Items

• Academic momentum from school to university

  Academic momentum - whether or not tertiary degrees are completed - is influenced by three factors: academic course load, the background and socioeconomic status of the student (including high-school attainment), and “value-adding activities” such as time off between high school and university (Martin, Wilson, Liem & Ginns, 2013, p. 641). This study examined the role of “various indicators of prior learning, achievement, and experience (high school achievement, university achievement, deferment experience, mature age experience) in university/college students’ academic achievement over the first four semesters of their undergraduate studies”. A sample of 904 students from an Australian university participated in the longitudinal study. Effects of prior and ongoing achievement The researchers found that “high school achievement and ongoing university achievement predicted subsequent achievement through university. However, the impact of high school achievement diminished, while additive effects of ongoing university achievement continued” (Martin et al., p. 640). These findings suggest that achievement through university is a self-determined factor “with continued investment in one’s studies yielding increasing and additive benefits beyond achievement at high school” (p. 664). The student therefore “builds on his/her prior experience, connecting prior learning and achievement with subsequent learning and achievement” (p. 664). Of particular note to school educators is the fact that these findings also suggest “high achieving school leavers are not guaranteed academic success at university, and so they and their educators must be vigilant to performance declines early in university and problematic transitions from high school to university” (p. 664). Deferred entry students Deferred entry to university also predicted achievement through university (p. 640). Time spent in a ‘gap year’, or the year after secondary school completion may provide students with experiences and prior-knowledge to support “the self-regulated learning required at university level” (p. 665). Again, these findings are of interest to secondary school educators and counsellors, as some may currently hold the view that deferment “is a distraction from an important linear transition from high school to university/college” (p. 665). Martin et al. suggest that the types of activities conducted in a gap year are important, as “different deferment activities will yield different impacts” (p. 666). Looking at the range of studies “for and against deferred entry, it is evident that some activities may lead to academic success and other activities may impede success” (p. 665). However, extra-curricular experiences such as the gap year can be a “form of momentum that facilitates university performance” (p. 666). Another interesting finding was that the period of deferment is also salient; mature age “experience did not yield significantly positive effects on achievement” (p. 666). Academic momentum can be impeded by periods of more than one or two years of deferment, which perhaps “represents too great a disconnect between the life course and formal education” (p. 666). Conclusions Summarising all these findings, Martin et al. suggest that “university achievement is more dominant than high school achievement on subsequent university achievement—and deferment experience is more dominant than mature age experience on subsequent university achievement. In both cases, the more proximal and local sources of educational influence predominate” (p. 666). Overall, high school achievement and “ongoing university achievement predict subsequent achievement through university— but the impact of high school achievement diminishes while the additive and potentially self-determining effects of ongoing university achievement on subsequent achievement are evident” (p. 669). It was also clear that deferment experience “positively predicts achievement through university” (p. 669). Research abstract prepared by Kate Broadley, Alliance Researcher Martin, A., Wilson, R., Liem, G., & Ginns, P. (2013). Academic momentum at university/college: Exploring the roles of prior learning, life experience, and ongoing performance in academic achievement across time. The Journal of Higher Education, 84 (5), 640- 674.
• Assessing the employment negotiation gender gap from the perspective of early childhood: When does the gender gap first emerge?

