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

‘Setting is best to enable more successful teaching and learning. I don’t believe that
mixed ability teaching works as well as other methods.’ (music teacher).

If structured ability grouping was to be adopted teachers indicated that it was
important to establish current skill levels before allocating pupils to groups:

‘In year 7 we don’t know children’s ability until they arrive. During years 7 and 8
children’s keyboard skills change according to effort or ability. In year 9 many are
disaffected so written work and reading ability does not always match up with
practical musical ability so I would prefer setting in year 9.’ (music teacher)

A number of teachers commented on the different sizes of ability grouped classes:

Middle ability groups are very much larger than lower ability groups (PE teacher)

These differences in class size influenced the nature of the teaching:

‘In PE the lower sets are smaller and you can give them more time. It is a subject
where you display your talents and I believe the lower set pupils feel more
comfortable and develop skills without inhibition.’ (PE teacher)

Discussion

Overall, the teachers of these practically based subjects supported mixed ability
teaching. Only a small proportion of teachers believed that some form of ability
grouping would be beneficial. Surprisingly, the largest group in this respect was the
PE teachers with 32% indicating that they would prefer some form of ability grouping

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