Single-sex classes are to be encouraged in mixed schools to prevent boys and girls distracting each other.

　　Boys and girls both benefit from being taught separately in subjects such as languages and maths, David Miliband, the school standards minister, said yesterday.

　　Some schools have already started separating the sexes for some lessons and say it has eliminated the "peacock effect" of boys showing off and provided a more equal distribution of teacher time.

　　Pupils said they felt more confident and suffered fewer distractions. Mr Miliband emphasised that he was not forcing schools to make the change. But he said he had asked the Secondary Heads' Association to carry out a survey of schools that are pioneering ways of meeting the different needs of boys and girls.(赵峦)