Girls' participation in physics in single sex classes in mixed schools in relation to confidence and achievement

The establishment of single sex classes in mixed secondary schools has been proposed as a strategy to increase the participation and achievement of gi rls in physics. This paper reports some findings from a three-year longitud inal case study of two single sex GCSE physics classes in a mixed comprehen sive school in England. The results indicate that,girls who elected to stud y physics in a single sex class gain confidence in the subject over the GCS E course, that gain in confidence is associated with better GCSE achievemen t, and that this increases the likelihood of studying A-level physics.