  ICGS 2025

  Advocates for the equality of girls and women are well aware of gender gaps in negotiation in the context of employment. Many studies have addressed this very topic, but few have considered how early childhood experiences impact this gender gap. Researchers from New York University and Boston College have explored the experiences and responses of children aged between six and 12 years to consider how this gender gap is occurring in childhood, and what this means for girls. This article provides new insight into the impact of girls’ perceptions of their own abilities when making requests, and why this shows that the employment gender gap may be first emerging during childhood. With a substantial wage gap existing between men and women in locations such as the United States, this is a challenge that still draws the attention of advocates, many industries, and researchers (Arnold et al., 2025, p. 604). Negotiation has been repeatedly identified as one of the key “drivers of wage inequity”, with women less likely than men to initiate salary negotiations, while also seeking less renumeration and benefits during negotiation processes (Arnold et al., 2025, p. 604). This is even more pronounced when women are required to negotiate with men. While much research has considered this challenge during employment negotiations, researchers have now approached this from the perspective of early childhood due to the growing occurrence of school-aged children demonstrating these same traits of girls asking for less than boys, especially when negotiating with a man (Arnold et al., 2025, p. 605). This article is based on a project that incorporated three studies involving both hypothetical and actual negotiations for tangible items with adults previously unknown to the children. The authors identified five key perceptions in children that can contribute to this widening gender gap as early as elementary school. Current understandings of adult differences in negotiation often focus on anticipated backlash, however, this study showed that in children, this is less pronounced. Instead, there is more focus on self-perceptions of “how competent children think they are at the activity for which they are negotiating” (Arnold et al., 2025, p. 618). The researchers found that boys and girls have “similar perceptions of hypothetical and actual negotiations” (Arnold et al., 2025, p. 618). Yet girls asked for less than boys during negotiations. This led the authors to ask why this is occurring. In order to investigate this question, the project was based around five key themes. The first of these were descriptive norms (recognising that girls and boys have different beliefs about what their genders typically do during negotiations) and prescriptive norms (where boys and girls hold different beliefs about what is permissible for each gender to actually do during negotiations). This was followed by anticipated social backlash (where children anticipate a negative reaction from the other negotiating party), expected utility (where children have different perceptions of expected success or gain from negotiation) and competence self-perception. This final theme was significant, because it was apparent in the project that girls may negotiate for less because they have lower optimism about their competence. The researchers found the impact of gender itself surprising. At this age, gender was not a key influence on girls’ perceptions of negotiation. There was little difference in boys’ and girls’ perceptions of how permissible it was to negotiate, and if these negotiations would be successful. There was also little impact on these perceptions based on whether the children were negotiating with a man or woman. The authors noted it was surprising to observe that there was a substantial disconnect between girls’ behaviour and what they thought other children asked for, if they thought it was permissible to negotiate, if they anticipated backlash, and if they expected the negotiation to be successful. Given these themes do exist in older age groups, further research is needed to understand at what point this aspect of gender begins to influence negotiation experiences. What did emerge from the study as a key influence for girls that contributed to a gender gap in behaviour was their self-perceptions of competence. Despite similar perceptions of negotiation itself, “the ways in which these perceptions related to how [children] negotiated differed based on their gender” and was most pronounced in practical scenarios (Arnold et al., 2025, p. 619). Girls in the study were more likely to downgrade perceptions of their competence and consequently, negotiated for less than their male counterparts. Ultimately, the researchers felt the data suggested that “girls’ behavior is more closely tied to what they think they deserve, not any perceptions of the negotiation process or the person they are negotiating with” (Arnold et al., 2025, p. 619, emphasis in o
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  Gender Essentialism Leads to Biased Learning Opportunities That Shape Women’s Career Interests

  Katherine R. Christensen, Andrei Cimpian, Sapna Cheryan (2025) 2025

  This study examines how beliefs about innate gender differences—known as gender essentialism—can unintentionally shape women’s career interests by influencing the learning opportunities they receive. Across three experiments, the researchers found that when people assume gender differences are biological, they are more likely to assign women and men stereotypical tasks (e.g., women to empathizing roles, men to systemizing roles). Over time, these biased experiences reinforce traditional gendered career interests, even when the original intentions were neutral. The findings highlight how subtle beliefs about gender can limit agency and opportunity, and suggest that fostering a more contextual understanding of gender differences is key to supporting equitable career pathways for all students. Reference Christensen, K. R., Cimpian, A., & Cheryan, S. (2025). Gender essentialism leads to biased learning opportunities that shape women’s career interests. Psychological Science , 36(7), 1195–1209. https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976251353753
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  Leading the Future: How Girls’ Schools Can Respond to the OECD’s Gender Equality Findings

  ICGS 2026

  In September 2025, the OECD published its Gender Equality in a Changing World report, a comprehensive assessment of gender equality across EU and OECD countries. The report examines how women, men, girls and boys are faring across seven policy areas: education and skills, paid and unpaid work, leadership and representation, health, gender-based violence, the green transition, and the digital transformation.
• University, careers and leadership

