Introduction Contemporary educators and psychologists pay much attention to the relationship between gender and education. For example, they focus on such aspects as academic achievement of male and female students. In addition, they examine the socialization of boys and girls in educational institutions, especially the way in which they perceive gender roles. In this paper, I would like to discuss the socialization and academic achievement in Australian single-sex schools. In particular, I intend to examine distinctive peculiarities of these educational institutions and their impact on students’ performance and behavior. The understanding of this question can be of great importance nowadays, when teachers and parents try to determine what kind of learning environment is better for learners. While discussing this issue, I will strongly rely on the humanistic theories of education. In particular, I will refer to the ideas of Pierre Bourdieu and other scholars who believe that gender is primarily a social construct (Bourdieu as cited in Arnot 2002, p. 41). This means that both males are females are taught to comply with specific norms that are considered to be normal for their sex (Bourdieu as cited in Arnot 2002, p. 41). By looking at the single-sex schools, one can see that academic achievement and socialization do not depend on some inherent attitudes or capabilities of learners. Furthermore, students’ performance depends on the attitudes and beliefs of teachers, rather than the structure of school. Moreover, these variables are shaped by parents and media. These are the main issues that I want to examine. The main concepts related to gender and education There are several concepts that should be discussed in this paper because they are useful for understanding academic achievement and socialization of girls and boys in single-sex schools. One of them is knowledge-gender dynamics which is discussed by Gabrielle Ivinson and Patricia Murphy (2007). This concept means that certain part of school curriculum can be associated either with masculinity or femininity (Ivinson, & Murphy 2007, p. 60). For example, it was once considered that physical sciences or mathematics had been more suitable for males (Ivinson, & Murphy 2007, p. 60). In contrast, literature, music and drama were thought to be more appropriate for women (Ivinson, & Murphy 2007, p. 60). For a long time, this approach was dominant in many educational organizations. Only nowadays this trend is slowly reversed by teachers. Certainly, modern teachers do not share this opinion, but it still affects the attitudes of many people. For example, this stereotype can affect the decisions of parents who often force their children to choose certain subjects in college. Furthermore, knowledge-gender dynamics can affect the attitudes of students. In particular, it can lead to low levels of confidence among girls who can believe that they cannot cope with mathematical tests. Furthermore, these students may believe that they cannot learn some subjects like natural sciences. The thing is that this view can be only self-suggestion that has nothing to do with the actual performance of boys and girls. Th