Focuses on two research studies: (1) a 10-year-long investigation of two Australian secondary schools that became co-educational secondary schools over a two-year period; and (2) a two-year investigation of an English co-educational secondary school where single-sex mathematics classes were introduced for five-school terms and then mixed-sex…

This paper explores factors influencing parents' choices of single-sex or co-educational schools in the independent sector. In doing so, it explores two relatively under-researched aspects of school choice by focusing upon gender and upon the middle classes. The paper draws upon research conducted in three independent schools--a boys' school, a…