders.
