Co-Education/Single-Sex Schools
- Published on: 4 November 2025
- Last updated on: 4 November 2025
About 90% of primary schools in Ireland provide education to boys and girls across all classes. We call this co-education. The remaining 10% or so are single-sex primary schools and provide education to boys only or girls only in some or all classes.
The table below sets out the breakdown of primary schools by co-educational and single-sex school status.
| School Type | Approx. Percentage of Primary Schools | |
| Co-educational primary schools | 90% | |
| Single-sex primary schools | 10% |
The Primary School Survey includes the following question on co-education or single-sex school preference:
Would you prefer your primary school to be a co-educational school or a single-sex school?
The survey is not a final step. Where there is clear support from parents and guardians for change from single-sex to co-education to be considered, a further process of inclusive dialogue will begin.
Every school has a patron, who appoints a Board of Management to manage the school on their behalf. Under the Education Act 1998, the patron decides on the ethos of the school and is the decision-making authority on significant decisions such as change of status to co-educational, subject to the approval of the Department of Education and Youth..