Two of Melbourne’s most sought-after state high schools will reach gender parity next year, marking the end of more than a decade of male-dominated enrolments.
The milestone has prompted calls for the state’s top specialist science school, where female representation has yet to return to its pre-pandemic high, to work harder to get more girls into its classrooms.
Selective entry Suzanne Cory High School and Nossal High School have been dominated by boys each year since 2014, a stubborn trend which saw the state government introduce a special measure in 2024 requiring both schools to enrol an equal number of girls and boys in year 9.
However, John Monash Science School which has recorded a decade-old gender imbalance is exempt from the measure.
Around 600 aspiring John Monash Science School students complete an assessment and interview each year in the hope of securing one of 200 prized year 10 places.
But the odds of securing a place is greater for boys with the proportion of girls enrolled at the Clayton school falling from 49 per cent in 2020 to 47 per cent last year, analysis by The Age shows.
Gender Equity Victoria chief executive Micaela Drieberg said for gender parity to be achieved and then maintained across academically selective schools, quotas should be part of the selection process.
“All students should have equal opportunities,” Drieberg said.
“A consistent policy that focuses on gender representation across all select entry schools would ensure the students of today have equal opportunities, as well as the students of tomorrow.”
Places at Suzanne Cory High School and Nossal High School, Melbourne’s only two co-educational selective entry schools, have persistently favoured boys but will achieve full gender balance next year when 2024’s year 9 intake reaches year 12.
John Monash Science School principal Andrew Chisholm said the 17-year-old school aimed for parity however the gender balance depended on applications.
He said John Monash Science School differed from Suzanne Cory High and Nossal High as it was a specialist selective entry school rather than a cross-discipline selective entry school.
“We’re really inclusive, and we want gender balance,” he said.
“But sometimes having more guidelines actually makes it worse because you’re taking away the freedom of the school and to choose the people who are most appropriate to be at a science school.”
Chisholm pointed out that of the 34 year 11 students joining the school this year, 21 were girls.
Drieberg acknowledged the specialist science school was close to parity but said a consistent policy was required to lift and then maintain an equal proportion of girls and boys in the classrooms.
“If we don’t have these things in place, and if we take our foot off the pedal, we can easily go backwards,” she said.
Co-chair of research and gender advocacy group The 100% Project Mark Morris said having gender equality policies in place signalled parity was taken seriously.
“Failure to work toward gender equality is an intentional act against gender equality,” he said.
“When it comes to gender equity, there shouldn’t be different acceptable standards for different schools.”
Suzanne Cory High School and Nossal High School have both recorded an increase in the proportion of girls enrolled since the policy took effect.
Of the 922 students at Suzanne Cory High School last year, 47 per cent were girls.
In 2023, the year the special measure was announced, 42 per cent of the student population were girls. That figure rose to 46 per cent when the policy took effect in 2024.
It’s a similar story at Nossal High School, where 46 per cent of the 825 students last year were girls, up from 43 per cent between 2022 and 2024.
“We know historically that quotas work,” Drieberg said.
However, Melbourne University professor of history and philosophy of science Cordelia Fine said benefits of gender parity policies didn’t automatically justify them.
“In the case of selective schools, there is a cost both to boys who would otherwise have been offered a place, and to girls who may be stigmatised as needing a lower bar to gain entry,” Fine said.
Melbourne molecular biologist Suzanne Cory, whose name adorns the Werribee school, is an advocate of having an equal number of boys and girls in the classrooms.
Cory, the first female president of the Australian Academy of Science, told The Age in November that all students would benefit from an academically selective system made up of an equal proportion of girls and boys.
Victorian Education Minister Ben Carroll said the state’s selective entry schools provided high-achieving students with an academically challenging and enriching secondary school experience.
“Balancing gender enrolment numbers in our select entry high schools provides every Victorian student an equal opportunity to study at one of these education providers,” he said.
More than 5700 students sat the selective entry school entrance exam last year.
Just 1000 places for this year’s year 9 intake across Nossal High School, Suzanne Cory High School, MacRobertson Girls’ High School and Melbourne High were up for grabs.
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Bridie Smith is an education reporter at The Age. A former desk editor, she has also reported on science and consumer affairs.Connect via X, Facebook or email.
