Education
Setting the path 25 June 2010 What impact is ability grouping having on Scottish education? “Poverty is not destiny in educational circumstances, and we should never accept that it is,” Mike Russell recently told MSPs. “Curriculum for Excellence will ensure that the achievements and attainment of a young person will be determined by their skills, ability and potential.” An ambitious statement from the Education Secretary, considering the persistent gap between the highest and lowest achievers in Scotland’s schools. The inequalities in Scottish education are well documented. The landmark 2007 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) review of Scottish education came to the unfortunate conclusion that as far as achievement is concerned, “who you are in Scotland is far more important than the school you attend”. Rather than between schools, though, the OECD found that the greatest differences lay within schools in Scotland. At this month’s EIS annual conference, teachers felt this underlined the need to examine practices used in schools, starting with streaming and setting. Speaking at the Poverty and Education fringe, one teacher made an appeal to his colleagues to challenge the policies. “I’m sure I’m not the only teacher in the room to have gone through in the last few weeks the shameful process of, basically, labelling first years and deciding which class they go into in terms of sets for second year. What you’re basically doing there is condemning that kid to basic failure or a lack of progress from second year to when they leave the school,” said Eddie Burns, an English teacher from Duncanrig Secondary School in East Kilbride. “Because if you’re putting a kid in what is termed ‘the bottom class’ they’re not going to get out of that class. Under no circumstance is that going to happen. What we’re actually doing is we’re not setting by ability; we’re setting by class to a large extent. “Is there any way we can challenge that as individuals? It comes around every year and every year I think to myself, this is destroying a wee bit of my soul every time I have to do it. Because it’s not what you come in to teaching to do, is it?” he added. The EIS has produced a report ‘Poverty and Education’ in which it states that setting and streaming should be challenged. Whilst the practice of ‘streaming’, whereby pupils are split into groups according to their ability for all their lessons, exists in few state schools in Scotland today, ‘setting’ is more common. Setting sees pupils of similar ability placed together for certain subjects, typically maths and English and most often in secondary. The process sharply divides the teaching profession. Though some see it as the most efficient and effective way to teach pupils of varying standards, stretching the brightest and slowing the pace for those who would struggle to keep up, others believe it simply serves to stratify pupils and widen the gap. Presenting her research to delegates, Dr Linda Croxford, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Educational Sociology, University of Edinburgh argued that inequalities are reinforced in the classroom through setting. “Poverty causes problems for education. But then the business of ability grouping exacerbates that. What it creates in effect is social segregation within the schools. There is segregation by school but if you’ve got a comprehensive system which is taking people from the catchment all over you may have a range of different social classes, different ethnicities within a school, but if you then stratify it in terms of ability, you also create this segregation by social class which is not good for social cohesion or social justice or any of the really high ideals which Scottish education strives for,” she tells Holyrood. Setting effectively labels students and creates an expectation that often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, Croxford says. “Having ability grouping does skew things because of course the children immediately get the message: ‘I’m no good at Maths’ or ‘I’m a dunce so there’s no point in trying’. On the other hand, some children may get the message: ‘Well, I’m in the top group, I’ve got to work like mad and catch up’ and it can be incredibly stressful for them to think: ‘How do I keep up? I don’t want to be put down to another group’.” Studies show that when pupils are divided by achievement they tend to become segregated by social class, race and ethnicity. But the educational case for setting is also weak, according to Croxford. Research commissioned by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE) in 1997 found “no consistent and reliable evidence of setting and streaming in any subjects”. In fact, grouping by ability can lead to a less personalised approach to teaching as teachers assume all of their pupils are of a similar standard and teach to that, Croxford says. “If you have a class of total mixed ability, the teacher knows that they have to work with individual pupils so they’ve got a personalised approach. If on the other hand you’ve got the top set, you simply assume that they know how to do calculus and you teach at that level,” she explains. No national policy exists on setting and streaming, with the Scottish Government leaving it up to individual schools and councils to decide. However, Croxford believes the inspectorate has been responsible for pushing the policy at school level. Its 1996 report ‘Achievement for All’ recommended setting in lower secondary and it has been the norm ever since, she says. “The inspectorate have been terribly powerful in Scottish education in driving policy and practice. The inspectorate for some reason felt that mixed ability teaching was inefficient and they issued this report, stating that the norm should be setting by ability.” HMIE claims, however, that decisions on grouping can only be taken locally based on the needs of the particular set of pupils. “The responsibility for class settings lies with headteachers and education authorities. However, HMIE expects schools to take account of how best to meet learners’ needs, including when they make decisions about grouping children for learning and teaching. We expect schools to be able to explain how any decisions about grouping [have been made],” an HMIE spokesperson said. Ken Cunningham, General Secretary of School Leaders Scotland, the secondary headteachers’ organisation, believes setting can lead to a widening gap in achievement but in certain circumstances, if implemented properly, can be effective. “The big question, really, is the greatest good, for the greatest number. In what circumstances do youngsters develop best? And that’s a question I think that’s best answered in your own school, in your own circumstances,” says Cunningham. “It’s very much about being aware of the potential inequality and making sure that you compensate for that so it doesn’t happen.” In light of Curriculum for Excellence and its focus on raising the attainment of all pupils, Croxford would like to see more research into the impact of ability grouping and a full-scale debate by practitioners and policy makers. One size may not fit all but a mature discussion could shed light on the issue so that it ceases to be the elephant in the room. Related articles: The road less travelled 3 September 2010 Our way 3 September 2010 Independent voice 25 June 2010 Risk-benefit 11 June 2010 Parent power 11 June 2010 See all articles in this category Submit a comment |
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