Pupils should spend most of their time in mixed-ability classes, say researchers. Biddy Passmore reports
GROUPING pupils by ability does not automatically raise standards of achievement, a major survey of the research on setting has concluded.
The findings call into question the Government’s endorsement of setting in secondary schools. The 1997 White Paper, Excellence in Schools, recommended setting as a way of raising standards.
But the survey’s author, Sue Hallam, of London University’s Institute of Education, said most pupils should spend the bulk of their time in mixed- ability classes.
Where grouping by ability is used, it should be based on attainment in that subject, not on general achievement or behaviour. It should be made as flexible as possible by the use of parallel groupings and frequent assessments. And high-status teachers should be allocated to the lower sets.
The research survey shows that, while setting tends to be beneficial for more able pupils in the top groups, it demotivates children in the lower ability groups. Such pupils tend to be taught a reduced curriculum, with little challenge or stimulation, and can easily become demoralised, disruptive and disaffected.
Dr Hallam said: “Where pupils don’t feel valued by the school, they will seek other ways of maintaining self-esteem, such as buying into sub-cultures which hold anti-educational values, where it is ‘cool’ to be alienated.”
But she said this demoralising effect was not inevitable and could be overcome by putting good teachers in the lower sets - in contrast to the usual situation, in which the best teachers teach the top groups.
Dr Hallam says teachers of mixed-ability classes need to do more than teach at whole-class level to an “imaginary average child”. She supports creating small groupings within mixed-ability classes, with each working at their own pace, and modular organisation of courses at secondary level.
Her study reviews the literature on ability grouping from the first studies in 1919 to 2001 and looks at research evidence from Europe, the USA and the Far East.
Ability Grouping in Schools is available from the Institute of Education (020 7612 6050), price pound;6.95.
