Classes and groups: structures for learning

The Primary Review has produced this paper which surveys recent research to explore different school and class grouping arrangements, the factors influencing them, and their impact on pupil learning and adjustment in the primary phase.

Key points:
- There has been little transfer between research findings and wide-spread classroom application partly due to the methodological difficulty of establishing clear effects.
- Underachievement, lack of pro-school attitudes and exclusion have tended to be approached by calls for more differentiation by ability of attainment but such moves are not supported in the research literature.
- Differentiation by ability/attainment has been associated with limited access to knowledge by some pupils, domination of pedagogic practices by teachers, preferred teachers for ‘elite’ pupils and enforcement of social divisions among pupils.
- Much more effort needs to be directed to the consideration and development of classroom-based social pedagogy (including the effective use of pupil groupings).
- It is more important for teachers to prepare their pupils to work effectively together, for example in their classroom groups, and to use these within-class groups flexibly.
- When teachers put a long-term commitment (up to a year) into developing relational and other social pedagogic practices within their classrooms, pupils respond with improved attainment, classroom behaviours and pro-learning attitudes.