  ICGS 2024

  Research shows that girls who attend single-sex schools are more likely to achieve their personal best at school, be confident of their academic ability, and aspire to graduate and postgraduate study -- all of which are highly advantageous in the development of their careers and in achieving their leadership potential. Alumnae of girls' schools are also more likely to enter male-dominated careers, which is advantageous for their future earning potential. • A detailed analysis of the exam results of over 4,700 female students in Poland has found that girls from single-sex schools scored higher than girls from closely matched co-ed schools on a national high-stakes science exam, indicating that “attending an all-girls school might significantly affect future educational, career and job opportunities of young women” (Koniewski & Hawrot, 2021, p. 1). • Mission Australia's Youth Survey 2020 of young people aged 15-19 revealed that students at girls’ schools obtained higher scores than the female average in educational and career aspirations. Despite the pandemic, a higher proportion of girls' school students intended to obtain a university degree (88.1%) compared with 69.9% of all females aged 15-19. In addition, 56.7% of girls attending single-sex schools reported feeling positive or very positive about their future compared with 52.6% of all females (Mission Australia, 2020). • A 2019 study by Dr Phillippa Carnemolla of the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) found that 55% of girls enrolling in the Bachelor of Construction Project Management degree at UTS from 2010-2018 had attended an all-girls schools, despite girls’ schools only comprising 9% of schools in New South Wales (p. 29). • Similarly, in New Zealand, where 13% of students (male and female) attend single-sex schools, a study found that girls enrolling in engineering at Canterbury University between 2005 and 2017 were more likely to have attended a single-sex school. Over half (56%) of female engineering students had attended a girls’ school , a rate “significantly higher” than the national average. Among the nine engineering schools at the university, the highest proportion occurred in computer engineering, where 71% of females had attended a single-sex school (Docherty et al., 2018, pp. 1,3). • A 2019 study of schools belonging to the Young Women’s Preparatory Network in Texas found that students attending the all-girls’ schools showed stronger academic performance in maths and science in middle school and high school, received less formal discipline for poor behaviour, and were more likely to enrol in universities and four-year colleges than girls from co-educational schools who were closely matched on an array of background characteristics including demographics and academic performance in primary school (Pustejovsky, 2019, pp. 1, 6). • A 2018 study by Fitzsimmons, Yates and Callan has found that self-confidence is "gender neutral" in single-sex schools with girls equally as confident as boys (p. 54). “The importance of this finding cannot be understated,” write the report authors (p. 54), “since arguments over the origins of women’s self-confidence in the workplace are driving organisational interventions in the areas of pay and progression, leadership development, executive selection and communication, to name but a few.” (Also see, Fitzsimmons, Yates & Callan, 2021 .) • A 2018 German study has found that single-sex programs in computer science and mechanical engineering held since 2001 have led to a decrease in the number of female students dropping out of STEM disciplines at German universities. As a result, these programs have helped lead to an increase in the number of females in traditionally male-dominated STEM fields (Busolt, Ludewig & Schmidt, 2018, p. 251). • An Australian study, which found that girls attending single-sex schools are more likely to take male-dominated STEM subjects at school and university than girls at co-educational schools, concluded that by “creating a more friendly environment for girls at school, at university and in the workplace which permits them to excel and achieve their potential”, we could begin to address the gender pay gap which results in financial disparities between women and men (Tran, 2017, p. 78). • In 2015, 7.1% of girls who attended Girls' Day School Trust (GDST) schools in England commenced medicine or dentistry degrees ; 5.4% entered physical science degrees (including physics and chemistry); 3.7% studied engineering degrees; and 2.6% took up mathematical or computer sciences. All of these figures are well above the national girls' participation rates in these subjects (Stannard, 2018, p. 16). • On 13 October 2014, Professor Alison Booth, Professor of Economics and a Public Policy Fellow at the Australian National University, wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald that: “Females alone appear to benefit from single-gender classes and they benefit significantly. Women