A heated debate on the viability and necessity of same-sex schools had Today with Claire Byrne listeners reacting in a major way on Tuesday morning.Barbara Ennis, the principal of all-girls school Alexandra College in Clonskeagh, was joined by Aidan Regan, Associate Professor at the School of Politics and International Relations at UCD, to debate the issue with Claire.
Barbara replied: "Oh my god. That's absolute rubbish, I mean, signals?! We're not giving any signals. In the case of lack of choice in rural Ireland, that's not a signal, that's reality. In urban Ireland, if a student and her parents decide to go to a girl's school, that's their choice, there are no signals.
Another part of Barbara's argument was that her school "puts on a musical every year with one of the local boy's schools, so it's a positive environment."One person tweeted: "Oh dear god,that principal is a shockingly poor advocate for single sex schools, her only argument is that 'my schools great.Another said: "Research shows that girls fare better than boys in #SingleSexSchools. If it was the other way around we wouldn’t be having this conversation.