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

‘The nature of a mainly practical subject does not necessarily need academic setting’.

(music teacher)

Where the school adopted setting procedures a major problem for teachers of the arts
and PE was that the grouping practices tended to be based on performance in
academic subjects:

‘The criteria which assess ‘academic’ ability (numeracy, literacy) whilst a good
indication of general art ability (i.e. the higher the better) do not indicate particular or
specific ability in art.’ (art teacher)

Similarly, carousel arrangements for timetabling based on academically setted groups
were viewed as problematic:

‘All pupils are different. They mature at different speeds, learn at different speeds and
work at different speeds no matter what the subject. Therefore if you are going to set
pupils for one subject there needs to be consistency, because a pupil may excel at
music but may not be so good at technology.’ (music teacher)

There were some teachers who indicated that they would prefer pupils to be ability
grouped for their subject:

‘I would prefer setting specifically for PE as ability is not necessarily consistent
across the curriculum.’ (PE teacher)

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