Students’ experiences of ability grouping – disaffection, polarisation and the construction of failure

Key issue addressed by the study  This small scale study investigated the ways in which students’ attitudes towards, and achievement in mathematics were influenced by ability grouping as they moved from Year 8 into Year 9.

Two approaches to grouping pupils –Streaming – separating children into groups by global ability and teaching them in the same class for all subjects –Setting – separating children into different groups by ability for individual subjects

Grouping and teachers’ practice  Ability grouping: –appears to signal to teachers that it is appropriate to use less different teaching strategies than they use with mixed ability classes  Mixed ability grouping: –results in students being given more ‘open tasks’ which can be tackled at a variety of levels.

Grouping and students’ attainment?  Setting provides a slight gain in attainment for top set pupils; but  Students in the lower sets can become disaffected as teachers tend to enter whole groups in the same tier for GCSE, limiting chances of achieving higher grades

Pupils’ perceptions of being in the top set  Students in the top sets characterised their mathematical experience as fast, procedural and pressured: –“I want to get a good mark, but I don’t want to be put in the top set again. It’s too hard, and I won’t learn anything” (Girl) –All eight set 1 girls wanted to move down –Six out of eight set 1 boys were also unhappy

Pupils’ perceptions of being in the lower set  Negative experiences included: –Dissatisfaction with pace –Teachers expectations –Prospects of movement between sets –Self esteem “Sir treats us like babies…makes us copy stuff off the board, puts up all the answers like we don’t know anything… we’re not going to learn from that…we’ve got to think for ourselves” (Set 6 girls)

What did the authors conclude?  Ability grouping “creates academic success and failure through a system where students ‘have to be that good’ or ‘have to be that bad’”  Between class ability grouping may produce an underestimation of the capabilities of weaker students and the setting of overly challenging patterns of study for the most able.

Who were the children in the study?  843 children surveyed across year 8 and 9  from 42 classes in 6 secondary schools

How was the information gathered?  120 hours of lesson observation (10 hours per school per year);  a confidential questionnaire administered to all students in May/June of both years to gain understanding of students’ attitudes and beliefs in mathematics;  interviews with six pairs of students from each school at the end of Year 9: a pair of girls and one of boys from each of the top, middle and one of the lower sets, and with students from a comparable range of attainment in the mixed ability schools; and  students’ GCSE results, together with the value-added element (as from key stage 3) for each school.

How can teachers use the evidence in this study?  The researchers suggest that ability grouping leads to students in the weaker sets not being appropriately challenged  You may wish to discuss with a colleague effective strategies you have used to create challenge for less able students.  The researchers found that some students in both the lower and top sets had negative views about their experiences.  Could you find out about your students’ perceptions of their learning and use these findings to inform your teaching?

How can school leaders use the evidence in this study?  The researchers found that teachers used a narrower range of teaching strategies in groups set by ability than in mixed ability groups  You might want to audit the range of teaching strategies used in your school. How can you widen the range of teaching strategies used with different groups?  The researchers found that ability grouping can create academic failure for some students.  You may wish to discuss with your leadership team the extent to which ability grouping is used in your school. Is it possible to gather data showing its impact on students achievement?

Follow-up reading  Study reference: Boaler, J., William, D. & Brown, M. (2000) British Educational Research Journal, 26 (5) pp Avaliable at:  Summary available at: grouping/FriOct / grouping/FriOct / grouping/FriOct /

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