Secondary school pupils' satisfaction with their ability grouping placements

There has been little research exploring pupils’ satisfaction with their ability group placement. This paper explores the extent to which pupils are happy with their placement, and the reasons they give for wanting to move to another class or set. The sample comprised over 5,000 year 9 pupils (aged 13-14 years) in 45 mixed secondary comprehensive schools in England. The schools represented three levels of ability grouping in the lower school (years 7 to 9). Pupils responded to a questionnaire which explored their current set placement, their satisfaction with it, and their reasons for wanting to change. A substantial proportion of pupils expressed a wish to change set, most, but not all, in an upward direction, mainly because the level of work was inappropriate. The implications for ability grouping practices in schools are discussed

Private tutoring at transition points in the English education system: its nature, extent and purpose

International surveys indicate that the prevalence of private tutoring in England is relatively low but as few national surveys have been undertaken, there is little detailed evidence available. The aim of this research is to provide a systematic description of the nature and extent of private tutoring at three points of transition in the English education system and to explore students’ views of the reasons for its use. Over 3000 students completed a questionnaire survey providing information on the extent of private tutoring in school curriculum subjects,reasons for the employment of tutors and demographic information. Over 1100 parents supplied information on their motivation for employing tutors. At the time of the survey, 7.6% of year 6 pupils were in receipt of tutoring in mathematics, 8.1% English and 3.2% science. Comparable figures for year 11 pupils were 7.9% mathematics, 2.6% English and 2.8% science. Overall, 27% of students reported that they had received tutoring at some stage during their school career and there were clear associations with family socio-economic status and cultural background. Parents employed tutors to increase their child’s confidence, improve their understanding of the subject and to help them do well in tests and examinations. Most primary age children indicated that tutors were not needed as their teachers and families provided sufficient educational support. Some families appear to be making strategic use of tutors to help their children make successful transitions in the education system

Secondary school teachers' attitudes to and beliefs about ability grouping

Background. Internationally and historically considerable research has been undertaken regarding the attitudes of secondary school teachers towards different types of ability grouping. There has been no recent research taking account of the changing educational context in the UK. Aims. This paper aims to explore secondary school teachers’ attitudes and beliefs about ability grouping taking account of school type, gender, experience and qualifications. Sample. The sample comprised over 1500 teachers from 45 schools divided into three groups based on their ability grouping practices in years 7-9. The sample included all the lower school teachers of mathematics, science and English and a random sample of teachers from other subjects in each school. Methods. Teachers responded to a questionnaire which explored their attitudes towards ability grouping through the use of rating scales and open ended questions. Results. The findings showed that the teachers’ beliefs broadly reflected research findings on the actual effects of ability grouping, although there were significant 3 differences relating to the type of school they taught in and the subject that they taught. Separate analysis of school types showed that length of time teaching, individual school differences and teacher qualifications were also significant predictors of attitudes. Conclusions. Teachers’ beliefs about ability grouping are influenced by the type of groupings adopted in the school where they work, the subject that they teach, their experience and qualifications. As pedagogical practices are known to be influenced by beliefs these findings have important implications for teacher training

Ability grouping in the secondary school: attitude of teachers of practically based subjects

This research aimed to explore the attitudes of teachers of practically based subjects (arts and sports) towards ability grouping. Teachers from 45 secondary schools adopting different levels of ability grouping completed a questionnaire which elicited their responses to statements of beliefs about ability grouping and its effects. Overall, the physical education teachers exhibited the most positive attitudes towards ability grouping, drama teachers the least, with the music and art teachers in between. The best predictor of teachers’ attitudes was the subject that they taught. These findings support the notion that, overall, teachers of practical subjects have positive attitudes towards mixed ability teaching

Secondary school pupils' preferences for different types of structured grouping practices

The aim of this paper is to explore pupils’ preferences for particular types of grouping practices an area neglected in earlier research focusing on the personal and social outcomes of ability grouping. The sample comprised over 5,000 year 9 pupils (aged 13-14 years) in 45 mixed secondary comprehensive schools in England. The schools represented three levels of ability grouping in the lower school (years 7 to 9). Pupils responded to a questionnaire which explored the types of grouping that they preferred and the reasons for their choices. The majority of pupils preferred setting, although this was mediated by their set placement, type of school, socio-economic status and gender. The key reason given for this preference was that it enabled work to be matched to learning needs. The paper considers whether there are other ways of achieving this avoiding the negative social and personal outcomes of setting for some pupils

Ability grouping in the primary school: a survey

In 1997, the DfEE suggested that schools should consider ‘setting’ pupils by ability as it was believed that this would contribute to raising standards. This survey of primary schools aimed to establish the extent to which primary schools, with same and mixed age classes, implement different grouping practices including setting, streaming, within class ability and mixed ability groupings for different curriculum subjects. Schools were asked to complete a questionnaire indicating their grouping practices for each subject in each year group. The findings showed that schools predominantly adopted within class ability groupings, either mixed or ability grouped, for most subjects. Ability grouping (within class and setting) was most common in mathematics, followed by English and science. Its implementation increased as pupils progressed through school. The type of setting adopted, same or cross age, tended to reflect the nature of the class structures within the school