Society needs mixed schools to learn to live together and single-sex schools are 'unnatural', a teacher has said.
A new ESRI report has found over 60% of secondary school students would prefer all schools to be coeducational.
It shows a majority of students in single-sex schools would 'strongly' prefer their school to be coeducational, while students in coeducational schools 'strongly' prefer their schools to remain as they are.
Fewer than 20% in single-sex schools preferred their school's gender mix, compared to almost 90%
Main image shows teenage students in a classroom.When asked whether they would prefer mostly or all single-sex schools or mostly or all coeducational schools across the education system as a whole, 61% said they favoured mostly or all coeducational schools.
Only around 5% said they'd prefer mostly or all single-sex schools. About one-third stated a preference for an 'equal number' of both types of schools.
Secondary school teacher Jennifer Horgan told Newstalk Breakfast the findings didn't surprise her.
"We have a sort of bizarre obsession with separating children in Ireland whether it's by gender or religion," she said.
"Young people generally don't have that same kind of fear-based approach, so they're very happy to be together and they learn from one another.
"I'm entirely unsurprised".
'This isn't a panacea'
Ms Horgan said gender balance is just one aspect of a well-managed school.
"This isn't a panacea, it doesn't mean that all mixed schools are better schools than single-sex schools," she said.
"You can have absolutely excellent single-sex schools - I'm not saying it's always good but if you have a good school that is mixed gender I think that's better for young people.
"Education is about exposing people to difference, to the world, and particularly now where unfortunately we're seeing more and more division I think it's really important that we have mixed classrooms".
'A powerful thing'
Ms Horgan said when she is in her SPHE (Social, Personal and Health Education) class talking about menstruation it is much more "powerful" in a coeducational environment.
"It's not theory, it's actual lived experience and it also takes away the taboo," she said.
"This is actually something we can talk about, you don't need to be ashamed of the fact that you've periods.
"It's just so obvious; when you're in those classrooms you just get - this is a powerful thing".
Ms Horgan said there is also a concern that girls in single-sex schools "can become overly competitive with one another and very exam focused".
She added that she believes separating genders is "absolutely unnatural - society is mixed and we should learn together to live together".
The research, funded by the Joint Managerial Body for Voluntary Secondary Schools (JMB), draws on a survey of over 2200 students in 21 secondary schools.
