National planning to create more single-sex schools

The National Party is promising to increase the number of single-sex schools to meet parent demand.

Education spokesman Bill English told the party's annual conference in Wellington on Saturday that single-sex schools were becoming increasingly popular with parents.

"There are very large waiting lists for just about every single-sex school in the country," Mr English said.

National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA) results showed that both boys and girls in single-sex schools were outperforming their peers in co-educational schools.

Mr English said the Government had not established any new single-sex schools since 1961, but National was prepared to change that.

"If we are worried about boys' education and what's happening to boys - and we are - and if we've got a type of school that works, then why don't we have more of them?"

He said some existing schools could be converted to single-sex facilities.

- NZPA