Children prefer being taught in sets rather than mixed-ability classes, a new survey shows.

Academics have raised concerns that setting widens the gap between high-attaining and low-attaining pupils.

However, a YouGov survey, published today, shows that 39 per cent of pupils favour being in a set or band, compared with 30 per cent who prefer a mixed-ability class.

A further 22 per cent said they had no preference, and 10 per cent did not know.

In the poll, carried out last month, 586 children aged between 6 and 15 were asked whether they preferred being in a class where “everyone is about as good as me at the subject we are learning” or where “there is a mix of how good everyone is at the subject we are learning”.

Setting ‘has a negative impact’

The survey highlights differences between the genders, with boys preferring sets to mixed ability by 39 per cent to 25 per cent, while the gap was narrower for girls, with 39 per cent favouring sets and 34 per cent opting for mixed ability.

The government-backed Education Endowment Foundation’s toolkit, which summarises international evidence about teaching five- to 16-year-olds, says that “on average, pupils experiencing setting or streaming make slightly less progress than pupils taught in mixed attainment classes”.

It says that research suggests that setting and streaming has “a very small negative impact” for low- and mid-range attaining learners, and a “very small positive impact” for their higher attaining peers.