Secondary school teachers’ attitudes towards and beliefs about ability grouping

Teacher data: All heads of department and all English, maths and science teachers of
pupils in years 7, 8 and 9 and a sample of lower school teachers of other subjects
completed a questionnaire. The questionnaire explored teachers' attitudes towards
ability grouping and their perceptions of the main problems in teaching ability
grouped and mixed ability classes. It was developed from the findings of previous
research on teachers’ attitudes towards ability grouping. A series of statements were
generated and piloted with a group of teachers. Those which were reported by the
teachers to best represent their views and which discriminated strongly between
different attitudes were included in the final version of the question. The statements
are set out in the tables of results. Teachers responded on a five point rating scale to
each statement. Open questions were also included which enabled teachers to express
their beliefs in their own words.

The sample : Data were collected from over 1500 secondary school teachers in the 45
secondary comprehensive schools. The questionnaires were completed during meetings
of staff which had been convened by the senior management team in each school. This
ensured a 100% response rate from teachers attending the meetings. Twenty-three per
cent of the sample were between the ages of 20 to 29, 23% between 30 and 39, 35%
between 40 and 49 and 16% over 50. Just over half of the sample were female (53%).
Most of the teachers were educated to degree level, 59% had a PGCE, 21% a Certificate
in Education and 13% a higher degree.

Findings

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