CEO Cheryl Giovannoni: Girls deserve an education designed around how they learn best

 

I was pleased to see the GDST once again leading the national conversation this week about the future of girls’ education.

In response to an article about the growing number of boys’ boarding schools now moving to co-education, my below letter in The Times asked a crucial question: are these shifts truly centred on what is best for girls?

At the GDST we believe that most educators would agree that outstanding schools can be found in co-educational, boys’ and girls’ settings alike. The question is not whether co-education can be successful, but whether we should overlook the distinctive benefits that many girls derive from an education designed around their needs.

Our Designing the Future of Girls’ Education report offers a blueprint for how creating space for girls, adapting curricula and forging a culture of positive female role models can all play a part in supporting girls in and out of the classroom.  This is a framework that can be adapted for any educational setting, including co-ed.

Perhaps, therefore, it’s not a coincidence that our Girls’ Futures research involving thousands of young women, found that girls educated in girls’ schools are more likely to describe themselves as confident, to aspire to leadership, and to pursue a wider range of academic and career pathways, particularly in areas where women remain underrepresented.

Importantly, this is not because girls are being shielded from the realities of a co-educational world. Quite the opposite. Girls’ schools exist to equip young women to thrive in that world – to speak up, lead, challenge assumptions and take their place with confidence in universities, workplaces and wider society.

The independent sector is strongest when it celebrates educational diversity rather than assuming there is a single model that works best for every child. Parents deserve access to evidence-informed discussion about the benefits each can offer, rather than the convenient narrative that co-education is automatically more ‘modern’ or ‘equal’ or indeed ‘inevitable’.

At the GDST, we encourage parents to ask hard questions. Who are the experts? Who understands what it means to create an environment built for girls to thrive — not adapted around them?

We must continue to do everything we can to ensure that girls are equipped to take their place in becoming the future leaders and changemakers the world needs more than ever.  At the GDST, we can prove that their chances of doing so are dramatically improved by an education designed specifically around how they learn best.

My letter in The Times, 23^rd June 2026:

Sir,

Your article on the growing number of boys’ boarding schools admitting girls raises an important question: are these changes being driven by what is best for girls, or by the needs of institutions seeking to appear more modern, searching for ways to improve their results, or to maintain pupil numbers?

Girls should never be treated as an add-on to age-old systems designed specifically for boys. Research consistently shows girls thrive when their needs are placed at the centre of the educational experience, free from the unconscious biases and constraints that can shape confidence and subject choices in co-educational settings.

This is not about educating girls separately to protect them from boys, but rather because they deserve to be in an environment which caters to how they learn best. As the trend for boys’ schools shifting to co-ed gathers pace, let’s not forget the girls in this conversation.