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Relationships and processes in school - Coggle Diagram

- - - - Groups of pupils seen to have similar abilities --> done through setting and streaming, setting is different depending on subject, streaming is the same set for all subjects
        
        Setting most common form of ability grouping in schools in England and Wales - becomes increasingly common as pupils approach GCSE
        Streaming typical of primary schools in 1940s and 1950s - began to die out with decline of 11-plus exam
      - GOOD
        
        Different abilities allows for different teaching
        Different abilities allows for different tasks
        Different abilities allows for different exams
    - - Pupils randomly placed or intentionally mixed based on their perceived ability
        Mixed-ability teaching throughout pupils’ school careers is found in only a small no. of schools --> not very common
      - GOOD
        
        Social benefits such as encouraged cooperation, more friendly, reduce class differences and class conflict
        Ability is not fixed
        Setting affects attainment --> higher in top sets, lower in bottom sets
        Setting discriminates --> lower sets or stream tend to be working-class or of a minority ethnicity
        Setting is based on behaviour, not ability --> evidence that Black-Caribbean pupils have been placed in exam setswhich were below their measured ability as their behaviour was seen as unsuitable for higher sets
  - - - Mac an Ghaill (1994) study of West Midlands comprehensive:
        Teachers main concern was needs of students in top sets
        These students had a permanent teaching location in a school with a shortage of classrooms --> given priority when using specialised classrooms like labs
        Provided with more experienced teachers
        Preferential treatment with timetabling, equipment, books
        Given first pick of options in year 9
        Teachers respected students in top sets and had high expectations of their academic progress and exam success
        Students were aware of these positive views of their prospects
        Similar views were provided by Ward's (2015) research in South Wales schools
    - - Students in bottom sets seen as unlikely to succeed due to being low ability
        They were aware of this view of their ability and prospects
        Provided with less experienced teachers who were often not keen on teaching them
        Even when they were being prepared for same exams as those in higher sets, they were taught to a lower level
        The information they were given was tailored to their assumed ability
  - - - Looking back on his experience of low sets, a young man states, ‘The lower sets are likely a psychological prison… It just breaks all ambition’ (Boaler, 2005)
      - As one of the Gang Girls in Farzana Shain’s (2010) study found, being confined to bottom sets and regarded as a failure led her to dismiss school as a place of learning