Apologies for the delay in replying, I have a lot of calls on my time!
UK education, under the Comprehensive system, is about 80% co-educational. All Comprehensive schools are co-ed. Some of the remaining selective Grammar Schools are still single-sex, as are some Church Schools (especially Islamic ones). The independent (private) sector is now over 50% fully or partially co-ed. Back when I was at school, single-sex education tended to begin at 11. Most Primary (5-11) Schools were co-ed apart from the private Nursery and Preparatory Schools.
Local Education Authorities divide their districts into catchment areas designed to maximise diversity. Each catchment area will have one Comprehensive School as well as one or more Grammar and Church Schools. Parents may apply for their children to attend Grammar of Church Schools, and the schools decide who to admit based either on academic record or religious credentials. All other pupils go directly to the appropriate Comprehensive, though there is leeway for those on the borders of two catchment areas.
OK, so my teaching work was mostly post-16, my later work for the exam regulator Ofqual was consultative. These are some of the things I found out.
In Media Studies (my main subject), girls outnumbered boys by 2-1 and there were significant differences in approach and areas of interest. The girls were more holistic, the boys more analytical. But these were the more middle-class, brighter students, studying becuase they wanted to, so there were few problems.
In teaching an Industry and Society module, and Study Skills, to all-male Engineering classes, I enountered other issues. The first was that the department was desperate to enrol more girls, and did so every year but then "We show them round the workshop, they take one look at the machines, and they never come back!" Make of that what you will. The second was that,even with the most keen and good-natured of classes, it was fatal to show any sign of weakness. A single flash of empathy, a failure to respond to even the lightest challenge, and control was lost, along wth the lesson.
In later years, I encountered the following constant refrains from women teachers in mixed schools.
Boys were reluctant to join mixed-sex project or workgroups.
All-male workgroups were competitive and hierarchical, rather than cooperative and egalitarian..
Boys failed to form close and supportive relationships.
Boys would not tell you if they had a problem.
Boys are restless and disruptive, they don't like listening for too long and will demand that you 'cut to the chase' or 'get to the point'.
If you try to discuss their behaviour with them, they won't engage.
Male teachers, on the other hand:
Girls are always asking irrelevant questions and take foerever to get to the point.
Girls are clingy and dependent with their friends. If their BFF is off sick, they're useless.
Girls are risk-averse.
Girls take comments about their work too personally.
If you are even slightly sharp, brusque or sarcastic with them, they either get in a snit or burst into tears.
If you try to discuss their behaviour with them, they won't engage.
Apart from single-gender education, I can't see any approach that wil get the best out of both. Also, and with all due respect, LGBTQ students remain a minority, and while it is necessary to provide for them, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few - that's called democracy.
