Secondary school teachers’ attitudes towards and beliefs about ability grouping

Table 4 displays the responses to statements about the effects of different kinds of
ability grouping on discipline and disaffection from school. There was strong
agreement from teachers across all types of school that there were more discipline
problems in the lower ability classes when setting procedures were adopted. Opinion
was divided as to whether there were more discipline problems in mixed ability
classes.

Table 4 about here

In the responses to the open questions, teachers indicated that setting could have an
impact on disaffection and several suggested that mixed ability teaching could
overcome this.

Mixed ability is best. Pupils already know between them the ones with
low and high ability. Grouping them only serves to emphasise the lack of
ability of those in the lower ability classes. These pupils then become
disaffected at a very early stage and I would like to avoid or delay their
disaffection to as late as possible. (Mathematics teacher, mixed ability
school)

I’ve worked in several schools where there’s heavy setting, ten sets, start
the most able set 1 and the least able in 10. Nobody wants to teach set 10,
well probably sets 8, 9 and 10 don’t feel very good about themselves at
all. It often concentrates behaviour problems. The kids tend to rattle

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